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Hinman project - new 13 story hotel at 10 Ionia


GRDadof3

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After the 601 Bond project went silent for a year, I thought it was dead.  It turns out sometimes it takes time to pull stuff together :)   After that I have had more faith that things of this magnitude take time, and that it was probably still moving forward.

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15 minutes ago, MJLO said:

After the 601 Bond project went silent for a year, I thought it was dead.  It turns out sometimes it takes time to pull stuff together :)   After that I have had more faith that things of this magnitude take time, and that it was probably still moving forward.

Right - Like others have said, some of these projects are very complex, and take lots of time.  This is one no exception. 

Apparently the Warner project was nearly dead a couple of times in the long development process, but here we are today with crews digging for footings.  And wow, that Meijer development is really moving along on the near Westside.

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1 hour ago, mpchicago said:

Right - Like others have said, some of these projects are very complex, and take lots of time.  This is one no exception. 

Apparently the Warner project was nearly dead a couple of times in the long development process, but here we are today with crews digging for footings.  And wow, that Meijer development is really moving along on the near Westside.

As vague as they talked about the Meijer west-side project, I thought it'd be years before it was built. 

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2 hours ago, GVSUChris said:

It looks like this project is going before the Design Team (Engineering Department) next week, possibly in regards to the footings needing to go under the public space/sidewalks? Regardless that seems to me to be a good sign. 

Nice find Chris. Looks pretty serious. Discussing where footings are going to go would tell me they're pretty far along with construction drawings. 

 

36238175031_b4fc7eacc9_o.jpg

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/11/2016 at 3:23 PM, ctpgr34 said:

Imposing!  Have at it....

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Don't get me wrong, I love how this looks since it ties into the beige boxes nearby, but it'd be awesome to see more glass in the city too.

Tower at PNC Plaza - Pittsburgh, PAIMG_6209.thumb.JPG.af9fda52a6949a923318e0c1351a0c2d.JPGIMG_6210.thumb.JPG.9942f8989adde84439c395c23888f92f.JPG

I feel like additional glass would fit the curves on the Hinman and create a much more sleek look. It's good that we are seeing more glass with Warner Tower and this though. I think the over-saturation of cookie-cutter boxes is getting to me.

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4 hours ago, WMrapids said:

That's why I like how this is a mix between the two, but still the curves would look good with more glass. Not complaining just an observation.

Yeah, I can see that. However if there is another high-rise, especially on the river built any time soon that is all glass I'm going to scream. Lol.

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On 8/24/2017 at 9:08 PM, WMrapids said:

Don't get me wrong, I love how this looks since it ties into the beige boxes nearby, but it'd be awesome to see more glass in the city too.

Tower at PNC Plaza - Pittsburgh, PAIMG_6209.thumb.JPG.af9fda52a6949a923318e0c1351a0c2d.JPGIMG_6210.thumb.JPG.9942f8989adde84439c395c23888f92f.JPG

I feel like additional glass would fit the curves on the Hinman and create a much more sleek look. It's good that we are seeing more glass with Warner Tower and this though. I think the over-saturation of cookie-cutter boxes is getting to me.

I do wish there was a little more drama at the top of the Hinman tower. It just sort of "ends" instead of being iconic. 

At least the "hat" that it had on it in earlier renditions is gone. 

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23 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

I do wish there was a little more drama at the top of the Hinman tower. It just sort of "ends" instead of being iconic. 

At least the "hat" that it had on it in earlier renditions is gone. 

 I couldn't decide whether or not I liked the top hat. Either way this does not say iconic and also because the "edge" location and the height is barley more than the current tallest but definitely noticeable and sets the stage for something actually iconic. To me something iconic would be taller, (500-700 ft range) more centrally located, and have a distinctive top.  If the economy keeps up, there may be prime for class A office. OKC and Mobile built something very high, something closer to what Omaha and Des Moines have just over 600 would be more appropriate and look very nice in the skyline.

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45 minutes ago, GR8scott said:

 I couldn't decide whether or not I liked the top hat. Either way this does not say iconic and also because the "edge" location and the height is barley more than the current tallest but definitely noticeable and sets the stage for something actually iconic. To me something iconic would be taller, (500-700 ft range) more centrally located, and have a distinctive top.  If the economy keeps up, there may be prime for class A office. OKC and Mobile built something very high, something closer to what Omaha and Des Moines have just over 600 would be more appropriate and look very nice in the skyline.

Not being a smartass, but who/what is occupying those towers in OKC, Mobile, Omaha and Des Moines (I'm too lazy to look for it)?  Does GR have the ability to cough up a tenant or tenants for something that big?  While I'd love to see this thing go even taller, I wonder what would fill it? 

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2 hours ago, wingbert said:

Not being a smartass, but who/what is occupying those towers in OKC, Mobile, Omaha and Des Moines (I'm too lazy to look for it)?  Does GR have the ability to cough up a tenant or tenants for something that big?  While I'd love to see this thing go even taller, I wonder what would fill it? 

section 8 housing lol

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The tower in OKC is the Devon Energy Center, corporate offices for a fossil fuel company. The complex has a decent looking 800 foot glass tower but it contributes little to the city street life and most of the multi-block development is occupied by a large parking garage that actually severed Main Street in the center of downtown.

