New Meijer "Bridge Street Market" on the West Side

[WMrapids]

This area is going to look pretty dense when you look at it from 196. Hopefully that Meijer will attract some retail, I really liked this place I visited near the United Center in Chicago, I'm hoping Bridge street can do something similar.

[x99]

Some of the new renderings aren't terrible.  At least they appear to be brick.  That East elevation in particular is still a hot mess, though.  I don't know why the "Grand Rapids look" lately seems to be almost wrapping one larger building around another with this weird mishmash of materials and colors.  I still think it looks like a cheap grab bag of whatever happened to be on sale.  Breaking up the facade into discreet vertical sections still makes a lot more sense to me than breaking it up in every which direction with no particular rhyme or reason.

Edited November 1, 2016 by x99

[joeDowntown]

9 hours ago, x99 said:

Some of the new renderings aren't terrible.  At least they appear to be brick.  That East elevation in particular is still a hot mess, though.  I don't know why the "Grand Rapids look" lately seems to be almost wrapping one larger building around another with this weird mishmash of materials and colors.  I still think it looks like a cheap grab bag of whatever happened to be on sale.  Breaking up the facade into discreet vertical sections still makes a lot more sense to me than breaking it up in every which direction with no particular rhyme or reason.

I like it overall, but agree the east side is odd. Especially the dark brick with what seems to be a "smattering" of screening over the windows. I don't get that part, as it doesn't seem to add much, and have to imagine it is just someone's bad taste as opposed to serving a purpose?

Joe

[WMrapids]

If only people down the street and across the river could get their ducks in a row...

[GRDadof3]

7 hours ago, WMrapids said:

If only people down the street and across the river could get their ducks in a row...

Which ones?

[thebeerqueer]

11 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

Which ones?

I'm guessing WMrapids is referring to the questionable developments on Michigan that everyone is chatting about. 

[WMrapids]

2 hours ago, thebeerqueer said:

I'm guessing WMrapids is referring to the questionable developments on Michigan that everyone is chatting about. 

Yup.

[john_denver]

On 11/1/2016 at 10:51 AM, x99 said:

Some of the new renderings aren't terrible.  At least they appear to be brick.  That East elevation in particular is still a hot mess, though.  I don't know why the "Grand Rapids look" lately seems to be almost wrapping one larger building around another with this weird mishmash of materials and colors.  I still think it looks like a cheap grab bag of whatever happened to be on sale.  Breaking up the facade into discreet vertical sections still makes a lot more sense to me than breaking it up in every which direction with no particular rhyme or reason.

I've been curious to ask what drives the local and recent architecture, especially the cheaper looking ones identified in other threads?

Is it lack of imagination?

Are they trying to go cheap and make a huge profit?

Are many of the local architects related and get together at family reunions to design all these buildings we see pop up?

 

Who really stands out?

[GRDadof3]

43 minutes ago, john_denver said:

I've been curious to ask what drives the local and recent architecture, especially the cheaper looking ones identified in other threads?

Is it lack of imagination?

Are they trying to go cheap and make a huge profit?

Are many of the local architects related and get together at family reunions to design all these buildings we see pop up?

 

Who really stands out?

It's a very very small community, consisting of Concept Design Group (does most of Orion's stuff, and absorbed the two owners of Serve Studio a few years ago), Integrated Architecture (Mike Corby mainly), ProgressiveAE (Jim Horman and a couple others), and Lott3Metz.

Cornerstone, Sears Architects and Isaac V Norris do a smattering of projects as well. 

Design+ used to do a lot but they were bought out. Beta Design as well, but closed I believe. Via Design I think used to do some too but I'm not sure anymore? 

It takes a certain fortitude as an architect to work with developers. You get burned a lot. That's why only a few will do it. 

[Allison Slater]

If you've ever seen the memes of graphic designers being at odds with their clients, I believe it tends to be much the same as architects.  Generally an architect does want to make something beautiful or eye-catching, but they have to work within the developer's budget and appeal to the developer, and hope the developer doesn't pass on it and go with another firm's concept.  So the design is often dictated by the developer.  Only when you're a world famous architect can you really dictate the design yourself (Calatrava, Gehry, &c.)  It's part of why I switched away from a degree in architecture when I was pursuing it -- I realized that in order to create beautiful buildings and spaces, I'd need to be a developer rather than an architect.

