New projects on the West Side

[walker]

On 1/21/2019 at 11:26 PM, walker said:

The BEFORE image below from  Google 2009 (when this was considered part of the slummy Cass Corridor neighborhood rather than hip Midtown) looks a lot like the west side does now with all the low-rise small manufacturing buildings.  I slid the image over a little to include the front door of one of my favorite Detroit restaurants, Traffic Jam & Snug.  It's been there since 1965.  I started going there in 1978 when I lived a few blocks to the north.  Still go there every time I am in Detroit.  I guess I was an early trend setter.  

 

I recommend this place if you are looking for  a good place to eat or drink.  They say they were the first brewpub in Michigan.  Here's their website:

traffic jam detroit

Nothing really to do with the west side except that the above was in a response to a comment by GRDadof3 back in 2019 about certain areas in midtown Detroit looking like the old industrial area of the west side near Bridge Street.  I recommended this restaurant, an old favorite of mine when I lived near by it.  If you didn't follow-up on my recommendation, it's too late now.  It burned down early this morning.    

FREE PRESS: traffic-jam-snug-restaurant-detroit-fire

Probably should have posted something over in the Detroit forum, but nobody seems to read that anymore.

 

[Guest]

https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/walker/city-of-walker-leaders-plan-public-hearing-on-plans-for-townhouse-development-between-alpine-avenue-and-west-river-drive/69-7b7dd6ae-a956-411d-9421-1ad8532e8a2d

186 townhomes proposed behind Target, AMC, etc.  Neighbors are opposed of course, but they did agree to add a 50 foot greenbelt in the 80s if it were to become developed.

There's gotta be 1,000+ housing units proposed for Walker, which is great!

[thebeerqueer]

On 5/27/2022 at 10:01 AM, Pattmost20 said:

I've interacted with that Peter Carlberg on Facebook before. None of them were ever pleasant. He is anti any development at all. 

 

On 5/27/2022 at 9:39 AM, demhem said:

Some of the long-time JBAN Board members seem to approach a lot of the new projects/investment in the neighborhood as an affront. In this case, the investment in a now vacant and existing commercial building.

As a former JBAN board member I fully agree with both of these statements. 

[Guest]

The Kim and Go was approved for downtown.  Lame.

[joeDowntown]

18 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

The Kim and Go was approved for downtown.  Lame.

Serious? WTF. Are you sure it’s the downtown location they proposed? They did get approval for location on the Beltline (which is in the city limits), but I can’t find anything that said they went back in front of the planning commission. I’m hoping that you mixed up the two locations. 

Joe

[Pattmost20]

Looks like Sovengard is pretty confident they'll be in their new home by September. 

[Guest]

On 6/4/2022 at 2:55 PM, joeDowntown said:

Serious? WTF. Are you sure it’s the downtown location they proposed? They did get approval for location on the Beltline (which is in the city limits), but I can’t find anything that said they went back in front of the planning commission. I’m hoping that you mixed up the two locations. 

Joe

Nevermind, the article I originally saw said downtown, but now it looks like it has changed to 28th street.  Phew.  I'm a little confused, I thought they pulled their application from the PC, but it still seems to be on the agenda?

 

[Pattmost20]

St. James Church on Bridge Street is going up for sale.

I'm curious to see who ends up buying it. It is such a landmark building, and with development pushing further down bridge, seems like it is ripe for redevelopment. 

[thebeerqueer]

10 hours ago, Pattmost20 said:

St. James Church on Bridge Street is going up for sale.

I'm curious to see who ends up buying it. It is such a landmark building, and with development pushing further down bridge, seems like it is ripe for redevelopment. 

I'm curious too! it's such a large property that could be redeveloped. With the current housing in the school and on the block, I'm very interested to see how a development can fit in the space. 

[thebeerqueer]

On 6/4/2022 at 4:32 PM, Pattmost20 said:

Looks like Sovengard is pretty confident they'll be in their new home by September. 

Does anyone have any idea who/what could take the place of the Sovengard space?  I heard a rumor this weekend that it could be a taproom for a west Michigan brewery but that seemed like a stretch but you never know. 

[joeDowntown]

I don’t know, but it sounds like Sovengard will be without a building for quite a while if they are closing in two months and the new building hasn’t been approved yet. Could mean someone is waiting in the wings. 

joe

[Guest]

Looks like the old Lannings restaurant building is (finally) coming down to be replaced by a new DeVries Jewelers space with residential above it.  I'll try to post renderings soon.

 

20 hours ago, Pattmost20 said:

St. James Church on Bridge Street is going up for sale.

I'm curious to see who ends up buying it. It is such a landmark building, and with development pushing further down bridge, seems like it is ripe for redevelopment. 

