Suburban Projects

[Chisox]

38 minutes ago, MJLO said:

Well if that wouldn't work there then what would?  

A tree farm.

[WMrapids]

7 hours ago, MJLO said:

Well if that wouldn't work there then what would?  

Stadium? Brewery? 

Or we could really play it safe...

[Guest]

On 2/11/2020 at 5:13 PM, MJLO said:

Well if that wouldn't work there then what would?  

It would be perfect for a golf course!

[Khorasaurus1]

The problems at Lincoln Lawns were not related to lack of demand. Nor was it killed by NIMBYs (although NIMBYism is an issue there). Some sort of internal issue with the developer, apparently.

[grandrollerz]

The mention of a Bridge St location of Morning Belle is good news.
I

This feels like it popped out of nowhere. It will be a great draw for the area for sure, but it feels a smidgen out of place on Bridge St. Something about the brightness of the decor, and the the cookie cutter approach....makes it feel out of place on BRidge st?? It will be wildly successful

Sent from my Acer Chromebook R11 (CB5-132T, C738T) using Tapatalk

[thebeerqueer]

6 hours ago, grandrollerz said:

This feels like it popped out of nowhere. It will be a great draw for the area for sure, but it feels a smidgen out of place on Bridge St. Something about the brightness of the decor, and the the cookie cutter approach....makes it feel out of place on BRidge st?? It will be wildly successful

Sent from my Acer Chromebook R11 (CB5-132T, C738T) using Tapatalk
 

I couldn't agree more. I walked by the Bridge St. location on Tuesday and it looks completely out of place. Like someone plucked it out of a suburban planned development and tried to wedge it into an urban fabric. Hopefully they rethink the decor or at least the exterior. I have no doubt that it will do well there, there's nothing quite like it in the area. 

[GRDadof3]

New Rivertown Crossings location. Just kidding, on Bridge St. 

 

[Chester Cheeto]

On 3/21/2019 at 3:55 PM, tSlater said:

There's speculation that Round One, a Japanese Arcade / Bowling center (I'm not too familiar with, but from what I understand more like Craig's Cruisers and less like smelly run-down bowling alley) may be taking over part of the space. They did announce several months ago on their Japanese site that a Rivertown location would be opening in 2021, and from what it looks like they tend to take anchor spaces in malls and already bought the Younkers location in auction at Great Lakes Crossings.

 

 

The sale of the Younkers space was on January 28th. The announcement by Round One was made on February 8th. However the Younkers space as it is would be double the size of their largest location, although there doesn't seem to be many locations in the mall large enough, either. 2 years out seems a bit of delay also, especially since it sounds like there's already work going on at the Younkers store location. Wonder if maybe they're taking a page from what Woodland is doing with the Sears location, sans complete reconstruction? Smaller anchor space + extension of store hall?

Just want to randomly bump this post... for no real reason  

[deja vu]

Not 100% sure where to put this... it's almost Beltline, almost Ada. Since this thread has been quiet for a while, I'll drop it here.

West Michigan Community Bank recently completed their newest location at 4797 Cascade Rd. SE. First Companies, the construction manager, recently posted some final photos on their website. Not too shabby, as far as suburban banking centers go. It has a bit of a mid-century vibe, with the exposed steel, open stairs, and wood finishes. Here's a few photos (there's more at the link).

Source: First Companies

Edited October 9, 2020 by deja vu

[wingbert]

If you like banks and dental practices, that stretch of cascade road is for you.

[GRDadof3]

There's apparently a big project proposed for this commercial property by the Spectrum facility near M-6 and Wilson (on the West Side of Wilson, not the Granger development on the East side). Anyone know where to find info? It's apparently going to be a 5 story hotel (or 2?), apartments, retail and office. City of Wyoming's site is really difficult to find this kind of thing.  

 

 

[walker]

With the weather so crappy this morning I did my daily walking inside Rivertown Mall this morning before any of the stores opened.  Only maybe a half dozen other mall walkers,  Didn't get kicked out but I don't think they are encouraging it like they used to.  Walking by Sears they had some banner ads in their windows about blow-out sale whatever that means.  I think those ads have been there at least since last year.  But there was a new single ad in the window that said STORE CLOSING SALE.  I'm not surprised if it is true but checking the interweb just now I don't see any announcement or news about this store closing.  Except  I found this one job posting for a temp job that mentions store closing Grandville,   

job - temp-backroom-store-closing-grandville

So that's my rumor for today.

Edited November 15, 2020 by walker

[GRDadof3]

Apparently Kuyper/Wheeler Development Group is looking to rezone the Kuyper College campus and several other parcels to "RPUD." Anyone know the plans? 

Also I hear that MVP on Crahen may be seeing the wrecking ball. I hear several large residential developers are looking at it for redevelopment (I assume for some kind of townhouses or high density development). I have to imagine they're dying on the vine through this pandemic, except for the pool which was busy this summer. 

