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Village of Ada - Complete Makeover


joeDowntown

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21 hours ago, mielsonwheels said:

The wife and I recently traded city life for country living, I guess adding a few kids to the family makes one want to have room to spread out some, who knew...

Anyways, the random updates for projects around Belknap are going to stop from me.  But now since my commute to/from the office takes me through Ada, random update shots for all the construction going on there will happen sporadically.

These shots were taken heading north on Ada Dr, about to turn east onto Fulton.

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(sorry for the blur, light just turned green)

And here is Kingmas, which will have some frontage along Fulton itself.

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Looking at the overhead shot below, the first building is roughly the left half of the red box and a little beyond along Ada Dr, and Kingmas is roughly the right half of the red box and beyond with some frontage along Fulton.

There is also another building that just got the roof joists installed further west along Fulton, where Headley and Fulton intersect, I'll take a little detour tonight on my way home to snap a picture or two of that job site.

I was out at the bike shop the other day and that new Kingma development and the mixed-use next door are huge. 

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21 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Up the road on Ada drive, they're building a bunch of townhouses and single family homes (that look over the dam). The townhouses look pretty nice. Downtown Ada will be pretty impressive in a couple of years. The Kingma's will do really well in that area. 

http://www.riverpointofada.com

Joe

They're also building cottage-style homes right along Headley drive behind the daycare center and firehouse on Fulton. I think it's called Marketplace Condominiums. 25 units in 16 buildings. 

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I had heard some rumblings about this. $30/sf??? Yowza. 

Vitale's is moving out, Thornapple Grill (River House) closed, Saburba (which has great food btw) is struggling and has lost half their business, two other retailers are leaving the "strip mall" area. 

https://mibiz.com/news/design-build/item/24525-ada-businesses-concerned-over-building-costs,-parking-in-redevelopment-project

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1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

I had heard some rumblings about this. $30/sf??? Yowza. 

Vitale's is moving out, Thornapple Grill (River House) closed, Saburba (which has great food btw) is struggling and has lost half their business, two other retailers are leaving the "strip mall" area. 

https://mibiz.com/news/design-build/item/24525-ada-businesses-concerned-over-building-costs,-parking-in-redevelopment-project

It's kind of a shame.  Welcome to Main Street U.S.A. at Amwayworld.

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2 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

I had heard some rumblings about this. $30/sf??? Yowza. 

Vitale's is moving out, Thornapple Grill (River House) closed, Saburba (which has great food btw) is struggling and has lost half their business, two other retailers are leaving the "strip mall" area. 

https://mibiz.com/news/design-build/item/24525-ada-businesses-concerned-over-building-costs,-parking-in-redevelopment-project

How can Saburba be doing badly,  Do Amway workers not leave the nest for lunch? I would think that place would be packed.

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1 hour ago, EastownLeo said:

How can Saburba be doing badly,  Do Amway workers not leave the nest for lunch? I would think that place would be packed.

Amway has a full food court at its HQ's, and probably a lot of people bring lunch because running across Fulton sounds like real fun. #frogger 

Plus, unless you're Jimmy Johns, it's hard to survive on just the lunch crowd. 

All of the traffic has been routed to Headley and the main drag that they're on is not even really a through street any more. They put up signs along Headley which sounds like it helps a bit. They've been offered space in the new buildings but the rent is nearly double what they pay now (from what I remember, it's been a few months since I spoke to the owner/friend).

 

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On 2/20/2017 at 10:46 AM, GRDadof3 said:

Amway has a full food court at its HQ's, and probably a lot of people bring lunch because running across Fulton sounds like real fun. #frogger 

Plus, unless you're Jimmy Johns, it's hard to survive on just the lunch crowd. 

All of the traffic has been routed to Headley and the main drag that they're on is not even really a through street any more. They put up signs along Headley which sounds like it helps a bit. They've been offered space in the new buildings but the rent is nearly double what they pay now (from what I remember, it's been a few months since I spoke to the owner/friend).

