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Predictions for the coming year


GRDadof3

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15 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

I'm glad to see a few posts in this thread. There's certainly a lot to be excited about for the upcoming year(s). Everyone's so dour but there is much to celebrate. 

Just to clarify, I'm still very positive about what's going on downtown. My predictions are just my thoughts on what I think might happen. I still hope the Hinman tower goes through (and isn't downsized TOO much).

Joe

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I'm looking out on the west side from a spot at work, and I gotta wonder when we see a 12-15 story tower built on Bridge or Fulton. I'd have to imagine the demand for such a development on the west side is the next big thing as the density continues rise and the area transforms. That's my prediction. We see a proposal for such a thing.

Edited by ironyisadeadscene
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3 hours ago, ironyisadeadscene said:

I'm looking out on the west side from a spot at work, and I gotta wonder when we see a 12-15 story tower built on Bridge or Fulton. I'd have to imagine the demand for such a development on the west side is the next big thing as the density continues rise and the area transforms. That's my prediction. We see a proposal for such a thing.

The expansion of the downtown overlay district zoning changes approved last spring allow for up to  16  stories  (10 stories by right with 6 bonus stories) from  the US-131 west to  Summer/Alabama and up to 12 stories  (7 stories by right with 5 bonus stories)  west of Summer to the train tracks.  At all of the neighborhood meetings and some private conversations I had with our city commissioners and local developers they stated there were no immediate plans for buildings of these heights but I wouldn't imagine that it's that far off. Of course, a developer would never dare to break the 12 story glass ceiling in GR. 

 

http://grcity.us/PublishingImages/Pages/Forms/EditForm/Proposed Zoning with DH-2(a) reduced.pdf

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3 hours ago, thebeerqueer said:

The expansion of the downtown overlay district zoning changes approved last spring allow for up to  16  stories  (10 stories by right with 6 bonus stories) from  the US-131 west to  Summer/Alabama and up to 12 stories  (7 stories by right with 5 bonus stories)  west of Summer to the train tracks.  At all of the neighborhood meetings and some private conversations I had with our city commissioners and local developers they stated there were no immediate plans for buildings of these heights but I wouldn't imagine that it's that far off. Of course, a developer would never dare to break the 12 story glass ceiling in GR. 

 

http://grcity.us/PublishingImages/Pages/Forms/EditForm/Proposed Zoning with DH-2(a) reduced.pdf

I think we should embrace the 12 stories. Make it our thing. Washington DC has a height limit based on the width of the streets (twice the street width I think?). DC is one of my favorite cities, and no skyscrapers. :)

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54 minutes ago, arcturus said:

Amtrak continues its once a day service to/from Chicago starting at 6 am and not arriving back til 11:39 pm.  Tough commute.

Well your prediction is wrong.  Amtrak announced that they are changing the schedule on February 19 and shortening trip times since CSX is allowing them to go faster.  The only thing is, they haven't bothered to announce what the new schedule will be:

amtrak mystery announcement

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11 hours ago, walker said:

Well your prediction is wrong.  Amtrak announced that they are changing the schedule on February 19 and shortening trip times since CSX is allowing them to go faster.  The only thing is, they haven't bothered to announce what the new schedule will be:

amtrak mystery announcement

Depending on the announced schedule, I may actually take Amtrak again. It is kind of sad right now that you can take a bus to Kalamazoo, hop on the train there, and still get to Chicago faster.

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14 hours ago, walker said:

Well your prediction is wrong.  Amtrak announced that they are changing the schedule on February 19 and shortening trip times since CSX is allowing them to go faster.  The only thing is, they haven't bothered to announce what the new schedule will be:

amtrak mystery announcement

Your link doesn't disprove my prediction.  GR departure and GR arrival could remain the same. 

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5 hours ago, arcturus said:

Your link doesn't disprove my prediction.  GR departure and GR arrival could remain the same. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if you are right.  Wild speculation here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re trying to see if they can execute a schedule where the train arrives early enough in Chicago and departs late enough from Chicago so that they can add a second train from Chicago to Grand Rapids and back using the same train set.  They’ve sort of done that the last couple of years during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays but because of the current slow schedule they can only round trip to Holland. 

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1 hour ago, Raildude's dad said:

The link goes to the current schedule effective Jan 22nd  not the Feb 19th one

Huh?   What link are you talking about?  The link I posted is just an Amtrak announcement that there will be a schedule change on Feb. 19.  It strangely doesn't show a schedule at all, new or old.   

Edited by walker
for missing word and clarity
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Depending on your browser (I have different at home than work) "Schedules" is a link to the  schedule which opens to the January one. You might not see it's link if it doesn't high light. Thus the comment by arcturus the beginning and end times are the same. Otherwise why even make the announcement.

 

image.thumb.png.760e770dc7e9f014fcf3ba3aebee0730.png

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1 hour ago, Raildude's dad said:

Depending on your browser (I have different at home than work) "Schedules" is a link to the  schedule which opens to the January one. You might not see it's link if it doesn't high light. Thus the comment by arcturus the beginning and end times are the same. Otherwise why even make the announcement.

OK, I see what you are saying, you are right I didn't see the "Schedules" link inside the page and that link goes to the schedule published January 22  as you said which doesn't show the Pere Marquette schedule changes effective Feb. 19.  So to my original point, what the actual schedule changes are that they announced still seems to be a mystery.  I even went into their reservation system and tried looking at future trains a few months out, and it always returned the times of the old current schedule including not only the times that arcturus mentioned but also the arrival and departure times in Chicago and all the intermediate stops.  All the same times they've had for a couple of years.   For whatever reason, it seems they haven't yet loaded the new schedule into their reservation system or announced the new schedule times even though they announced that a new schedule starts Feb. 19.   

Edited by walker
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On 1/31/2018 at 7:31 PM, arcturus said:

Amtrak continues its once a day service to/from Chicago starting at 6 am and not arriving back til 11:39 pm.  Tough commute.

 

On 2/1/2018 at 11:10 AM, arcturus said:

Your link doesn't disprove my prediction.  GR departure and GR arrival could remain the same. 

Since I started this, I feel obligated to finish it.   Amtrak finally loaded the new schedule into their reservation system and the change is so slight it's hardly worth writing about.  Train leaves Grand Rapids still at 6 am and is scheduled to make it back to GR at 11:34 pm.  It is also scheduled to arrive three minutes sooner in Chicago than before.  The departure times remain the same in both Grand Rapids and Chicago.

And so arcturus,  this change is so insignificant, I retract my statement that your prediction is wrong.         

Edited by walker
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On 1/7/2018 at 7:50 PM, walker said:

) Accordion music after decades of decline begins to come back starting on the old west side.  Not everyone is happy

5a7f6aa433a5a_WeirdAlYankovicaccordion.jpg.8d303c2b107f5a8f8247881761f6b07d.jpg

Not exactly how I envisioned it but it looks like my prediction is about to come true next month:

Weird Al Yankovic is bringing his accordion to 20 Monroe Live Saturday March 10 (20 Monroe NW –wrong side of the river but technically the west side.) 
20 monroe live event

And considering his humor, not everyone will likely be happy.

How's that for wild speculation?

 

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4 minutes ago, jonrapley said:

With all these new hotels planned or under construction i am predicting before the end of the year we will see expansion plans for the convention center. 

Like on the post office property maybe?   There's been rumblings about that property for years.  It's gotta be a gigantic empty space once you tear out all of the sorting facility equipment, or maybe they would demo it and redo?  Speculation is fun :D   Also welcome! 

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