New projects on the West Side

[arcturus]

On 3/21/2022 at 3:45 PM, Floyd_Z said:

I heard there may possibly be another infill project along Leonard.  Four stories, mixed use!  So now we have the warehouse at 930 Leonard (which looks great and almost completed), Peoples Cider building at 555 Leonard, Victory Apartments at the old YMCA (foundation work started), the new event facility at the old West Leonard Elementary, and a couple of new dispensaries.   

It also looks like 662 is being renovated.  

Was kind of wondering if Leonard was going to perk up.  Good to see.

https://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/topic/120777-leonard-st-nw/#comment-1756176

 

Edited March 23 by arcturus

[joeDowntown]

2 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

From someone who sells real estate for a living, if you're buying a house with a big open field behind it, you should just assume there will be homes there some day (and maybe someday soon).  Unless you're wait out in the hinterlands with no water and sewer, then you might be safe for a while. 

Exactly why I didn’t give it much thought. Cool house, but hard pass on the lot/ 4 mile is going to be a very busy road in the next few years with all of the light industrial being built in the area. 

I do think the golf course is an ideal spot for housing though. 

Joe

[grandrollerz]

22 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

From someone who sells real estate for a living, if you're buying a house with a big open field behind it, you should just assume there will be homes there some day (and maybe someday soon).  Unless you're wait out in the hinterlands with no water and sewer, then you might be safe for a while. 

ha! right. My parents moved to Standale for that reason in 1995.  Leonard and Kinney.  Whoops!  Now it looks/feels just like the North End they vacated.....just bigger houses.

[Floyd_Z]

My thought is... if you don't own the land, expect it to get developed.  Like the project on Griggs by Burton and Breton or the one off of Kutshill south of Rockford.  It's just suburban NIMBYism, with the same sorry BS arguments... increased traffic, lower home values, increased crime (?!).  (The project off from Griggs is 55+ and $400k+ condos). If you read the Alpine township PC minutes there is a resident complaining that this will increase the diversity in the school district and she will be moving and sending her kids elsewhere.  Good riddance.  

[Cookin_peacocks]

14 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

My thought is... if you don't own the land, expect it to get developed.  Like the project on Griggs by Burton and Breton or the one off of Kutshill south of Rockford.  It's just suburban NIMBYism, with the same sorry BS arguments... increased traffic, lower home values, increased crime (?!).  (The project off from Griggs is 55+ and $400k+ condos). If you read the Alpine township PC minutes there is a resident complaining that this will increase the diversity in the school district and she will be moving and sending her kids elsewhere.  Good riddance.  

What project is this Griggs project? Must have missed it?

[cstonesparty]

16 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

My thought is... if you don't own the land, expect it to get developed.  Like the project on Griggs by Burton and Breton or the one off of Kutshill south of Rockford.  It's just suburban NIMBYism, with the same sorry BS arguments... increased traffic, lower home values, increased crime (?!).  (The project off from Griggs is 55+ and $400k+ condos). If you read the Alpine township PC minutes there is a resident complaining that this will increase the diversity in the school district and she will be moving and sending her kids elsewhere.  Good riddance.  

I saw that exact quote in the minutes negatively referring to increased diversity.  My jaw dropped…

[GR8scott]

somewhat off topic but Ive been thinking about this for a while; when did the city(s) just stop developing throughfares and continue to allow just "closed in" developments? It seems to me maybe around the 60s they stopped building main roads, theres plenty of stretches that could be "filled in" which would relieve a lot of traffic on many areas and spread it out as populations grow larger and larger. In GR its most prevalent on the NE side but also Kentwood, and to stick to this Westside topic here is Walker to show what I mean highlighting black where there are gaps that should be through streets most notably connecting Kenowa through LMD and extending Fulton out to Kenowa which should reduce traffic on LMD and Wilson and allow for quicker access to many of the closed of nearby residential areas; 

ok nerd rant over 

[Floyd_Z]

7 hours ago, Cookin_peacocks said:

What project is this Griggs project? Must have missed it?

