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Grandville Castle Apartments


mgreven

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  • 2 weeks later...
32 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

Man, I wish this thing could have been a couple of apartment towers at 12 and 15 stories as opposed to this...It would have made for this area's first true suburban high rises like you see in Detroit.

Edited by GRLaker
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8 hours ago, GRLaker said:

Man, I wish this thing could have been a couple of apartment towers at 12 and 15 stories as opposed to this...It would have made for this area's first true suburban high rises like you see in Detroit.

Ummm, it is a 12 to 15 story apartment tower... 

If you're thinking it would be some fancy glass apartment tower or twin towers will full balconies in a run-down part of Grandville overlooking a gravel pit/industrial park you must think this is Atlanta or something. :rofl:

As a reminder it was a trailer park slated to be a Wal-Mart. 

Most of those apartment towers in Detroit are in Southfield which is the new run-down suburb of Detroit. 

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3 hours ago, x99 said:

Developer:  "I know what the boxes look like. Why not do something different?"

I for one am glad someone decided to do something different.  And he continues to spend money on his pet project to make it even more to his liking.  Fountains?  Why not!  Random turrets that have no purposes other than looking cool?  Sure!  More mini turrets on those turrets?  Absolutely!  It's everything that used to make architecture fun and exciting before the modernists decided what we really needed was 70 years of soul-sucking, unadorned glass, metal, and concrete boxes.  

Apparently a lot of the hate is politically motivated but I think a lot of people would be surprised (maybe not surprised) at how conservative most of the downtown developers are. :rofl:  I mean seriously... lol. 

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Following this forum and MLive articles, I've been surprised by the dislike from people on this project.  Or maybe the intensity of the dislike.  I get not liking the design, but it seems there are people actively rooting for its failure.  I think it's unique; I wouldn't live there, but I hope it succeeds.  And I hope it helps revitalize that stretch of 28th and Downtown Grandville, too.   Downtown Grandville has the start of some neat bars/breweries; I'm sure more people living nearby would help even more.  

 

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I don't really get it either.  Would people hate this if it weren't for the castle theme?  Would people hate this as much if it were your typical three story, multi building, sprawling suburban complex? I would live there if the rent is decent.  I don't really care what the outside of my apartment looks like.  If it were a condo or house it's a different story.  Did anyone catch that this has a 10,000 sf penthouse with a ballroom?  Lol.  Good luck renting that one out.  Either way Metro GR needs more housing and this is a hell of a lot of housing.

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This world needs trailer parks, 15 stories or otherwise. Just like ditch diggers. 
"Walkability, access to transit, sense of community, affordability… It sounds like manufactured homes could answer the prayers of many an urbanist."

Yeah! Trailer parks can be good, too!

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/6/19/trailer-park-affordable-housing-manufactured



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As a person on the “dislike” side of the aisle, I still hope it succeeds / has 100% occupancy. 

The reason I don’t like it is it’s a bit of a roadside attraction. Like the 2nd largest ball of twine. I’m concerned that it’ll get dated/dilapidated quickly and because of its size and design, it isn’t going anywhere, and it can’t be easily updated if the castle theme falls out of favor. 

It also reminds me of Excalibur in Las Vegas, which I never liked. :) Bad food, shoddy decorations. 

And finally, I’m concerned about the concrete. Will it age? Will it always look like an ode to concrete (legit question here)?

With all that being said, I still envy the guy a bit. He wanted a castle, and darn it, he built one! :) Again, I hope it’s a success and anchors that section of 28th street. 

Joe

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On 8/22/2018 at 11:02 PM, joeDowntown said:

As a person on the “dislike” side of the aisle, I still hope it succeeds / has 100% occupancy. 

The reason I don’t like it is it’s a bit of a roadside attraction. Like the 2nd largest ball of twine. I’m concerned that it’ll get dated/dilapidated quickly and because of its size and design, it isn’t going anywhere, and it can’t be easily updated if the castle theme falls out of favor. 

It also reminds me of Excalibur in Las Vegas, which I never liked. :) Bad food, shoddy decorations. 

And finally, I’m concerned about the concrete. Will it age? Will it always look like an ode to concrete (legit question here)?

With all that being said, I still envy the guy a bit. He wanted a castle, and darn it, he built one! :) Again, I hope it’s a success and anchors that section of 28th street. 