 

GRDadof3 is right. Amway has one large food court and at least 3 other ones i'm aware of. They are always packed at lunch.

I've been in Saburba once and unfortunately my wife and I were the only ones in there. The food is good and unique.

Not sure if it was mentioned here already but Vitale's will be moving to where O'Brien's was. The current building is about 80% demolished. The new Vitale's building will be 2 stories so I'm told.

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7 hours ago, JimInGR said:

GRDadof3 is right. Amway has one large food court and at least 3 other ones i'm aware of. They are always packed at lunch.

I've been in Saburba once and unfortunately my wife and I were the only ones in there. The food is good and unique.

Not sure if it was mentioned here already but Vitale's will be moving to where O'Brien's was. The current building is about 80% demolished. The new Vitale's building will be 2 stories so I'm told.

I can also add that Mcdonald's is looking at partnering with one of the gas stations to build a restaurant combo with a drive thru along Fulton and exit their little dining room location in that strip mall.

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17 hours ago, JimInGR said:

GRDadof3 is right. Amway has one large food court and at least 3 other ones i'm aware of. They are always packed at lunch.

I've been in Saburba once and unfortunately my wife and I were the only ones in there. The food is good and unique.

Not sure if it was mentioned here already but Vitale's will be moving to where O'Brien's was. The current building is about 80% demolished. The new Vitale's building will be 2 stories so I'm told.

 

We love Saburba also (great food and great people), but we are only in downtown Ada every so often.   I'm hoping that once some of the road construction lessens, then the foot traffic will find them again.

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2 hours ago, Sparty97 said:

We love Saburba also (great food and great people), but we are only in downtown Ada every so often.   I'm hoping that once some of the road construction lessens, then the foot traffic will find them again.

I hear Nonna's (?) in Ada is phenomenal. Haven't tried it yet. I've always liked the Schitz's atmosphere above the bike shop too. Saburba is awesome. 

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  • 2 months later...

Building boom going on in Ada. 

This is actually not in the village, it's up the hill from downtown Ada right near the old schoolhouse that was turned into condos and offices. The project goes all the way back to the Thornapple River. Townhouses will set you back at the mid $400's. 

5916f07d8cabf_Ada1.thumb.jpg.f52bf3fe5267200dd200bbb42aca2489.jpg

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5916f08c6b4f1_Ada3.thumb.jpg.b1ddacecee8df73efe88b91b031306b3.jpg

 

The old Thornapple Grill/Riverhouse is now gone. Can't recall what's on the master plan for this site.

5916f09794bf0_Ada4.thumb.jpg.c2bff5bb3d00e49f118a0e4912d22878.jpg

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4 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Building boom going on in Ada. 

This is actually not in the village, it's up the hill from downtown Ada right near the old schoolhouse that was turned into condos and offices. The project goes all the way back to the Thornapple River. Townhouses will set you back at the mid $400's. 

5916f07d8cabf_Ada1.thumb.jpg.f52bf3fe5267200dd200bbb42aca2489.jpg

5916f085681ac_Ada2.thumb.jpg.754a331ab4e5cb8cacf894be3860818d.jpg

 

5916f08c6b4f1_Ada3.thumb.jpg.b1ddacecee8df73efe88b91b031306b3.jpg

 

The old Thornapple Grill/Riverhouse is now gone. Can't recall what's on the master plan for this site.

5916f09794bf0_Ada4.thumb.jpg.c2bff5bb3d00e49f118a0e4912d22878.jpg

I think this where the Grille was will be riverfront park space. 

The townhouses up the hill look really nice. Did anyone notice the J. Peterson (who does a lot of the knockdown/rebuilds in EGR) bought a small lot across Ada Drive from this development. I think I heard a couple more rowhouses. Not entirely sure, but it'd have to be a small number (2-3 max?). 

I like driving into Ada. It's almost like Playing Sim City. "What would you do if you built your own town". :)

Joe

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I heard many of the above rumblings myself recently.  A number of businesses have dropped out of this development and more are just waiting out their leases and moving away altogether.  Apparently, the cost to raise this area above flood plain is something only Amway can afford.  

