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THE Downtown Market updates


GRDadof3

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The guy working on the Hotel sent a letter to the Monroe North Business Association to give an update on the Monroe North project. He was working on a hotel in Bay City/Midland area and that took up a lot of his time. He said looking back, he wishes he would have built the Monroe North hotel before the one in Bay City/Midland. Anyway, the building on the WAM site is supposed to be demolished by August.

Wow. I too thought it was dead.

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Wow. I too thought it was dead.

I thought that it was too but apparently it is somewhat on schedule. I did a little research, and the Beukema's said in Grand Rapids Magazine last year that they wanted to start construction in July 2009 because they wanted to wrap-up the Holiday Inn in Midland. Here's a link to the article. http://www.grmag.com/features/07-08/07-08.htm . Their deadline to start construction is at the end of the month. It is estimated that it would be completed in 18 months from construction start to finish.

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Forget a new market... lets re-purpose something!

http://civileats.com/2009/12/03/inventing-the-suburban-farm/

Inventing the Suburban [Or Urban] Farm

Farming on disused suburban properties such as former shopping malls or big-box stores could help resolve a growing problem, writes the architect and educator Forrest Fulton, of Birmingham, Ala. Suburban farmers could grow container crops in soil and compost on asphalt parking lots. Light poles in parking lots can become solar trees with photovoltaic panels. And the top of a big-box building can be replaced with a greenhouse roof. Fulton arrived at the idea after seeing so many dead retail centers in the suburbs, he says. "What really got my attention were the many empty grocery stores."

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The possibilities for collaboration with Rogers Park High are great. It could possibly compliment the flea market in some ways. Doesn't produce much tax revenue for Wyoming, though.

I think you mean "any" tax revenue. Who would buy the land and set it up? That's an expensive parcel.

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I think you mean "any" tax revenue. Who would buy the land and set it up? That's an expensive parcel.

Hey, I didn't say it was feasible. I just said I liked it. :)

offtopic.gif

The parcel's 2009 Taxable value is $2.5 million, down from $4 million in 2008. My understanding is that the taxable value is supposed to be approximately 1/2 the market value, yes? Is the property really worth $5 million? How much does a big box store usually pay to acquire their parcel?

That's gotta be a pretty big tax bill that Celebration is paying on a non-revenue generating property (aside from whatever pittance they get in rent from the flea market.)

Edit: Rylee's Ace had to pay $1.675 million for the parcel they are developing on Michigan. Obviously, that's a much more urban area, so it's not exactly comparable. But the Studio 28 land is about 8.5 times as big. (19 vs 2.2 acres)

Perhaps a better comparison would be the Meijer parcel at 54th and Clyde Park (41-17-36-151-015, owned by Goodwill Co Inc?!? according to Kent County) with a taxable value of $5 million and 24 acres area.

Edited by fotoman311
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The possibilities for collaboration with Rogers Park High are great. It could possibly compliment the flea market in some ways. Doesn't produce much tax revenue for Wyoming, though.

:thumbsup:

Just to clarify... Rogers High School, and Wyoming Park High School are two different places.

Unless I'm mistaken (which is always possible), there's no "Rogers Park High"

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:thumbsup:

Just to clarify... Rogers High School, and Wyoming Park High School are two different places.

Unless I'm mistaken (which is always possible), there's no "Rogers Park High"

Just trying to throw people off. :) Of course I meant Rogers High. I should know better, since that's where my father-in-law went.

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Prolly right where all that open land sits...

I think that could be good location if they mixed it in with the right development and got a couple of other "destination" type retailers **cough*Trader Joe's*cough*urban format Meijer*cough**. Do you think the increased traffic between Division and downtown could create a better market for more redevelopment along the Avenue for the Arts corridor?

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I know the city was in *cough* negotiations with one of the two however that was over a year ago.....

I think that could be good location if they mixed it in with the right development and got a couple of other "destination" type retailers **cough*Trader Joe's*cough*urban format Meijer*cough**. Do you think the increased traffic between Division and downtown could create a better market for more redevelopment along the Avenue for the Arts corridor?

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  • 2 months later...

A couple musings... sleep.gif

1) Any thoughts on the location? For all our speculation last year, I don't think anyone brought up that part of town. I'm not surprised they seem to want to open up a new neighborhood for development... But I remember thinking if they were to build south, I expected it to be on the other side of the highway, near Founder's and all the other "new" stuff.

I don't know how I feel about this place, though. I can see all the advantages they listed, and I think they found a good building to re-use... But it's kind of tucked into a corner in a lonesome place. I hope new developments do pop up quick.

2) I wonder when they'll put some renderings out. For now I'll just have to imagine this without the loading dock section.

Come on, guys, I want some images to chew on... Give us anything... Just no pictures of SimCity power plants, please... silly.png

Edited by RegalTDP
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They haven't picked an AE firm yet, so no renderings until at least May (I believe they said).

Let's hope they think out of the box for the AE firm (and someone local, dammit). You don't need an "international starchitect" who specializes in markets to design a cool renovation.

I believe one of the sites they looked at was further down Division, South of Wealthy. :unsure: I brought up the issue today about the lack of traffic access to that site. Even thought it sits RIGHT next to 131 and Wealthy, you can't get to it directly from either. You've gotta make a scary left turn on Commerce heading North (imagine the line of cars trying to make a left there on a Saturday to get to the market) and circle around, or go East to Division, turn right and then circle back around. Not easy for suburbanites who don't even like Michigan Left Turns, not less scary city driving.

The entire Fulton Street Market is being redesigned, mainly to alleviate traffic congestion on weekends. Lessons to be learned.

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The entire Fulton Street Market is being redesigned, mainly to alleviate traffic congestion on weekends. Lessons to be learned.

While this certainly is one of the goals, I see it as one of three main goals. The other two would be to make the market handicap accessible, including clean, modern, restrooms at grade, and to provide a permanent covering to the market with electrical service so that the vendors no longer have to string up their tarps to provide shade or protection from rain and so that year round vending will be possible.

P.S. I mostly like the location of the new market and think that there is a ton of potential. I would like to think there is a strong possibility that if (when? considering the records of some of it's backers) this project is success, it will help spur other (retail?) development in that area and also spur more residential development downtown by giving people convenient access to food and other necessities.

Edited by fotoman311
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While this certainly is one of the goals, I see it as one of three main goals. The other two would be to make the market handicap accessible, including clean, modern, restrooms at grade, and to provide a permanent covering to the market with electrical service so that the vendors no longer have to string up their tarps to provide shade or protection from rain and so that year round vending will be possible.

P.S. I mostly like the location of the new market and think that there is a ton of potential. I would like to think there is a strong possibility that if (when? considering the records of some of it's backers) this project is success, it will help spur other (retail?) development in that area and also spur more residential development downtown by giving people convenient access to food and other necessities.

Oh, I'm sure it will spur redevelopment of both the Klingman's factory and the Baker one, both in that area (and both of which have had redevelopment plans proposed already). But even with those extra 500 or so residents, the majority of the market traffic will be suburbanites driving in (even the consultant acknowledged that). I just think that neglecting to have a comprehensive traffic plan will be a huge mistake. We've actually skipped the Fulton St Farmer's Market because traffic was out of control

I even agree with Grand Action that it might draw more crowds than the arena (probably more spread out over the weekends).

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