Pattmost20

Malcolm Gladwell mentioned Grand Rapids on his podcast a couple months ago. The exact quote was: "I've been to Manilla, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Washington DC, Detroit, and Grand Rapids in just the last month. And if you're wondering, my favorite of all those places, not even close: Grand Rapids. Love Grand Rapids. Why doesn't everyone live in Grand Rapids? I don't get it." I know he was in town for Tech Week. Cool to hear he enjoyed the city so much.

Not that I've heard of. Amphitheater site, but I don't know specifics on location within the site.

Word on the street is that two 20+ story towers are going to be built on the amphitheater site. One an apartment/condo tower. The other a well know, music themed hotel brand.

That is great news. Social Misfits is one of our go-to downtown spots. Excited to see their take on a pizza joint.

We have zero top level pro sports and the MLS isn't expanding. We were never getting an MLS team, why is that even a conversation we are having? A soccer specific stadium and a pro team verses nothing? Yes, we are very excited for that.

That looks amazing! Can't wait for this project to move forward.

Agreed, I think stadiums that split between American football and soccer always ends up compromising. I also think it takes away from the college sports experience to have home games at a stadium or arena that either the school doesn't own, or shares with a pro team. I've been to college football and basketball games at pro stadiums, and the atmosphere just doesn't compare to on campus facilities.

I pulled that prediction out of thin air. I always like visiting their shop in Detroit. Hope it does well here.

I was thinking Shinola. Seems like about the right footprint and location for one of their stores. We came across urban Carhartt stores in Europe. It is definitely a trendy street wear brand over there.

He used to serve at City Built Brewery on Mondays when their kitchen was closed. I had his food at an event at Canal Park once and it was very good.

Plenty large for FCS. It would need to be at least 15k for FBS, but according to GVSU athletics website: "Designed with the future in mind, the stadium can have permanent seating added when needed, with ultimate expansion to 20,000 seats. " The numbers I've seen thrown around for the soccer stadium are 7k to 12k, so that would either be smaller than the current football stadium, or just barely bigger, and not big enough to accommodate FBS.

955 Cherry? I saw some activity in that building recently, that should be a good addition to that strip.

The developers have a really good opportunity to increase the retail/ restaurant offerings in this area. It is smack in the middle of the Lakeside business district and Pere Marquette beach. Can't wait to see more concrete plans come out for this project. It is going to be huge.

I'm curious if the popularity of the TV show "The Bear" has anything to do with it.

I was at MDRD a few weeks back. Looking out of the windows to the west, I was just imagining what a soccer stadium would look like there.