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twoshort

By twoshort
in Grand Rapids

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joeDowntown Metropolis

joeDowntown

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Although wouldn't this give the HPC a say in ANY new development? I think that would be a frightening proposition for downtown development.

Joe

It's been proposed and talked about several times.  There's always one or two "heavy hitters" that balk and the whole thing goes into remission for awhile. 

Having another historic district would make my life a lot simpler.

Nitro

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Nitro Burg

Nitro

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Although wouldn't this give the HPC a say in ANY new development? I think that would be a frightening proposition for downtown development.

Joe

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Yes, I guess it would. You'd have to take the good with the bad. If you're going to have a historic district then you ought to maintain it by having a body oversee it.

When I lived in Savannah we dealt with this all the time. You think we have a tough HPC, try dealing with the crowd down there. Frankly I love dealing with the HPC here, they're easy.

Nitro

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Nitro Burg

Nitro

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Nitro, how did you like Savannah? I am seriously considering relocating there.

Budgie

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I loved it, I miss it every day. I was there for two years and I wish I could spend another hundred there.

The people are very friendly and it's pretty safe as well. Being close to the Ocean was great. When you were downtown you could sit and watch the ocean freighters come up the Savannah River to the port. It was quite a site to see.

Savannah is a great walking town. You can park your car on the outskirts of the downtown area and walk forever. The urban plan is one of the best in the US and the architecture is spectacular as well.

If you have the chance I'd say go for it. I'd love to go back myself.

Nitro

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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My estimates have come up closer to the 250k per floor on that building.  You've also got a parking issue to deal with so residential doesn't make a lot of sense in that building.  However there is a horse carriage unloading easement in the back, so it's got that going for it.  :P

Nitro

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In regard to the Kendall Building:

I once saw a rehab in Chicago where they took the first floor (similar to this building) and made it the parking garage. They just tinted the windows on the street side so that pedestrians wouldn't see the cars. It would be unfortunate to lose the street-level retail here, but its better than what is there now. Is there access to the building from the rear (horse carriage easement)? I know a 3000 sq ft footprint is pretty small for a parking garage, but you could get maybe 12 or so stalls? (No SUV's) I have seen some pretty small parking spots in Chicago, and the parking spot my brother OWNS in Chicago is appreciating faster than his condo. $750,000 for the building, $250,000 per floor for $1,250,000 into renovations, sell the 2nd floor and 3rd floor as (3) 900 sq ft units, 4th and 5th floors split in half, average unit sale price for the whole building at $260,000 (extra $10,000 for each parking stall). You get $2,700,000 in revenue.

And most importantly, you would be doing this city and us all a great service :D Don't laugh if I way oversimplified this equation and made some broad assumptions.

Pistons are winning again. It's all good.

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Nitro Burg

Nitro

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In regard to the Kendall Building:

I once saw a rehab in Chicago where they took the first floor (similar to this building) and made it the parking garage.  They just tinted the windows on the street side so that pedestrians wouldn't see the cars.  It would be unfortunate to lose the street-level retail here, but its better than what is there now.  Is there access to the building from the rear (horse carriage easement)?  I know a 3000 sq ft footprint is pretty small for a parking garage, but you could get maybe 12 or so stalls? (No SUV's) I have seen some pretty small parking spots in Chicago, and the parking spot my brother OWNS in Chicago is appreciating faster than his condo.  $750,000 for the building, $250,000 per floor for $1,250,000 into renovations, sell the 2nd floor and 3rd floor as (3) 900 sq ft units, 4th and 5th floors split in half, average unit sale price for the whole building at $260,000 (extra $10,000 for each parking stall).  You get $2,700,000 in revenue. 

And most importantly, you would be doing this city and us all a great service :D  Don't laugh if I way oversimplified this equation and made some broad assumptions.

Pistons are winning again.  It's all good.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That idea was explored a bit. There was a twofold issue with this. The first being that the client was interested in going with student type residential units. So the numbers in their pro forma were geared toward that market. They felt that the market for the higher end residentail was starting to get flooded especially with Rockford's project within sight of that building. Secondly the first floor is wood framed and it would have taken some pretty major structural modification to get a 1st floor parking situation to work. I think the rate of return on a couple of parking spaces vs. what they could lease the retail for was way out of whack as well.

The biggest impediment to the development of that building is the astronomical asking price and not being willing to negotiate about it. At $400-500K it becomes a doable project. Most especially when gearing toward the student market.

The notion of a parking space appreciating faster then real estate blows my mind. Those crazy Ilini.

Nitro

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Whoa, it just hit me. What about a car elevator to the basement? :lol: I've seen those before, and then you could save most of the first floor for retail. We're only talking about 10 - 12 units, and Front Row is almost sold out, isn't it? You could beat RSC to the punch before they start taking reservations across the street. I'm pretty full of it, I know :P

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