Suburban Projects

[joeDowntown]

The development in front of Celebration Cinema was approved. It's supposed to break ground this summer. $50M development:

The plans for Celebration Apartments call for a five-story building with 11,136 square feet of ground-floor retail or office space, 232 to 250 apartments, and common spaces for tenants. It also would include bike parking, an 85-space covered parking area, and 39 new street spaces that tenants could use along with existing Celebration Village parking in pending agreements the developer plans to seek.

[joeDowntown]

Drove down the Beltline today and the Chili's building is completely gone, work crews on site. Looks like the new building fronting the Beltline is full steam ahead.

Joe

[Zads]

On 1/30/2023 at 3:42 PM, joeDowntown said:

Drove down the Beltline today and the Chili's building is completely gone, work crews on site. Looks like the new building fronting the Beltline is full steam ahead.

Joe

Here's an update on the site from Friday morning

[Jonesey]

Real estate advisers see Broadmoor Avenue as next big retail corridor

I found it interesting that they mention the likelihood of a Meijer store coming 68th and m37 behind the Meijer gas station.  I figured that would be a real possibility.  It's crazy how much the southern end of the metro has boomed, but it make sense with it being mostly fields with easy access to utilities.  With the way Meijer does real estate now, I could see that area changing rapidly like Wilson/LMD.  I'm wondering if Meijer has any plans for an Allendale store at some point?  That too is one of the fastest growing townships in the state and larger than Lowell, although the Lowell Meijer probably serves a larger area

[GR8scott]

odd area. I hope MDOT gets it right as far as expanding Broadmoor on the north by Patterson and the south through Caledonia and planning for more traffic, people, business ect. Also why isnt it still referred to as East Beltine there? seems odd how many names the same road has in Kent Co. alone. And also seems like an opportunity for Davenport U to increase its visability with a grand entrance off Broadmoor

[joeDowntown]

Interesting article about a 600 house development in the suburbs. Developer sued to get it built. I bet this will be common for the foreseeable future as developers clash with townships, etc to add density:

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2023/04/pro-growth-prevailed-600-unit-housing-retail-project-expected-to-progress-following-lawsuit.html

[GRLaker]

10 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Interesting article about a 600 house development in the suburbs. Developer sued to get it built. I bet this will be common for the foreseeable future as developers clash with townships, etc to add density:

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2023/04/pro-growth-prevailed-600-unit-housing-retail-project-expected-to-progress-following-lawsuit.html

Kendall is an apartment builder. I wonder if they’re just opening the housing lots up for local builders to build on or if they plan on actually offering a single family home portfolio for buyers. 

[arcturus]

17 hours ago, GRLaker said:

Kendall is an apartment builder. I wonder if they’re just opening the housing lots up for local builders to build on or if they plan on actually offering a single family home portfolio for buyers. 

Senior housing and retail in the mix also.  The multi-faceted nature of the development suggests different players.

[GR_Urbanist]

Honestly, it looks like the typical suburban garbage subdivision. The (Mixed-use Phase 1) just looks like a bunch of stand alone buildings with their own parking lots, and the rest will just be the usual apartments and single-family homes you get in that part of town.

Like why is it so hard for these places to insist on better sight plans? So much of this could have been compacted far more than this remotely attempted, with a better street grid.

 

And you know that the people moving in will start complaining about the "smells" from the adjacent farms.

[joeDowntown]

We need MORE housing of all types. And the denser the better. 

Joe

[whitemice]

12 hours ago, GR_Urbanist said:

it looks like the typical suburban garbage subdivision

Yes, it is Suburban Garbage.  It is slightly more dense than your typical Michigan Suburban Garbage.  It is grossly Over-Parked; OTOH, everyone there is going to drive.  There is not, and will not be, useful transit there in the lifetime of anyone reading this.  There is no meaningful connectivity other than roads; it is a long & ugly trip from here to anywhere.

Maybe, hopefully, their "mixed use" portion can include a small market.

1.) We need more housing, this is housing.  It ain't great, but it is housing.

2.) If we end the nonsense of "Local Control" and make infill By-Right everywhere then these lots are plenty large enough to support ADUs.  There certainly is plenty of parking to easily support 3x the number of people who will live here.  More people would make an in-development market more viable, which would help reduce trip count.

3.) I love seeing Planning Commissions and Planning Departments getting spanked.  This should happen more often.

These days I see it as a win.

[Zads]

https://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/lawsuit-pushes-forward-gaines-township-neighborhood-development/

Edited April 5 by Zads

[Jonesey]

Isn't all of Gaines township pretty much suburban garbage?  I don't really get the "we want to preserve valuable corn fields".  A densely wooded area, I could see, even the unique Fruitride area I kind of get.  If you want to be surrounded by corn fields maybe move to Allegan county?  Although the way the southern suburbs have expanded is pretty crazy, so give it a few years and Leighton, Dorr and Thornapple township will be in the same boat, they are also growing fairly quickly.

[joeDowntown]

Why is everyone calling it "Suburban garbage"?! We need housing of all types, for all types of consumers. Believe it or not, not everyone wants to live in a multi-unit in a densely populated area, near a bus line (and that is perfectly O.K.). 

In order for the Grand Rapids metro area to grow, we need all types of housing at all levels and price ranges. A rising tide lifts all boats. And we are currently 120% over our yearly quota of the phrase "suburban garbage".