Build a tower like that in GR and you probably kill the office market for a few decades while simultaneously making everything in downtown look tiny. IMO, most cities are better off with half a dozen mid-size developments than with one large, striking tower. Not as exciting, I know, but better in the long run.

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The Devon Energy tower is ridiculously out of place with the rest of the OKC skyline for what it's worth.  But to Wingbert's original point If there were some how the ability to pull in a major office tenant in a new building I think it would be a net win.  I don't think it would kill the downtown office market. Major corporate headquarters tend to attract other support service office tennants like Auditing firms, marketing, and law firms ect.  Something that big would compound the office market, not kill it. 

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bWhat's the largest office building? Ancient 18 story McKay?  Des Moines and Omaha are great market comparisons and they have 600+ footers that mixes real well with a couple 400s  nothing crazy like OKC, but really adds some distinction to the skylines. I don't think this building is iconic mainly because of the height but also because of the top of the building, still love it though!

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4 hours ago, GR8scott said:

bWhat's the largest office building? Ancient 18 story McKay?  Des Moines and Omaha are great market comparisons and they have 600+ footers that mixes real well with a couple 400s  nothing crazy like OKC, but really adds some distinction to the skylines. I don't think this building is iconic mainly because of the height but also because of the top of the building, still love it though!

I actually think Bridgewater Place is the largest.  Before they broke ground on the Warner Tower it has been the only office building of scale built in the last 40 years.  Every other glass tower along the river is residential in nature.   With regard to Omaha and Des Moines, keep in mind both of those cities tallest were built by large regional financial institutions back when every regional financial institution was building flagship towers in their cities.  Des Moines has a couple of mid-sized companies headquartered downtown.  Omaha is home to Berkshire Hathaway which is Fortune 5 and undoubtedly has a huge impact on ancillary office demand.  Honestly If you were to remove the One First National center from Omaha's skyline what you're left with is quite uninspiring.  In Grand Rapids case Old Kent Bank was the largest financial institution during the era of flashy regional bank towers and they were visionary with the characterless boxes they built :D

Metro GR has four companies of scale that if even one were to move downtown would be a game changer.  Five if you add Steelcase.  They are all firmly entrenched in the suburbs and i'm not sure there would ever be incentive to get them downtown.  The largest company headquartered downtown is Spectrum Health and they have hodgepodged themselves all over the CBD from Monroe North to Midtown to the Heartside.  We don't think about it but Spectrum is a multibillion dollar company.  If Spectrum were to consolidate it's offices into some kind of flagship building and contain all of the parking to the facility it might be a win(Ellis Parking has a fantastic rectangle on Ionia across from the Courthouse that is seldom mentioned).  The downside would be that it would also open up a boat load more office space in an already mediocre market.  The upside would be that it could free up a boat load of parking and potentially attract hesitant office tennants.  Who knows.

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1 hour ago, MJLO said:

I actually think Bridgewater Place is the largest.  Before they broke ground on the Warner Tower it has been the only office building of scale built in the last 40 years.  Every other glass tower along the river is residential in nature.   With regard to Omaha and Des Moines, keep in mind both of those cities tallest were built by large regional financial institutions back when every regional financial institution was building flagship towers in their cities.  Des Moines has a couple of mid-sized companies headquartered downtown.  Omaha is home to Berkshire Hathaway which is Fortune 5 and undoubtedly has a huge impact on ancillary office demand.  Honestly If you were to remove the One First National center from Omaha's skyline what you're left with is quite uninspiring.  In Grand Rapids case Old Kent Bank was the largest financial institution during the era of flashy regional bank towers and they were visionary with the characterless boxes they built :D

Metro GR has four companies of scale that if even one were to move downtown would be a game changer.  Five if you add Steelcase.  They are all firmly entrenched in the suburbs and i'm not sure there would ever be incentive to get them downtown.  The largest company headquartered downtown is Spectrum Health and they have hodgepodged themselves all over the CBD from Monroe North to Midtown to the Heartside.  We don't think about it but Spectrum is a multibillion dollar company.  If Spectrum were to consolidate it's offices into some kind of flagship building and contain all of the parking to the facility it might be a win(Ellis Parking has a fantastic rectangle on Ionia across from the Courthouse that is seldom mentioned).  The downside would be that it would also open up a boat load more office space in an already mediocre market.  The upside would be that it could free up a boat load of parking and potentially attract hesitant office tennants.  Who knows.

Keep in mind Spectrum moved 500 people into 25 Ottawa. 500 people is an average size for a corporate HQ of a regional company. To have put those people into a brand new building would have probably been 4x to 5x the cost. Costs that would get transferred to people using Spectrum for healthcare.

I hear the office building portion of Studio C is going to be pretty cool... Not a highrise but still cool.

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2 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Keep in mind Spectrum moved 500 people into 25 Ottawa. 500 people is an average size for a corporate HQ of a regional company. To have put those people into a brand new building would have probably been 4x to 5x the cost. Costs that would get transferred to people using Spectrum for healthcare.

 

Doesn't Spectrum know that business decisions are supposed to be based on the image urban enthusiasts want the city to project?? I thought that was office planning 101 or something. 

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1 hour ago, GRLaker said:

I can say with 110% certainty that SH will never build a corporate headquarters. They're content with spreading their administrative staff throughout the land and having them drive between buildings for hundreds of meetings in the dead of winter.

I know they're always on the hunt for space, and parking. 

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