New Meijer "Bridge Street Market" on the West Side

[x99]

1 hour ago, RegalTDP said:

Yesss... Concur.  Dig the Walmart.  That is an urban design.  That's what I'm talking about.

Honestly, I prefer the Walmart over the other 3.  I know where that store is, it's in DC.  You can tell it was built for an urban environment.

EDIT: No I'm not being difficult!  You posted a picture of Cascade Meijer and called it "forward-thinking New Urbanist style design!"  How do you expect someone to interpret that!? 

Well, at the time, and even today I would hazard, it was still pretty forward thinking.  The architectural design had good ideas behind it, even if the execution was a little off.  Still, that addition of human scaling to a massive building in the middle of a 15 acre sea of parking worked.  I know quite a few people who will still drive out of their way to go to that Meijer instead of some other Meijer, because they perceive it as the "nice Meijer" even though on the inside, they're all the same darn store, and Cascade Meijer is now far from new.   

And you're also right on the location of all those buildings.  Architecturally, I think South Lake and the DC Wal-Mart are the most successful.  They both pulled off an authentic urban environment that does not feel manufactured.  The DC project was by MV+A, and has received multiple awards for excellence, all justly deserved.  They also have some other ones in the pipeline that are quite good: 

That's not exactly my style, but its still a good urban design.  It's interesting to me how much the traditional brick building really helps to anchor the whole project and prevents the glass from being just too much and too overpowering.  This project, on the other hand, I'm completely in love with: 

 

 

Totally different scale, but nicely executed.  The quality of the masonry design on all of these, for modern buildings, is simply amazing.

The proposal on the West side, comparatively speaking, has more of that stacked up urban prefab module feel that I just leaves me a little cold.  It's very horizontal and very gussied up warehouse.  I can look at it from 500 feet away and not give a crap what it will look like from 5 feet away because there just isn't anything more to see.  On top of that, it has a weird look that sort of feels like someone couldn't decide quite how they wanted to stack up the modules.  Is the gray building swallowing the tan building?  Is the white building swallowing all of them? And why are they all mixed up and stripey on the back?  It's a great project, indeed, and very exciting for what will be in the building, but the building itself is a questionable contribution to an urban, human-scaled fabric.  Something closer to that DC WalMart, which is an absolutely spectacular building, and they would have a huge winner on their hands (and probably realize better returns over the long term since the proposed design I suspect will get really stale, really fast).  

Lest we forget: 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2016 by x99

[Allison Slater]

Keep in mind the rendering here is not of the Meijer building, but of the other building.

[joeDowntown]

16 hours ago, tSlater said:

Keep in mind the rendering here is not of the Meijer building, but of the other building.

Yeah, I suspect the Meijer building will look different. 

Joe

[MJLO]

The rendering of the proposed building looks an awful lot like the project at Fulton Place.

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, MJLO said:

The rendering of the proposed building looks an awful lot like the project at Fulton Place.

Same architect/firm I believe (PAE)

[x99]

On 7/2/2016 at 6:45 AM, tSlater said:

Keep in mind the rendering here is not of the Meijer building, but of the other building.

Fair enough.  Still, the building in the rendering is a fairly large building, and my criticisms stand independent of occupant.  I  would assuming the whole thing will have some degree of design continuity, but perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised and it won't look like a design that the future will regard as something that weird past generations actually thought was attractive for reasons they can no longer understand.  Normally, I wouldn't care that much since Meijer just remodels when something feels old, stale and tired, but that's way harder to do and less likely on a 5 story building.

[GRDadof3]

Quite the lineup of firms working on this project. 

 

[elcelc]

Just for kicks, I sat in on the WestSide meeting at Rockford the other night.  I didn't think to take pictures (doh!) but the 3D rendering really showed off the double set back along Bridge.

From the street, only the lower level is front and center with 2-4 being set back 20' and the 5th back another 20', similar treatment along the other 3 sides too.  Much less menacing than the hulking Michigan & Eastern wall of ugly.  It's a good compromise to the zoning change here as it will be 5 story but not look like 5 story.

A lot of the presentation was from ICCF explaining the need for a mix of affordable housing for all income levels in the area.  Only a brief mention of a "grocery store" was made.

Doesn't Meijer have their own A/E or is that no longer the case?

[joeDowntown]

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A REAL RENDERING

As a moderator, I occasionally see closed threads that pop up at the bottom of the page. I found this amusing for multiple reasons:

1) It was a proposal (by someone on this forum) for what an Urban Meijer could look like on Area 4/5 (now the Movie Theater project)

2) We drew up some pretty fantastic (and sometimes outrageous) designs for buildings, everywhere. Why don't we draw anymore.

Sorry I can't give photo creds. I have no idea who sketched this up. Just wanted to share. Lots of good (and amusing stuff) in some of those old threads.

