GRDadof3

Kara Wood had shared this on her linkedin, but I didn't get a chance to read it until now. It does read very strange. Like those national online pubs that came out 15 years ago (IST's, not Rapid Growth or ModelD). They seemed heavy on fluff, like this one does. Having quotes from locals makes it seem more legit, but part of me wonders if those quotes were lifted from other pubs or events. I'm pretty sure the Dick Devos quote is from an economic summit or something that he spoke at. I'd hang out with someone with green hair any day.

Oh duh, you're right. I was getting 1340 and 820 mixed up. I see that lot on the South end of the building where there was once a restaurant envisioned, and wonder what's going on with it. Yeah, when word gets out about some of them, you'll say "yeah, I probably saw that coming." One will be pretty sad, as I've just become a recent visitor for their live music shows. Hopefully someone buys it and keeps the concept going.

Yeah, the Walton grandkids are huge mountain bikers and compete nationally. They've pumped $millions and $millions into paved and mountain bike trails. The Razorback Greenway runs from North of Bentonville to the South end and is a 15' wide CONCRETE path (think White Pine Trail expanded to the size it should be and paved in concrete). Then all along the sides of it running parallel are miles and miles of mountain bike trails and jump tracks. All of this running down the center of a beautiful deep rocky ravine with a creek that runs through it. Reminded me a lot of Flagstaff Arizona or Boulder Colorado. The Crystal Bridges Museum is set in the stony ravines near downtown and is unbelievable. They're expanding it right now to almost double its size. There's a Frank Lloyd Wright home that was relocated to Crystal Bridges campus and we hiked back to it one night on a lighted "art trail" (can't get to it by car). Walmart is also building a brand new mega campus that feels like it's for Amazon or Google. Almost a square mile large with multiple buildings, parks, parking ramps, a gym, day care, etc.. https://crystalbridges.org/news-room/crystal-bridges-museum-of-american-art-reveals-plans-for-major-expansion-designed-by-safdie-architects/ https://www.axios.com/2023/09/12/walmart-corporate-headquarters-hq-child-care-fitness-new I thought it could possibly be a cool place to snowbird to. I never would have thought I would think Arkansas was so beautiful, but having the Ozark Mountains nearby makes is pretty spectacular. Getting off topic. Sorry. My last request is that I wish the Meijer family would get back into the biking infrastructure in West Michigan. Amenities like the trail systems we have (and what is being built in Ottawa County) make this a great place for recreation. But everyone I know in the biking community has a laundry list of projects they'd like to see and we just don't have the private $$ in the community flowing into these projects.

820 Monroe I thought was a go. I keep looking for work to begin there (tearing down the Display Pack building). We will see a few more restaurants churn and burn. Some of them have been in the city for quite a few years. Some may change hands, some may just close. Food inflation is a thing and people's disposable income is being stretched due to other inflation. That's my theory anyway. Services like Doordash are huge now for restaurants, sometimes constituting 60% of their business. Restaurants who can't adequately handle delivery service are hurting or going to be.

I've talked to Walt about that building before. Can't recall what his plans were. That was years ago. Next door used to be a a spot where bands would play and they had live music. Punk, rap and rave I believe. I think that closed a few years ago. I'm getting old it was probably 10 years ago lol.

That's a great writeup. I've argued the same for a while, that we need more housing in the higher tiers in West Michigan. I just sold a house in Ada in the $1 Million price range and in 8 hours of showing windows (over 4 days) we had almost 30 showings, which resulted in 4 offers. Cash buyer won out. Every buyers agent with buyers in that price range said there's nothing out there for these $1 Million - $1.5 Million buyers. Most people would say "oh whoa is their life", but those buyers are then snatching up homes from other lower tier buyers/neighborhoods and tearing them down and building brand new (aka East Grand Rapids). I just got back from a weekend trip to Bentonville AR for their mountain biking and it makes East Grand Rapids look like lego-land. The amount of infill and tear downs/rebuilds was like nothing I've ever seen before. All kinds of money pouring into the area from around the country and there's not enough housing stock for these new people.

Never mind, found my answer in this thread.

$80 Million of that is the new baggage handling system. That's a massive contract for whoever is doing the handling system. "Behind the scenes, there will also be a new automated system for getting checked bags from the counter through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspection and then onto the plane. That system accounts for $80 million of the project’s $135 million price tag. TSA will put $30 million toward the new system." - from Mlive The rendering of the terminal expansion... Also, call me not as tuned in as I used to be, but I picked someone up at the airport last night and there's a tower crane at the east end of the terminal area. What was that for again? Edit: is that the car rental consolidation and expansion?

I think the Broadleaf space would be a great spot for a "soccer bar", to host the parades to the stadium like Bob's Bar did. The party could start on the decks out back. Sort of like how SpeakEZ caters to European expats. Have that concept on Bridge Street.

I was at the West Grand public input meeting at Mitten Brewery, and agreed, a lot of the demands and questions posed to Grand Action were not at all within the scope of responsibility for Grand Action. For the city and DDA? Yes. Has anyone seen any creative work for these two towers? I'm interested in scale and placement. They sound like they'd be rather large, larger than Studio Park Tower.

There's a community meeting about the soccer stadium on Monday at 6pm at Mitten Brewing Co. I may try to go depending on my schedule. I do like their beer. :0 https://www.facebook.com/events/381796661122101

I'm curious about that too. Since the Y owns that lot that appears to be enveloped by the stadium, I wonder what the backup plan is for parking for the Y? Assuming the Y gets a pretty big price tag for that land...

Meh. I was hoping it would have a feel that blended more into the West Side industrial area, or even some masonry, but I'm sure it'll go through a bajillion changes before it's built.

Finally an image of the amphitheater on the correct side of 131/s-curve.

Interesting that you posted this. I saw street cleaners out the other day on Market and it actually looks like they're almost ready to reopen it.