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Twelve Weston (Formerly known as 35 and 41 S Division)


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While I'm not shocked (it was in my predictions for 2016), I do think the silver lining in the story is it is great to see other buildings being upgraded instead of new development, a shuffle of tenants, and then buildings being underutilized. Even Bridgewater seems to be recovering, which was probably the largest office space shuffle downtown has seen (since the urban renewal). 

Joe

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I agree there has been a lot of shuffling of the deck chairs.  I wonder what the office market would really look like if you did three things: 

1) Put Waters back how it was; 2) Put the space CWD has been withholding all officially back on the market; and 3) Put Spectrum's IT Department back wherever they were before.  

#3 ruined the market for existing space (parking) and made downtown seem packed.  #2 is (potentially) making the vacancy rate look artificially low, and #1 resulted in a tremendous number of people having to move and fill up space elsewhere.   It seems like there has been a lot of growth, but I have to wonder how much there actually has been.  The DDA report claiming 10,000 new workers seems a little hard to swallow.  Where did they put them all without building a few massive buildings?  Are they counting medical and education workers?  That to me is sort of a separate sector since most of those things are walled enclaves.  

Edited by x99
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  • 2 months later...
1 hour ago, GVSUChris said:

With this street already being such a hotly discussed topic in Grand Rapids, I will be curious as to how this (if at all) affects the conversation. 

 

https://mibiz.com/item/23893-proposed-12-weston-office-tower-property-sold-to-ann-arbor-developer-affordable-housing-planned

Doesn't seem like a good sign. Lack of interest for office in that area makes me wonder who will be interested in the affordable housing there...

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“We always felt affordable housing could be a great use for the site, and market factors make it a stronger and viable option,” Rockford Construction CEO Mike VanGessel said in the statement. “We look forward to next steps with the Historic Preservation Commission to consider this project and create an important piece of architecture on a crucial downtown corridor.”

 

Sounds like a fancy way to polish a turd. And sorry to say, but Rockford Construction wouldn't know an important piece of architecture even if a building was labeled as one. 

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I just hope they come through with the "quality" they are talking about in this article.

after digging a bit I realized LC Companies is the same developer that renovated the Klingman building and Baker Lofts. I heard they did a great job on those buildings, sparing no expense on shoring up the Klingnmans building. That's encouraging! 

Joe

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10 hours ago, ironyisadeadscene said:

I would live there, if it was decent and I could afford it

Well all of the recent publicity of that area doesn't help. It might tell of the office demand here but with the recent drama over the donut shop and other stories surrounding there it makes me wonder. But hey, if it looked good and was affordable, I wouldn't mind being there either. :)

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8 hours ago, WMrapids said:

Well all of the recent publicity of that area doesn't help. It might tell of the office demand here but with the recent drama over the donut shop and other stories surrounding there it makes me wonder. But hey, if it looked good and was affordable, I wouldn't mind being there either. :)

My current place isn't bad, it's just boring. I'd love to live downtown, but it's just expensive. 

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Looks like the apartments will actually be affordable while NOT being income restricted for most of the units. Some two bedroom units will be like $450 per month (obviously income restricted) while the majority will be $900 for two bedroom units. That $900 price tag tells me that downtown might actually start being filled by apartments that the average local can actually afford. 

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1 hour ago, GRLaker said:

Looks like the apartments will actually be affordable while NOT being income restricted for most of the units. Some two bedroom units will be like $450 per month (obviously income restricted) while the majority will be $900 for two bedroom units. That $900 price tag tells me that downtown might actually start being filled by apartments that the average local can actually afford. 

Where did you see that? I've only seen that they will be seeking LIHTC which would require income restrictions on those units, unless they plan to do a mix like 20 Fulton East. 

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42 minutes ago, Prankster said:

4 to 6 stories, what an iconic piece of architecture that will be. 

Let us hope that it's six stories. It's a big step down from an office tower, but of course it beats a hole in the ground and definitely beats what was there before.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 9/6/2016 at 10:11 AM, wingbert said:

Apparently this was the design spec provided to the architect/designer.

 

a40d81b1d30789f3ed2959f3c5f1132f.jpg

Pretty much.... I like that they took a traditional brick look, but I don't know why they think that means it has to be completely boring. The old buildings that were there before had a lot of cool stuff going on.

Edited by x99
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