Joe

All true Joe, and I too hope they succeed and I’m wrong because I hate to see people lose money and what else are you going to do with it if it doesn’t work.  But here is the main problem I have with it - whether it is an absurd faux castle, or it is a more conventional apartment complex, or an office park, or even if it was still a trailer park, the problem is the property itself.  All sides of it are border vacuums:

1906433661_CastleView.png.3d498507ff78912913dfe2596dd210e7.png

There is no convenient way a resident can easily interact with the rest of the community short of getting in their vehicle and driving somewhere else.  I think someone wrote here that you could bike or walk over to the brewery on Chicago Drive or over to Millennium Park.  It wouldn’t be many trips before Karen Dunnam, aka Veloise, would be planting one of her white ghost bikes to mark the spot of your demise.  OK, onsite there’s going to be a fountain, and a miniature horse stable, and some kind of deli restaurant, and some kind of little library that looks like the library in a Disney movie.  All that is going to be pretty boring after about two weeks.  It’s going to feel like you’re living in an extended stay hotel out by the highway on a business trip.  I’ve done that many times.  It’s not how you want to live.  I don’t think many people are going to stay past their initial lease.  

This reminds me somewhat of the buildings that went up downtown after the sixties urban renewal when all the new buildings were islands on to themselves (although they were not as isolated as the castle.)  Back then I remember going to a meeting when a promoter of urban renewal gave a speech and said what a great boon it would be for downtown retail because all the ladies that worked in these wonderful new buildings would feel like dressing up and they’d go buy expensive clothes at Wurzburg’s, and Herpolsheimer’s, and Steketee's.  Didn’t happen, the ladies took the elevators to the basement parking ramps of the new buildings and drove away in their cars.

So, what is this property good for?  If we could go back a couple of years before the construction really got going and the cranes came in I’d say; a casino, or an Amazon warehouse, or a factory that makes reinforced concrete slabs, or maybe an extended stay hotel.      

If you feel like reading some really tedious articles, Google “border vacuums”.
 

Edited by walker
because GRDadof3 doesn't like prisons
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9 hours ago, walker said:

All true Joe, and I too hope they succeed and I’m wrong because I hate to see people lose money and what else are you going to do with it if it doesn’t work.  But here is the main problem I have with it - whether it is an absurd faux castle, or it is a more conventional apartment complex, or an office park, or even if it was still a trailer park, the problem is the property itself.  All sides of it are border vacuums:

1906433661_CastleView.png.3d498507ff78912913dfe2596dd210e7.png

There is no convenient way a resident can easily interact with the rest of the community short of getting in their vehicle and driving somewhere else.  I think someone wrote here that you could bike or walk over to the brewery on Chicago Drive or over to Millennium Park.  It wouldn’t be many trips before Karen Dunnam, aka Veloise, would be planting one of her white ghost bikes to mark the spot of your demise.  OK, onsite there’s going to be a fountain, and a miniature horse stable, and some kind of deli restaurant, and some kind of little library that looks like the library in a Disney movie.  All that is going to be pretty boring after about two weeks.  It’s going to feel like you’re living in an extended stay hotel out by the highway on a business trip.  I’ve done that many times.  It’s not how you want to live.  I don’t think many people are going to stay past their initial lease.  

This reminds me somewhat of the buildings that went up downtown after the sixties urban renewal when all the new buildings were islands on to themselves (although they were not as isolated as the castle.)  Back then I remember going to a meeting when a promoter of urban renewal gave a speech and said what a great boon it would be for downtown retail because all the ladies that worked in these wonderful new buildings would feel like dressing up and they’d go buy expensive clothes at Wurzburg’s, and Herpolsheimer’s, and Steketee's.  Didn’t happen, the ladies took the elevators to the basement parking ramps of the new buildings and drove away in their cars.

So, what is this property good for?  If we could go back a couple of years before the construction really got going and the cranes came in I’d say; a casino, or a prison, or a factory that makes reinforced concrete slabs, or maybe an extended stay hotel.      

If you feel like reading some really tedious articles, Google “border vacuums”.
 

Couldn't that be said for 90% of the apartment complexes in the greater GR area though? We lived in 3 different suburban apartments before we built our first home (because we couldn't afford downtown apartments), all of them pretty much vehicle-dependent. 

But seriously, a prison? That would have totally sunk the city of Grandville's property values (aka Jackson, Ionia, Milan, etc). 

 

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47 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

Couldn't that be said for 90% of the apartment complexes in the greater GR area though? We lived in 3 different suburban apartments before we built our first home (because we couldn't afford downtown apartments), all of them pretty much vehicle-dependent. 

I’d agree, except I’d say it’s a matter of degree.  I think properties could be rated on a scale like the walkability index.  I think the castle property characteristics would give it an extremely low score even compared to most of your other suburban apartment complexes.

47 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

But seriously, a prison? That would have totally sunk the city of Grandville's property values (aka Jackson, Ionia, Milan, etc). 

OK, in order to save Grandville from ruin, I’ve edited it to list something that at least promises jobs instead. 

Edited by walker
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