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Keeler Building - 56 North Division


joeDowntown

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2 hours ago, MJLO said:

Really the Omni?  I think it's one of the ugliest buildings built in the last 10 years.  GR already has plenty of characterless boxes where they used "abstract" window patterns in place of actual architectural features lol.  Might be better off keeping the Keeler empty.  I cant imagine how dated all of those buildings are going to look 15 years from now.  

Really? I LOVED it when I went down there.

 

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On 11/5/2021 at 4:34 PM, GVSUChris said:

Any idea if/when we'll hear some details for the plans/use? 

I'm itching for a good next-door neighbor(s) haha

The project name on the drawings is Keeler Flats.

Looks like ground floor retail, tenant space in the basement, then apartments from the second floor on up.

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  • 2 years later...
10 hours ago, GVSUChris said:

Waking this thread up - 

I noticed on the Building Eye website that there's a lengthy application for apartments, parking, and commercial space. Anyone know anything about this? We at Fountain Street Church next-door are in a perpetual state of hope cycles that something will happen with this building - haha. 

Do you have a link? I haven't seen anything about this building. Seems absurd to me that this building is still empty if they could solve the parking problem. 

One thought that I always had to make that building work for residential; what if they put courtyards in to allow smaller foot prints of apartments, with interior facing apartments. You could potentially have the courtyard go to the second floor, allowing larger 1st level floors (or not), and have some interesting outdoor spaces/community areas on part of the second floor (with elevator shafts, stairways in the center). This is what I'd do:

 

keeler.png

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8 hours ago, Cookin_peacocks said:

Wasn't there a plan to add several floors to this a few years ago?

Frankly, I say raze it and start over. Great location for something prominent.

No, we don't raze a NRHP building in this city. 

There was a plan in 2017 to renovate it into apartments. Obviously that hasn't materialized. But the link that walker has posted does have a recent 2023 date for some plans. It's certainly something to keep an eye on in the coming months on the planning commission agenda. 

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8 hours ago, Cookin_peacocks said:

Wasn't there a plan to add several floors to this a few years ago?

Frankly, I say raze it and start over. Great location for something prominent.

Oof. The idea of razing that building would break my heart. It’s a beautiful old building that had a terrible landlord for years and just needs some love. Hope it gets renovated soon. It’s also such a huge waste (both historically and environmentally), the bones are good. Just rehab it to its former glory. 

As far as adding floors, i don’t remember a plan like that. Franklin Partners did have a plan to change the facade quite a bit, adding a multi story glass wall to the north side of the building, maybe that is what you are thinking of? 

Joe

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I'm still fine with demolishing everything above the front first 2 floors and build new from there, including that lot at the end of the block.

This place has been effectively empty nearing almost 20 years, and no one that proposes anything there are serious for more than 2 months. This poor thread is just pages and years of this.

 

If the building as-is was ever going to be utilized, it would have happened by now. No one wants to put the money into fixing this place, especially with some historic status on it.

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It will be interesting to see what happens. According to the Building Eye page @GVSUChris had mentioned, it says the following is proposed:
 

136 Residential Rental Units + 364 Parking Stalls with 12,125 +/- S/F of ground floor commercial.

Gross Square Feet equates to 190,680. There will be the following unit typologies delivered to the Grand Rapids Marketplace: 

Screenshot 2023-11-27 at 1.03.43 PM.png

Three things stick out to me:

1. It'll be affordable housing (with 35 units at 30%, so lower income (or student housing?) in 1/4th of the units). 
2. 364 parking spots. IMHO, this either had to come from starting from scratch (demolition) or building a parking structure on the Ellis lot next door. I can't imagine there is any way to squeeze a full parking ramp onto that lot w/out
3. It says 190,000 sq. feet. The Keeler building was listed at 164,000 sq. feet. So they either go up another level with a ramp on the Ellis lot, or start over (which seems crazy to me. Azzar is known to be shrewd (an asshole) and I doubt he's giving anything away for free. 

