New projects on the West Side

[GRDadof3]

Progress on Fulton Place

Parking ramp and townhouses:

 

 

 

Picking up the curvature. I wonder if they're going to put in on-street parking for this retail?

 

 

 

If someone wants they can stitch these two into a pano:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2015 by GRDadof3

[ctpgr34]

Not a new project, but a remodel gone bad according to the city and many others

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2015/12/restaurant_remodel_too_heavy_o.html#incart_river_home

[organsnyder]

@x99, I'd be interested in hearing your opinion on the Brann's remodel. 

[GRDadof3]

Looks like Mad Max. Based on a lot of his posts when we used to be connected on FB, I think Tommy B. is gearing up for war: War on Christmas, War on Guns, War on America and Family Values, etc.. 

 

[GR_Urbanist]

What a hot mess!

What were these people thinking???

 

They should just try to do something really outrageous, like restore all of the original windows. If it wasn't for the signs, I would think this could be a typical west side adult video store.

[joeDowntown]

That is frickin' terrible! But if the zombie apocalypse ever happens, I'm headed there. It's heavily fortified and should have a decent food supply.

[WMrapids]

Here's a picture of the Fulton Place progress.

[x99]

On 12/14/2015 at 2:10 PM, organsnyder said:

@x99, I'd be interested in hearing your opinion on the Brann's remodel. 

I could have designed something more attractive with both hands tied and being forced to draw with a pencil in my mouth.  That what you're after...?   Seriously, though, it's an old, historic building, and this designer had no clue how to deal with it.  This building looks far worse than it did before.  The funny thing is, this would not have been all that hard to get right.  The second floor in front has great detail on it, which is completely ignored.  Why do that?  A lot of what is wrong with this building (beyond the metal) is a paint issue.  That was probably a big bill, and it was money wasted for the most part. [EDIT:  The prior paint scheme was far superior] There are people who specialize in paint color selection on historic buildings.  It would have been $600 extremely well spent.  Another $5000 to the painter to do a more complex paint job and they could have had a real stunner.  It's a real shame how awful this came out.

If there was some real need to dress it up, on the side of the building, rounded open shutters open on the upper floors with matching closed false shutters on the lower floor where these morons chose to bolt on metal.  Round out the tops of the window hoods.  Ditch the stupid painted on window trim that stops dead at the bottom of the awnings.  Whoever thought that looked good was an idiot.  The front is a little more difficult.  The hilarious thing is the way it looked before was actually not all that bad compared to how it looks now.  Not a lot of "ROI" for this "r.o.i. designs" design... Heh.  I couldn't resist.

I feel bad for Brann's.  They tried to do well, and got screwed by someone who didn't have a clue what they were doing, and are not going to have to do it all over.  I think I would ask for a refund of the designer money.

Edited December 16, 2015 by x99

[elcelc]

50 minutes ago, x99 said:

I feel bad for Brann's.  They tried to do well, and got screwed by someone who didn't have a clue what they were doing, and are not going to have to do it all over.  I think I would ask for a refund of the designer money.

Well they did have to approve it right?  As did the city right?  Total botch job all round.

[egrguy]

I thought I read they went ahead for the work and were seeking approval after the fact and it was rejected by the city.

[arcturus]

That Brann appears to have liked the remodel makes me wonder what they're putting in steaks these days.

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, elcelc said:

Well they did have to approve it right?  As did the city right?  Total botch job all round.

They did not get city approval. They just did it. That's why there's all the hubbub.

3 minutes ago, arcturus said:

That Brann appears to have liked the remodel makes me wonder what they're putting in steaks these days.

They buy their beef locally, from Gordon's Food Service.

[MJLO]

23 hours ago, WMrapids said:

Here's a picture of the Fulton Place progress.

This one has progressed pretty fast.

[Veloise]

 

Sharing Triple G's hard work from The Salon.

 

 

And a Streetview

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9847735,-85.6776162,3a,90y,325.38h,83.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_iD42xzowSiU8-itBbzAKA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

Edited December 18, 2015 by Veloise

[gvsusean]

Wait, you have that underneath and you cover with that metal monstrosity????

[GR_Urbanist]

All of those are infinity better than what was just done. How hard would the 1983 version could have possibly been to replicate, and just had the windows on the lower floor not be covered?

 

 

How cow! 89 cent unleaded gas!?

[GRDadof3]

The design firm that did this work was ROI Design, which I'm fairly center was one of the partners/architects for Tall House that never got built. Maybe it's a good thing...

[joeDowntown]

Took a few pictures of Fulton Place (sorry for the dreary pics. Mother nature was grumpy). This building has gone up fast! Also love to see the infill on Fulton. The townhouses on Seward are also up (looks like they are to the interior stage). Unfortunately, I couldn't get a pic of those. 

Joe

 

[Veloise]

On 12/18/2015 at 11:53 AM, GR_Urbanist said:

...How cow! 89 cent unleaded gas!?

When I was in driver's ed, it was 25 cents a gallon.

[GRDadof3]

4 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Took a few pictures of Fulton Place (sorry for the dreary pics. Mother nature was grumpy). This building has gone up fast! Also love to see the infill on Fulton. The townhouses on Seward are also up (looks like they are to the interior stage). Unfortunately, I couldn't get a pic of those. 

Joe

 

 

 

I haven't been by there in a while, I didn't realize the little 3 story building was so far along. Cool stuff.

[elcelc]

West Side Brann's will remove the metal panels but keep the metal awnings.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2016/01/grand_rapids_restaurant_to_rem.html#incart_river_home

 

[joeDowntown]

9 hours ago, elcelc said:

West Side Brann's will remove the metal panels but keep the metal awnings.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2016/01/grand_rapids_restaurant_to_rem.html#incart_river_home

 

Glad to see this. I still can't believe anyone said "wow, this is a great improvement!" with this renovation.

Joe

[GRDadof3]

2 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Glad to see this. I still can't believe anyone said "wow, this is a great improvement!" with this renovation.

Joe

The article says they wanted to appeal to a "younger audience." Like people who just came out of seeing Mad Max? 

[joeDowntown]

Yeah, because younger people hate historic buildings - like all of Ionia Street. 

[MJLO]

It just shows that they still think they need a suburban feel to attract a crowd.  It's thinking that's a couple decades old now.