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2020/08/senior-housing-development-in-grand-rapids-approved-despite-neighbor-pushback.html

This is the project.  I can try to find the old PC agenda packet with all the correspondence from all the neighbors, some of their arguments against it are almost hysterical.

[wingbert]

20 hours ago, GR8scott said:

somewhat off topic but Ive been thinking about this for a while; when did the city(s) just stop developing throughfares and continue to allow just "closed in" developments? It seems to me maybe around the 60s they stopped building main roads, theres plenty of stretches that could be "filled in" which would relieve a lot of traffic on many areas and spread it out as populations grow larger and larger. In GR its most prevalent on the NE side but also Kentwood, and to stick to this Westside topic here is Walker to show what I mean highlighting black where there are gaps that should be through streets most notably connecting Kenowa through LMD and extending Fulton out to Kenowa which should reduce traffic on LMD and Wilson and allow for quicker access to many of the closed of nearby residential areas; 

ok nerd rant over 

I don’t think it’s a rant.  You make a good point.  I’ve noticed the same thing.  Streets, roads and highways in the area don’t seem to have kept up with population growth and traffic patterns in many cases.

[cstonesparty]

21 hours ago, GR8scott said:

somewhat off topic but Ive been thinking about this for a while; when did the city(s) just stop developing throughfares and continue to allow just "closed in" developments? It seems to me maybe around the 60s they stopped building main roads, theres plenty of stretches that could be "filled in" which would relieve a lot of traffic on many areas and spread it out as populations grow larger and larger. In GR its most prevalent on the NE side but also Kentwood, and to stick to this Westside topic here is Walker to show what I mean highlighting black where there are gaps that should be through streets most notably connecting Kenowa through LMD and extending Fulton out to Kenowa which should reduce traffic on LMD and Wilson and allow for quicker access to many of the closed of nearby residential areas; 

ok nerd rant over 

As a resident in that area, the north/south through streets are least effective attm. I wouldn’t advocate for the 7th St you’ve sketched for east/west.  I don’t think the Fulton extensions would be very useful for through traffic either.  IMHO, improving O’Brien and Richmond would be far more effective for East/West.  8th ave would eventually funnel to Wilson near the river and that’s a mess that is begging for improvement.  Wilson is overloaded constantly and frequent site of accidents.  The New through road you placed on top of the Meijer trail in Standale is unusual to me.  Why wouldn’t you develop Kinney instead?  Covell and Collindale to the east also need improvement to effectively serve as through streets.  Neither are truck routes attm and residents go berserk if trucks use them…

[GRDadof3]

In not as big of news, Harmony Hall is looking to add an outdoor beer garden on part of their parking lot. 

[civitas]

On 3/24/2022 at 9:58 AM, Cookin_peacocks said:

What project is this Griggs project? Must have missed it?

Griggs (Breton Hamlet) is another creative development from Brad Rottschaffer at Mosaic Properties with multiple unit types and well detailed.  

[grandrollerz]

That's beautiful. Looks to be double the number of single-family homes/lots that could have been put there. huzzah!

[Cookin_peacocks]

9 minutes ago, grandrollerz said:

That's beautiful. Looks to be double the number of single-family homes/lots that could have been put there. huzzah!

Bummer for those who like the view of the woods outside their window. But that's city living!

[walker]

I like it.  I suspect the neighbors on Griggs though would prefer that there was access from Breton rather than their street. 

[cstonesparty]

5 hours ago, civitas said:

Griggs (Breton Hamlet) is another creative development from Brad Rottschaffer at Mosaic Properties with multiple unit types and well detailed.  

Mosaic sure has guts to try things other W. Mich developers won't.  Really unique development for G.R...

[joeDowntown]

I agree. mosaic always does solid work and tends to do developments (Balsam Hills, Celadon) that aren’t usually seen in GR. 