EDIT: I did a little more digging and it still seems like the "Keeler Flats I + II" concept from 2017 is still in play. They had proposed 132 apartments in 2017, and seem to still be going for funding.

It's interesting and confusing.

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27 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

It will be interesting to see what happens. According to the Building Eye page @GVSUChris had mentioned, it says the following is proposed:
 

136 Residential Rental Units + 364 Parking Stalls with 12,125 +/- S/F of ground floor commercial.

Gross Square Feet equates to 190,680. There will be the following unit typologies delivered to the Grand Rapids Marketplace: 

Screenshot 2023-11-27 at 1.03.43 PM.png

Three things stick out to me:

1. It'll be affordable housing (with 35 units at 30%, so lower income (or student housing?) in 1/4th of the units). 
2. 364 parking spots. IMHO, this either had to come from starting from scratch (demolition) or building a parking structure on the Ellis lot next door. I can't imagine there is any way to squeeze a full parking ramp onto that lot w/out
3. It says 190,000 sq. feet. The Keeler building was listed at 164,000 sq. feet. So they either go up another level with a ramp on the Ellis lot, or start over (which seems crazy to me. Azzar is known to be shrewd (an asshole) and I doubt he's giving anything away for free. 

It's interesting and confusing.

I don't think the city is allowing any more downtown ramps without air rights and ground floor retail. 

 

If that's the case, this is going to be real exciting.

 

I just hope something happens here. I know I said tear it down, but I'd be thrilled with a reno as well.

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2 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

EDIT: I did a little more digging and it still seems like the "Keeler Flats I + II" concept from 2017 is still in play. They had proposed 132 apartments in 2017, and seem to still be going for funding.
 

Low Income Housing Tax Credits are competitive. It may be that they keep coming up short every time they go for funding, and they've finally found the right combination of factors to actually get the tax credits. Just speculating.

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7 minutes ago, arcturus said:

My question is has the owner changed hands?  How can they afford the expense of keeping it empty?  Or potential revenue forgone post rehab?

Owned since 1995 by ARATH III INC. The parcel report has the address as 201  Cottage Grove SE, which is Azzar Store Equipment, butcher equipment supplies and wholesale.

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7 hours ago, arcturus said:

My question is has the owner changed hands?  How can they afford the expense of keeping it empty?  Or potential revenue forgone post rehab?

If you search for Azzar in this forum, you'll find a long history of him neglecting buildings, screwing people over, getting sued by the city. He used to own a lot of property around the city that he purchased when real estate was cheap. Don't know how (or why) he did it over the years. If you Google James Azzar, you'll see several lawsuits. I also found this thread from back in 2007:
 

Joe

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44 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

If you search for Azzar in this forum, you'll find a long history of him neglecting buildings, screwing people over, getting sued by the city. He used to own a lot of property around the city that he purchased when real estate was cheap. Don't know how (or why) he did it over the years. If you Google James Azzar, you'll see several lawsuits. I also found this thread from back in 2007:
 

Joe

So, if I recall this correctly, really the only one thing keeping this building from being redeveloped (or the plot of land) is a crapty owner? Why? Doesn't a building eventually get condemned and the city takes it over?

 

Seems incredibly unethical to own a prominent building and do nothing with it for no reason.

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2 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

If you search for Azzar in this forum, you'll find a long history of him neglecting buildings, screwing people over, getting sued by the city. He used to own a lot of property around the city that he purchased when real estate was cheap. Don't know how (or why) he did it over the years. If you Google James Azzar, you'll see several lawsuits. I also found this thread from back in 2007:
 

Joe

Yeah ask any city employee about Azzar and they will probably know who he is and have nothing good say about him.  He is the ultimate slumlord.  There was a lot of litigation over fixing the sidewalk vaults under this property and (IIRC) the city ended up footing the bill

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