Joe

[GRDadof3]

14 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A REAL RENDERING

As a moderator, I occasionally see closed threads that pop up at the bottom of the page. I found this amusing for multiple reasons:

1) It was a proposal (by someone on this forum) for what an Urban Meijer could look like on Area 4/5 (now the Movie Theater project)

2) We drew up some pretty fantastic (and sometimes outrageous) designs for buildings, everywhere. Why don't we draw anymore.

Sorry I can't give photo creds. I have no idea who sketched this up. Just wanted to share. Lots of good (and amusing stuff) in some of those old threads.

Joe

 

That was tamias6 (?). He had some mad drawing skills. I think he graduated from Kendall and got a real job. 

[ironyisadeadscene]

8 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

 

That was tamias6 (?). He had some mad drawing skills. I think he graduated from Kendall and got a real job. 

A real job? What a loser!

[ctpgr34]

Sounds like they want to start June 2017.  May see some renderings in the next month or so. 300 parking spaces.

[thebeerqueer]

I hadn't heard that the project received the LIHTC funding yet. Did that get announced and I missed it?

[mgreven]

1 hour ago, thebeerqueer said:

I hadn't heard that the project received the LIHTC funding yet. Did that get announced and I missed it?

I believe they find out about LIHTC in December or January.  I thought they were going to start the ICCF part first and then do the rest of it, so a June 2017 start for Meijer is exciting!

[ctpgr34]

From the minutes, doesn't say which particular part  would be first, but the project start June '17

Rockford Construction gave an update on the proposed project at Bridge and Stocking, describing the scope of the project, the various aspects, including residential (both low-income and market rate), a grocery store, office space and a parking deck. The project is still in the design and budgeting phase, and they hope to commence with permitting to begin in February. A presentation to the Brownfield authority will take place on October 6, and a formal presentation to the board will follow. The streetscape is still being developed, with plans for a transportation hub in front of the Meijer. Three architects and a parking consultant are working on this project. The project will have approximately 300 parking spaces contained in the ramp that is interior to the site. Construction is expected to begin in June of 2017, with completion expected around fall of 2018. 

Edited October 28, 2016 by ctpgr34

[GRDadof3]

3 hours ago, ctpgr34 said:

From the minutes, doesn't say which particular part  would be first, but the project start June '17

Rockford Construction gave an update on the proposed project at Bridge and Stocking, describing the scope of the project, the various aspects, including residential (both low-income and market rate), a grocery store, office space and a parking deck. The project is still in the design and budgeting phase, and they hope to commence with permitting to begin in February. A presentation to the Brownfield authority will take place on October 6, and a formal presentation to the board will follow. The streetscape is still being developed, with plans for a transportation hub in front of the Meijer. Three architects and a parking consultant are working on this project. The project will have approximately 300 parking spaces contained in the ramp that is interior to the site. Construction is expected to begin in June of 2017, with completion expected around fall of 2018. 

Thank you ctpgr34 for your indepth contributions. Much appreciated! 

[GVSUChris]

Take a look at the BRA Agenda for 11-03. There are some great renderings in there that someone needs to yank out and post in here! It looks AMAZING! 

[GRDadof3]

26 minutes ago, GVSUChris said:

Take a look at the BRA Agenda for 11-03. There are some great renderings in there that someone needs to yank out and post in here! It looks AMAZING! 

OK, BRA, what is that? If you give me a link I can pull them out. 

[GVSUChris]

1 minute ago, GRDadof3 said:

OK, BRA, what is that? If you give me a link I can pull them out. 

Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. 

http://grcity.us/design-and-development-services/Economic-Development/Brownfield/BRA Agenda Packet 11-03-16.pdf

[GRDadof3]

2 minutes ago, GVSUChris said:

Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. 

http://grcity.us/design-and-development-services/Economic-Development/Brownfield/BRA Agenda Packet 11-03-16.pdf

Oh duh. Ya know, they're not on the city's master scheduling program they have now. 

Hold please...

[Pattmost20]

[GRDadof3]

5 minutes ago, Pattmost20 said:

Oh man! Pattmost beat me to it!  Being replaced by someone younger and probably better looking than me. Urghh. 

[Pattmost20]

Just now, GRDadof3 said:

Oh man! Pattmost beat me to it!

Ha, I had already started the process when you said you would, figured I'd just go ahead and finish.

[GRDadof3]

6 minutes ago, Pattmost20 said:

Ha, I had already started the process when you said you would, figured I'd just go ahead and finish.

I bow to your quality and efficiency! 

That is a nice looking project. Three architectural teams are involved apparently. ProgressiveAE, Integrated and Lott3Metz. Pretty sure Jim Reminga at Rockford has his hands in the mess somewhere too. 

[thebeerqueer]

Jim definitely has his hands all over this project. Jim has been super helpful providing information about this and other Rockford projects and listening to neighborhood concerns.