MJLO

Spectrum(I hate saying Corewell) is already building literal towers of parking at this point. When I worked there they had a critical parking shortage for employees. I just took the bus in, they made it super easy to take the bus. From a 9-5 standpoint the bus system in GR works pretty well if you're commuting inside the urban area(or at least it did). Since I've had to move from GR I don't know the transit setup anymore, or if the route that travels up and down Michigan is still free. I understand the bulk of Spectrum employees are suburbanites that don't live on transit corridors. Nor is the collective mindset geared toward taking public transit. I'm sure parking accessibility is a huge liability toward retention, but seriously how much more parking do they need? I agree the city should fight this. I'd rather see another big ramp get built in No-Mo than a sea of parking. The real question is will we ever actually see the region invest in actual, meaningful transit infrastructure that is convenient enough to mode shift a good chunk of downtown commuters away from autos? Even upgrading existing BRT routes to actual "rapid" with full time dedicate lanes and guideways might be enough to tip the scale. I know, I know....I'm being an idealist which is uncharacteristic of me.

Agreed. ThoughI feel like the area around Calder Plaza desperately needs some infill/repurposing/life. Once you get north of Lyon it's an absolute dead zone with nothing but those boring 1960's office boxes that are nearly void of life after 5pm. If momentum keeps shifting south it could get down right creepy in the old urban renewal zone. But hey, at least the HPC is here to let us know that the city/county building are precious pieces of history that can't go away.

I think it would be a good investment by the city state. If that development goes through it will undoubtedly spur other investment, jobs, and infill in that neighborhood. It's not as if the developer gets the incentive and the city/state doesn't see any sort of benefit from it. The other revenue it generates between new income taxes/jobs/ and periphery development makes up for it over time.

I don't know if I missed it, is there something going in that corner?

Agreed. I’d love to see them put money towards converting BRT to LRT. Or something otherwise ambitious that will make the area more marketable to attracting 21st century industry and residents.

2023 MSA delineations were released Friday. Barry County was added back into GR's MSA. It was removed(erroneously in my opinion) in the 2018 release and Ionia was added in. Now GR's MSA is made up of Kent, Ottawa, Barry, Montcalm, and Ionia Counties. I have to think with so much commuter growth happening in Newaygo and Allegan counties it's only a matter of time before they are added back into the metro. This officially bumps the metro population to 1,157,752. Though it does not change Grand Rapids overall ranking with other MSAs as peer metros such as Birmingham and Fresno also had counties added to them. The metro is within 4,000 residents of over taking Buffalo and Hartford so we may see GR re-enter the top 50 metros in the next estimate year. No official numbers updates yet. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/OMB-Bulletin-23-01.pdf

Passenger traffic up 11.2% for the month of June, 6.8% on the year. 330k passengers through GRR in the month. On pace to hit 3.5million+ on the year. I think that's still slightly down from the 2019-early 2020 pace but good news nonetheless. It's still a bit behind what I'd consider peer markets like Buffalo, Louisville, and Omaha, but GRR has been playing catch up to places like that for decades. They also benefit from being the largest/cheapest airports within about a 2hrs drive, a luxury GRR really doesn't have. To truly reflect the market size I think the airport needs to eventually see upwards of 500k passengers in peak months . I think that can happen if they stay as aggressive as they are with the changes, and attracting new low cost carriers and destinations.

I don’t think from a planning perspective they’d really want/need it close to Fulton as it’s not part of the “downtown” plan. Though it looks like it might being built behind the bank?

Oh duh lol. That makes more sense. I'm back with the class now lol.

I thought we already had a rental car facility in the main parking garage?

This is a concern across core cities over much of the country certainly not just a GR problem. It appears we have culturally entered a period similar to the late 1960s/early 70s when residents and businesses alike abandoned core cities for the safer suburbs. Albeit on a much smaller scale thus far. I also wonder how many of those companies that have vacated did so due to the workforce mode shift to remote work. Not as much office space is needed right now.

Well that would be a let down hahahah. I'm sure I'm in the minority but I wouldn't give two craps about a flight museum at the airport. More flights, more airlines, and continued improved infrastructure like an air traffic control tower for grown ups is all I get excited about these days.

Ada is designed to look like a quaint small town center. Not sure that model would play out the same way in Rogers plaza where the neighboring demographics have household incomes around 1/3rd that of Ada. I would think 77k person Wyoming would want something a bit more "mid-risey", to try and draw in a higher earning labor base.

That's almost dead even. Were there any weather events in March that hampered airport activity? That can represent 10k+ passenger swing depending on severity. This winter saw some pretty big snow events, I'm not sure how they weigh into overall traffic numbers. I think April will be pretty telling.

This is epic. That part of Godfrey has the perfect bones to be one of the coolest neighborhoods in the city. Has the city rebuilt Godfrey between Market and the Wyoming border yet? That had to be a street in some of the worst conditions in town.