Village of Ada - Complete Makeover

[joeDowntown]

Wingbert, you seem to have an axe to grind in this thread. Move on. 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

10 hours ago, mielsonwheels said:

The white brick will be the portion of the building nearest the corner, then the portion of the building south of the archway along Headley will become red brick.

Below shows a better angle of what the building will look like along Ada, with different color brick for each retail space, I like how the different colors differentiate the different retail spaces.

Danggg. As a relatively recent formal "resident" of Ada, I'm excited to see all of this. 

[wingbert]

17 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Wingbert, you seem to have an axe to grind in this thread. Move on. 

Joe

I don't have an axe to grind.  I live there, I don't like it, that's my opinion.  What I object to is your heavy-handed moderation dictating that I either have to like it or be quiet.

[joeDowntown]

On 6/27/2018 at 10:44 AM, wingbert said:

I don't have an axe to grind.  I live there, I don't like it, that's my opinion.  What I object to is your heavy-handed moderation dictating that I either have to like it or be quiet.

Wingbert,

It's us “heavy handed” moderators who have kept this forum moving for the last fifteen years. Your constant need to dump on this project is exhausting. We all know you don’t like it. Move along. 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

20 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Wingbert,

its us “heavy handed” moderators who have kept this forum moving for the last fifteen years. Your constant need to dump on this project is exhausting. We all know you don’t like it. Move along. 

Joe

I'm only heavy handed every other year. Or maybe every other 6 months? It cycles.

[Chester Cheeto]

The old Zeytin building in Ada is coming down.

Not sure how firm the plans are, but I've heard that there is going to be a hotel going up where this building is soon to be removed.

Also, the building at the corner of Ada and Headley has all the stair/elevator cores up, I'll try to get a picture but it's an awkward site to get a good picture.

[GVSUChris]

4 minutes ago, mielsonwheels said:

The old Zeytin building in Ada is coming down.

Not sure how firm the plans are, but I've heard that there is going to be a hotel going up where this building is soon to be removed.

Also, the building at the corner of Ada and Headley has all the stair/elevator cores up, I'll try to get a picture but it's an awkward site to get a good picture.

That wouldn't be surprising because at one point the site where the new library is going was being looked at for a boutique hotel. I think that'd be great! 

[Chester Cheeto]

Progress shot of the new building at the corner of Ada and Headley.

There is one more stair core further back along Headley, unfortunately my camera phone doesn't have a wide angle lens.

[GRDadof3]

This might be old news but I noticed the other day that the last of the old strip mall is now gone. Has anyone found an example of this anywhere else in the country where an entire town has been rebuilt from scratch? I'm just curious. 

[mpchicago]

29 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

This might be old news but I noticed the other day that the last of the old strip mall is now gone. Has anyone found an example of this anywhere else in the country where an entire town has been rebuilt from scratch? I'm just curious. 

Yes, Grand Rapids, MI.  Urban renewal.     It wasn't the entire downtown, but they also didn't demo all of downtown Ada either.  

[GRDadof3]

2 minutes ago, mpchicago said:

Yes, Grand Rapids, MI.  Urban renewal.     It wasn't the entire downtown, but they also didn't demo all of downtown Ada either.  

Haha, touche'.  I mean recently. 

[joeDowntown]

I think Gaslight Village (the old Jacobson’s) site is a good comparison. Though I think by the time Ada is done it’ll be 8 or 10 blocks worth of buildings, so it’ll definitely outpace the EGR redo. 

Joe

[wingbert]

On 9/25/2018 at 8:16 AM, GRDadof3 said:

This might be old news but I noticed the other day that the last of the old strip mall is now gone. Has anyone found an example of this anywhere else in the country where an entire town has been rebuilt from scratch? I'm just curious. 

 

[GRDadof3]

5 hours ago, wingbert said:

 

Wow that is awesome. 

[GRDadof3]

Aha! I figured out an example of this: New Albany, OH. It was a sleepy suburban community outside of Columbus until Les Wexler (billionaire founder of The Limited, Ambercrombie & Fitch, Victoria's Secret) built a home there and then pressured the city to have the whole architectural style of anything new built in the city match his Georgian Colonial estate. A friend of mine lived close to there in the 2000's and told me about it.

Though the architectural style is different from Ada, the direction is eerily similar. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Albany,_Ohio

https://www.google.com/search?q=new+albany,+ohio&rlz=1C1ZKTG_enUS782US782&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjL-O6Hj-bdAhWm64MKHflSBVMQ_AUIECgD&biw=1536&bih=754

 

[GRDadof3]

In other Ada news, Amway is apparently closing two of their plants in Ada (old technology), but it won't affect any employment numbers. 

What were they doing again with the far Eastern part of their campus? They keep moving dirt around and cleaning it up. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

In other Ada news, Amway is apparently closing two of their plants in Ada (old technology), but it won't affect any employment numbers. 

What were they doing again with the far Eastern part of their campus? They keep moving dirt around and cleaning it up. 

I always wonder the same thing.  I always assumed it was a plant expansion, but it's been fenced off for a long time.

I think most production has moved to Vietnam.

[GRDadof3]

4 minutes ago, Floyd_Z said:

I always wonder the same thing.  I always assumed it was a plant expansion, but it's been fenced off for a long time.

I think most production has moved to Vietnam.

Not surprising. And they said that part of their production here was for powdered detergent, which most of the stuff on the shelves now is going to detergent pods. 

I thought at one time someone said it was going to be an "extension" of the downtown Ada project, with not much else given. 

[joeDowntown]

14 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

In other Ada news, Amway is apparently closing two of their plants in Ada (old technology), but it won't affect any employment numbers. 

What were they doing again with the far Eastern part of their campus? They keep moving dirt around and cleaning it up. 

I’m pretty sure part of it is becoming a riverfront park. 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

11 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

I’m pretty sure part of it is becoming a riverfront park. 

Joe

Yes, that was it Joe. Thanks!

[Sparty97]

13 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

I’m pretty sure part of it is becoming a riverfront park. 

Joe

Wow, had not heard that.  That is a prime piece of real estate and could make for a really nice park.

[GVSUChris]

I had heard for some time that a boutique hotel was in the works. Another great addition to this project! 

https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/cityflats-plans-new-hotel-for-ada-village/1620935442

[joeDowntown]

2 hours ago, GVSUChris said:

I had heard for some time that a boutique hotel was in the works. Another great addition to this project! 

https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/cityflats-plans-new-hotel-for-ada-village/1620935442

That is really cool, and quite surprising. I was 110% sure that if a hotel went in Ada, it'd be under the Amway umbrella. 

I like City Flats and it's great to see a local "chain" get built. 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

2 hours ago, GVSUChris said:

I had heard for some time that a boutique hotel was in the works. Another great addition to this project! 

https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/cityflats-plans-new-hotel-for-ada-village/1620935442

Will they have avacado toast??!!  This is awesome news. 

Anyone know what lot this is going on?

[GRLaker]

32 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

Will they have avacado toast??!!  This is awesome news. 

Anyone know what lot this is going on?

Very nice. This is the perfect place for a City Flats. Another great addition to a great project.