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2 hours ago, elcelc said:

I heard many of the above rumblings myself recently.  A number of businesses have dropped out of this development and more are just waiting out their leases and moving away altogether.  Apparently, the cost to raise this area above flood plain is something only Amway can afford.  

I'm sure that is the case (I've heard it a few times myself). With that being said, I don't think this development is going to be hurting for tenants.

Vitale's is already pretty far along on their building located where O'Briens was located (west on Fulton). Didn't realize they were knocking down the existing building, but it is already gone and the new building is framed.

Joe

 

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10 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

I'm sure that is the case (I've heard it a few times myself). With that being said, I don't think this development is going to be hurting for tenants.

Vitale's is already pretty far along on their building located where O'Briens was located (west on Fulton). Didn't realize they were knocking down the existing building, but it is already gone and the new building is framed.

Joe

 

There are a couple of projects too that I didn't get pictures of: the building out near Fulton by the gas station. And there's another new housing development going in behind the daycare center. Just a marketing sign up now but it looked like some work was starting. 

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Does anyone know if they have plans for the old schoolhouse that sit next to the Thornapple Grille? I'm sure it was moved to the site, but it's a great little historic building. Hope they move it (as opposed to demolishing it) and keep it in the "Village".

Joe

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10 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

Does anyone know if they have plans for the old schoolhouse that sit next to the Thornapple Grille? I'm sure it was moved to the site, but it's a great little historic building. Hope they move it (as opposed to demolishing it) and keep it in the "Village".

Joe

I believe the current plan is to relocate it somewhere along the river off some park walking path and turn part of the building into a public restroom.

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On 5/13/2017 at 7:41 AM, GRDadof3 said:

The old Thornapple Grill/Riverhouse is now gone. Can't recall what's on the master plan for this site.

5916f09794bf0_Ada4.thumb.jpg.c2bff5bb3d00e49f118a0e4912d22878.jpg

I always liked this building.  It's a shame it had to die to satisfy the megalomaniacal fantasies of few pyramid scheme-touting Main Street Disney fetishists.

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5 hours ago, wingbert said:

I always liked this building.  It's a shame it had to die to satisfy the megalomaniacal fantasies of few pyramid scheme-touting Main Street Disney fetishists.

I think the building had lived a good life. It was starting to get pretty beat up, also kind of chopped up so the configuration was always weird (no matter what restaurant was occupying the space). The deck had a nice view, but now it'll be a public park. I think it's a good tradeoff. 

Joe

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Here's my question, with all this focus on the supposed beautification of downtown Ada, how in the hell did they allow a store to open right in the heart of the village called "Ada Liquor".  Not something clever like "The Bottle Shop" or simple like "Ada Spirits"???  However, Ada Liquor just doesn't sound like the kind of image the Amway families would want to project.  These people can get their own private heliports approved and have downtown city streets reconfigured to fit their own vision.  How could they let this happen?  I mean, which sounds like a shop in downtown Ada and which sounds like a shop on Michigan Street - Ada Liquor or PartyCooler?

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  • 2 months later...

I keep hearing of business after business in Ada shutting down.  Saburba being one of the latest due to construction, traffic flow, etc. Their revenues were down something like 35-40%.  

I've also heard that a few other successful businesses, that will be losing their current location, are researching leases in buildings outside of Ada due the drastic increase in costs with the new construction.  

I'm wondering how long after construction is complete before Ada can get back to where they were a year or two ago.  Is there a lot of interest from other businesses to move in??

Edited by Sparty97
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On 5/15/2017 at 8:54 AM, joeDowntown said:

Does anyone know if they have plans for the old schoolhouse that sit next to the Thornapple Grille? I'm sure it was moved to the site, but it's a great little historic building. Hope they move it (as opposed to demolishing it) and keep it in the "Village".

Joe

Cheri DeVos knows:

amway heir works to save old schoolhouse

Edited by walker
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