[GVSUChris]

8 hours ago, walker said:

With the weather so crappy this morning I did my daily walking inside Rivertown Mall this morning before any of the stores opened.  Only maybe a half dozen other mall walkers,  Didn't get kicked out but I don't think they are encouraging it like they used to.  Walking by Sears they had some banner ads in their windows about blow-out sale whatever that means.  I think those ads have been there at least since last year.  But there was a new single ad in the window that said STORE CLOSING SALE.  I'm not surprised if it is true but checking the interweb just now I don't see any announcement or news about this store closing.  Except  I found this one job posting for a temp job that mentions store closing Grandville,   

job - temp-backroom-store-closing-grandville

So that's my rumor for today.

I’m somewhat surprised this hasn’t gotten more local news. I found a nod to the Grandville Sears closing in this article as well: https://www.google.com/amp/s/patch.com/connecticut/manchester/amp/29079247/liquidation-sale-commences-at-doomed-manchester-sears

Rivertown Mall is going to slowly be a rather sad spot with multiple anchors closed. I guess that leaves Macy’s and JCPenney, both of which will be closing a lot of locations in the coming year with their respective restructuring. 
 

EDIT - I had to edit this because I forgot there is also a Kohls out there. Shows how often I go to the mall/the burbs lol. 

Edited November 16, 2020 by GVSUChris

[arcturus]

14 hours ago, GVSUChris said:

EDIT - I had to edit this because I forgot there is also a Kohls out there. Shows how often I go to the mall/the burbs lol. 

 

Makes me wonder how many ill fitting clothes people are wearing these days with so many ordering online.  Of course for me they still don't fit despite shopping there.

[grandrollerz]

On 11/16/2020 at 7:50 AM, arcturus said:

 

Makes me wonder how many ill fitting clothes people are wearing these days with so many ordering online.  Of course for me they still don't fit despite shopping there.

I think brand loyalty  mostly removes the possibility of ill fitting  clothes. I could be an outlier, but i know which companies run small and who runs big, somewhat after trial and error...but i've got it down now.  polos for example.  Walmart, costco or Macys polos = downsize due to vanity sizing, Banana Republic polos = upsize, express polos =mostly true to size....unless you are accustomed to vanity sizing lol.    

[walker]

OK, my unsubstantiated rumor for today is that Spartan/Nash has sold Forest Hills Foods to Amazon and it will become a Whole Foods store.  Some random person on reddit said so:

forest_hills_foods_to_shut_its_doors 

Edit: in fact it looks like Amazon is buying into Spartan/Nash:

amazon-takes-stake-in-spartannash

Edit 2: The random person has deleted their original post, although all the subsequent comments currently are still in the first link.  Also the Spartan/Nash Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Communications, has issued the following denial in the link below that Forest Hills Foods is being sold:

a-statement-from-vice-president-corporate-activity

As far as I can tell the article in the second link about Amazon taking a stake in Spartan/Nash is solid.

Edited November 29, 2020 by walker
more info

[joeDowntown]

Very interesting. SpartanNash doesn’t really seem to have the stable of grocery stores that would convert nicely to Whole Foods (except D&W), but the supply chain/private label aspect makes a lot of sense. 

I’ve always thought the best move Spartan and Meijer could make to counter Amazon is just sell themselves to Amazon.

I hope the relationship works well and Amazon starts establishing some roots in West Michigan. 
 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, joeDowntown said:

Very interesting. SpartanNash doesn’t really seem to have the stable of grocery stores that would convert nicely to Whole Foods (except D&W), but the supply chain/private label aspect makes a lot of sense. 

I’ve always thought the best move Spartan and Meijer could make to counter Amazon is just sell themselves to Amazon.

I hope the relationship works well and Amazon starts establishing some roots in West Michigan. 
 

Joe

They are building another distribution center in Walkerview Business Park. Only 300,000 sf vs their one in Gaines Township (1 million sf?). I did notice an older warehouse out in Walker along the highway had a big fleet of Amazon vans parked outside. 

This Forest Hills Foods -> Amazon/Whole Foods makes total sense. A great place to try out the new cross/branded store with excellent demographics. And Meijer can't block it. May also explain why FH Foods bought the Kingma's building. 

[egrguy]

FWIW Spartan denied this rumor today.

[walker]

16 minutes ago, egrguy said:

FWIW Spartan denied this rumor today.

I've edited my initial rumor post above to include a link to the denial statement from Spartan/Nash.   

[Cookin_peacocks]

I could have sworn there was a topic on this, but it looks like the Lincoln CC project on Lake Michigan is back on.

 

https://trib.al/dP5PXG6

[egrguy]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/whole-foods-adding-grand-rapids-location%3f_amp=true

I'd like to see it be the old toys r us location or babys r us on 28th street vs a d&w takeover.

I'd love for it to be more urban but I know that's not happening. For all of those that had WF on your 2020 predictions, it came just in time:).

[Winston1206]

After (my perception) of the success of Bridge Street Market, I would love to see more urban concepts, but I agree that it probably won't happen. Can hope though. 

[Chester Cheeto]

1 hour ago, egrguy said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/grand-rapids/whole-foods-adding-grand-rapids-location%3f_amp=true

I'd like to see it be the old toys r us location or babys r us on 28th street vs a d&w takeover.

I'd love for it to be more urban but I know that's not happening. For all of those that had WF on your 2020 predictions, it came just in time:).