Joe

[thebeerqueer]

On 4/1/2022 at 10:49 AM, GRDadof3 said:

In not as big of news, Harmony Hall is looking to add an outdoor beer garden on part of their parking lot. 

Planning commission approved Harmony Hall's request to add the outdoor beer garden. I would imagine it will do well. 

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/grs-harmony-hall-to-add-bridge-street-beer-garden/

 

Also, I noticed Cedar Springs Brewery's Küsterer Brauhaus  has made some progress, tables in chairs are inside all wrapped in plastic. I'm interested to see the growth west down Bridge St. 

[HavingAhoot]

On 4/15/2022 at 9:21 AM, thebeerqueer said:

Planning commission approved Harmony Hall's request to add the outdoor beer garden. I would imagine it will do well. 

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/grs-harmony-hall-to-add-bridge-street-beer-garden/

 

Also, I noticed Cedar Springs Brewery's Küsterer Brauhaus  has made some progress, tables in chairs are inside all wrapped in plastic. I'm interested to see the growth west down Bridge St. 

I wonder how close that cedar spring 2nd brewery that is across the  street is to opening? I looks done.

[GRDadof3]

On 4/15/2022 at 9:21 AM, thebeerqueer said:

Planning commission approved Harmony Hall's request to add the outdoor beer garden. I would imagine it will do well. 

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/grs-harmony-hall-to-add-bridge-street-beer-garden/

 

Also, I noticed Cedar Springs Brewery's Küsterer Brauhaus  has made some progress, tables in chairs are inside all wrapped in plastic. I'm interested to see the growth west down Bridge St. 

I hope this works out for them to stir some business. My daughter was there the other night at 6:30 and she said they were one of only like 4 or 5 tables of people there, in that giant upstairs space. When every place else in town is 1.5 - 2 hour waits at that time. 

 

 

[thebeerqueer]

4 hours ago, HavingAhoot said:

I wonder how close that cedar spring 2nd brewery that is across the  street is to opening? I looks done.

I'll try to peek in soon but I agree that it looks done. Unless there's kitchen/brewing equipment they're waiting on. 

 

2 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

I hope this works out for them to stir some business. My daughter was there the other night at 6:30 and she said they were one of only like 4 or 5 tables of people there, in that giant upstairs space. When every place else in town is 1.5 - 2 hour waits at that time. 

 

 

I hope so too. I haven't been there in a minute but most Thur-Sat nights they seem pretty busy. 

[joeDowntown]

2 hours ago, thebeerqueer said:

I'll try to peek in soon but I agree that it looks done. Unless there's kitchen/brewing equipment they're waiting on. 

 

I hope so too. I haven't been there in a minute but most Thur-Sat nights they seem pretty busy. 

I think part of the problem with Harmony is it doesn't look open. I honestly thought they had closed during Covid and never opened back up. I drove by one day and we didn't eat there. Then I saw some ransom band was playing there, dug into and realized they'd been open all along. I don't know if they need additional signage, or what, but people sitting on a patio should help (in the warmer months). Maybe the Cedar Brewery bar will add some critical mass to that block.

Joe

[Pattmost20]

18 hours ago, thebeerqueer said:

I'll try to peek in soon but I agree that it looks done. Unless there's kitchen/brewing equipment they're waiting on

They should be open in May. They were close for April but the owner is taking a trip to Germany and wanted to wait until after. 

They will not have kitchen equipment, so they are pretty much done. 

[thebeerqueer]

5 hours ago, Pattmost20 said:

They should be open in May. They were close for April but the owner is taking a trip to Germany and wanted to wait until after. 

They will not have kitchen equipment, so they are pretty much done. 

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to that May opening.  

[Pattmost20]

20 hours ago, thebeerqueer said:

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to that May opening.  

Yeah funny enough I'm on a plane to Minneapolis right now and the owner is across the aisle from me. I guess his trip is starting today.