It is a large site with a large parking lot.  I would love to see some HDR there.  I wonder if there is any type of parking agreement with the library.

 

[joeDowntown]

Burger joint coming to the west side (next to Condado):

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/growing-in-gr-nonla-burger-coming-to-bridge-street/
 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

Dang. That's big.

https://mibiz.com/sections/real-estate-development/rockford-construction-plans-245-unit-apartment-building-parking-deck-on-gr-s-west-side

[Cookin_peacocks]

1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

Dang. That's big.

https://mibiz.com/sections/real-estate-development/rockford-construction-plans-245-unit-apartment-building-parking-deck-on-gr-s-west-side

Here's hoping this happens.

[MJLO]

It’s Rockford so the chances are higher for sure.

[joeDowntown]

That is great news. It sucks that consumers abandoned their plans for the west side though…

Now all we need is a soccer stadium on the west side.  if I say it’s bought times, maybe it’ll happen. Hah

Joe

[GRDadof3]

12 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

That is great news. It sucks that consumers abandoned their plans for the west side though…

Now all we need is a soccer stadium on the west side.  if I say it’s bought times, maybe it’ll happen. Hah

Joe

Yeah, we parked at that lot off of Winter to go out to eat on Bridge the other day and I was thinking about the soccer stadium project again.

Looks like this project will have the apartment building on the East lot and the parking deck across the street. The apartment building doesn't seem to have any visible parking floors so that's my reasoning anyway.

 

 

The arrow would be the vantage point for this particular rendering.

 

[Khorasaurus1]

This one of the few instances where I would support the PC waiving the activated ground floor requirement for the parking garage. Though I don't like how it looks in the rendering. There's a middle ground between non-viable retail and a blank concrete wall behind a dinky patch of grass. Even a bigger setback and some trees (like they have on the corner) would be better. 

[thebeerqueer]

51 minutes ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

This one of the few instances where I would support the PC waiving the activated ground floor requirement for the parking garage. Though I don't like how it looks in the rendering. There's a middle ground between non-viable retail and a blank concrete wall behind a dinky patch of grass. Even a bigger setback and some trees (like they have on the corner) would be better. 

I completely agree, there's an opportunity to make it more interesting while waiving the activated ground floor requirement. Hopefully some clever planners cook up some interesting ideas. 

Not nearly as impressive in scale as Rockford's news but further up Bridge St this little building is getting some love. 

 

https://mibiz.com/sections/real-estate-development/developer-plans-2-story-commercial-project-at-vacant-west-side-gr-property

[GRDadof3]

3 hours ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

This one of the few instances where I would support the PC waiving the activated ground floor requirement for the parking garage. Though I don't like how it looks in the rendering. There's a middle ground between non-viable retail and a blank concrete wall behind a dinky patch of grass. Even a bigger setback and some trees (like they have on the corner) would be better. 

That little corner is not a lot that Rockford owns. I believe it's part of the property of that little office building (MRetail I think is still in there). There used to be raised bed gardens there at one time. 

But I agree, a waiver here would be warranted. Retail on that backstreet would be challenging if not impossible. 

[Guest]

Wow!  Great infill!  There are still a ton of properties in the area that are ripe for development.

It would be nice if the city would partner with the developer and create a bigger parking structure.  It will be needed in the future.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Floyd_Z

[walker]

On 6/6/2022 at 9:24 AM, thebeerqueer said:

Does anyone have any idea who/what could take the place of the Sovengard space?  I heard a rumor this weekend that it could be a taproom for a west Michigan brewery but that seemed like a stretch but you never know. 

 

On 6/6/2022 at 6:11 PM, joeDowntown said:

I don’t know, but it sounds like Sovengard will be without a building for quite a while if they are closing in two months and the new building hasn’t been approved yet. Could mean someone is waiting in the wings. 

joe

So now we know, it's Broad Leaf Brewery that was waiting in the wings:

WOODTV: Bridge Street Shuffle - Broad Leaf to take Sovengard Space 

Edited June 29, 2022 by walker
fixed typo

[thebeerqueer]

16 hours ago, walker said:

 

So now we know, it's Broad Leaf Brewery that was waiting in the wings:

WOODTV: Bridge Street Shuffle - Broad Leaf to take Sovengard Space 

The source was right! So stoked for Broadleaf to come to the Westside! 

[joeDowntown]

25 minutes ago, thebeerqueer said:

The source was right! So stoked for Broadleaf to come to the Westside! 

That's great. Love that the outdoor area Sovengard had will be similar (shipping container and all). I've never tried Broad Leaf as I'm never in that "mode" when out of 29th street. Can't wait to try it! Also good news that Sovengard's plans are moving forward. A win-win for the west side!

Joe