[GRDadof3]

5 minutes ago, tSlater said:

If you've ever seen the memes of graphic designers being at odds with their clients, I believe it tends to be much the same as architects.  Generally an architect does want to make something beautiful or eye-catching, but they have to work within the developer's budget and appeal to the developer, and hope the developer doesn't pass on it and go with another firm's concept.  So the design is often dictated by the developer.  Only when you're a world famous architect can you really dictate the design yourself (Calatrava, Gehry, &c.)  It's part of why I switched away from a degree in architecture when I was pursuing it -- I realized that in order to create beautiful buildings and spaces, I'd need to be a developer rather than an architect.

I think too that there's a "local stigma" when it comes to artists, architects and many other creative fields. If you're an artist who has really only shown your work in West Michigan, people won't pay much for your work. But if you start to show your work in Chicago and New York and Miami and other big cities, and have it on your CV, then you can command higher prices here in WM. Even doing the same exact work. People seem to give a lot more credence to creative professionals who aren't from here. 

So the local architects probably get pushed around a lot.

[wingbert]

Don't let the city off the hook in the conversation.  They've consistently resisted efforts to think outside the box.  At least some of the cookie cutter design can likely be traced to a philosophy of what will most easily pass the requisite approvals.

[GRDadof3]

A little bit more of a breakdown of the three buildings for this project:

Bridge Street: 4 floors of residential, 133 market rate apartments, above a 40,000 sf grocery store.

First Street: 4 story 56,550 sf office building

Stocking: 4 floors of residential, 64 affordable apartments, above 11,000 sf of ground floor retail. 

Parking ramp for 300 vehicles in the center

Public hearing for Brownfield application being set.

 

[WMrapids]

Not sure if anyone else saw these.

I like the brick looking portion, but the light colored part looks like it should be something built near the airport.

[GRDadof3]

3 hours ago, WMrapids said:

Not sure if anyone else saw these.

I like the brick looking portion, but the light colored part looks like it should be something built near the airport.

The light colored part is WMCAT. Different architect I assume (Integrated maybe?) I agree, I'm not a fan of the design when mixed with these buildings. 

[thebeerqueer]

I like how the design is evolving; lots of brick, balconies (recessed and protruding), neatly tucked away parking, etc ... Yeah the metal siding on WMCAT isn't great but it looks like the majority of it faces First Street, so at least its not as prominent. 

[GR_Urbanist]

A parking lot in the middle of a ring of buildings that are massed at the sidewalk?

What sorcery is this!?

[thebeerqueer]

25 minutes ago, GR_Urbanist said:

A parking lot in the middle of a ring of buildings that are massed at the sidewalk?

What sorcery is this!?

It's some Gandolf crap right there. It's actually a ramp, not just surface parking. Can you even believe it?

[WMrapids]

Anyone else get reminded of 50 Monroe?

[GRDadof3]

Another round of updated drawings of the Meijer project. They really get better and better. I hear that they're hoping to have garage doors that open so they can roll produce bins out onto the sidewalk. 

 

 

 

 

[joeDowntown]

That does look nice. Looks more like the New Holland Development then some of the other questionable developments going up. 

Speaking of New Holland, drove by the building again today. I think it's a great example of what developers should strive for. 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

12 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

That does look nice. Looks more like the New Holland Development then some of the other questionable developments going up. 

Speaking of New Holland, drove by the building again today. I think it's a great example of what developers should strive for. 

Joe

It is, it's really expertly done. 

[The ATX]

This is my favorite Grand Rapids project proposal.  Even more than the ~40-story  tower.  Although anything 40-stories tall is completely awesome.

[mgreven]

Thanks for those renderings...Julie told me about the open air produce thing a bit ago. Didn't know if that was public or not. Super cool idea. Bridge Street is gonna be so great. I think they were talking about demoing the old buildings in about 2 months. Ready to see them go!

[GRDadof3]

8 hours ago, mgreven said:

Thanks for those renderings...Julie told me about the open air produce thing a bit ago. Didn't know if that was public or not. Super cool idea. Bridge Street is gonna be so great. I think they were talking about demoing the old buildings in about 2 months. Ready to see them go!

It will be cool. Not to be a curmudgeon, but Bridge Street will probably end up being a crawl of traffic like the neighborhoods in NW downtown Chicago. I see they're doing a TON of traffic studies on this corridor and the Stocking/Bridge intersection.