Joe

[Allison Slater]

"Suburban garbage" is, to me, giant stroads with giant pavement-expansive parking lots and big box stores completely separated from residential single-family-detached-only neighborhoods that are too far away from any business to reasonably walk.

This development has smaller parking lots broken up with trees, it has mixed use at all, the mixed use is walkable from the rest of the residential, which itself seems to have a variety of housing types.

Does it look like something that would fit near downtown? No, and it doesn't need to be. It's the suburbs. For a suburban development, honestly, this looks really good and certainly not "garbage."

[GR_Urbanist]

I'm sorry It is still a massive subdivision. Streets that go nowhere with two entrances/exit. No connection to anything. No attempt at any type of competent traditional planning.

Just because it fills a need for "housing", doesn't mean it isnt the same nonsense we have seen for years that was supposedly sprawl, but because it is in the suburbs, it should just be like this? Kent county wants 34,699 units of "housing" in the next few years. Imagine potentially thousands more disconnected subdivisions with similar designs. What on Earth are we left with after seeing the last spate of this type of developments in Wyoming and Kentwood from the 60s -90s that decades later still is a mess of disjointed places and endless expanses of mediocre strip malls and warehouse big box stores, but in the name of housing, we just keep making more of it? Honestly the township board isnt much better in their thinking wanting shorter buildings and less density. So it isnt like anyone there has a clue.

It isnt about being against new development. It is about actually expecting these developers to stop with this cookie cutter, yes, "suburban garbage", and practice the bare minimum urban design. The VERY BARE MINIMUM. This is slated to be the biggest multi-family housing development in the township’s history, and Phase 1 is more parking than place even with the spindly saplings and juniper shrubs, that will supposedly make it look nice.

 

But hey, I reserve the right to be wrong. I just wish just one of these things would actually pleasantly surprise me for once.

[Zads]

15 hours ago, GR_Urbanist said:

I'm sorry It is still a massive subdivision. Streets that go nowhere with two entrances/exit. No connection to anything. No attempt at any type of competent traditional planning.

Just because it fills a need for "housing", doesn't mean it isnt the same nonsense we have seen for years that was supposedly sprawl, but because it is in the suburbs, it should just be like this? Kent county wants 34,699 units of "housing" in the next few years. Imagine potentially thousands more disconnected subdivisions with similar designs. What on Earth are we left with after seeing the last spate of this type of developments in Wyoming and Kentwood from the 60s -90s that decades later still is a mess of disjointed places and endless expanses of mediocre strip malls and warehouse big box stores, but in the name of housing, we just keep making more of it? Honestly the township board isnt much better in their thinking wanting shorter buildings and less density. So it isnt like anyone there has a clue.

It isnt about being against new development. It is about actually expecting these developers to stop with this cookie cutter, yes, "suburban garbage", and practice the bare minimum urban design. The VERY BARE MINIMUM. This is slated to be the biggest multi-family housing development in the township’s history, and Phase 1 is more parking than place even with the spindly saplings and juniper shrubs, that will supposedly make it look nice.

 

But hey, I reserve the right to be wrong. I just wish just one of these things would actually pleasantly surprise me for once.

I share the sentiments that suburbs do not need to be designed this way. I think it's poorly planned and is very car centric.

However, that's just not reality in America. We are very car centric. I wish our country wasn't that way and the suburbs weren't that way. How does it change or how do we  change it? I really don't know. I would like to see more density housing in this spot, too. But I don't know if really that is the right spot for it.

We need housing, plain and simple and it's not good to rush that, it's good to plan it out. But this fits the typical suburb look.

If we want to be better with design for housing, let's infill housing in the city and remove parking lots for housing.

[Allison Slater]

On 4/6/2023 at 7:49 PM, GR_Urbanist said:

Streets that go nowhere with two entrances/exit. No connection to anything.

I see four entrances and exits, and considering the shape and placement of the property they're working with, it seems pretty well connected where they can make connections.

I remember when Celadon New Town was being developed, and people here seemed to hold it up as an example of good design and a model for future development moving forward. They both have disconnected buildings. They both have limited entrances/exits. They both have single-family detached housing. They both have curving, winding streets that don't form a grid. The only real difference I see is that one development is a larger scale, is located further out in the suburbs, and has a little more parking than the other.

I'm not a fan of perfect being the enemy of good.

[Prankster]

On 4/5/2023 at 4:02 PM, Jonesey said:

I don't really get the "we want to preserve valuable corn fields". 

Those corn fields are kinda important for producing food. Just sayin’.

[Zads]

I guess this can go in the Suburban projects?

"Construction is wrapping up on the first phase, which involves transforming the 127,000-square-foot building at 160 68th St. SW in Byron Township into SOMI offices, spaces for other local nonprofits, health services spaces, and indoor athletic facilities. "

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/sports-recreation/worlds-largest-special-olympics-facility-on-track-for-grand-rapids-area/

[Mjak]

9 hours ago, Zads said:

I guess this can go in the Suburban projects?

"Construction is wrapping up on the first phase, which involves transforming the 127,000-square-foot building at 160 68th St. SW in Byron Township into SOMI offices, spaces for other local nonprofits, health services spaces, and indoor athletic facilities. "

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/sports-recreation/worlds-largest-special-olympics-facility-on-track-for-grand-rapids-area/

This is just awesome.  

[Cookin_peacocks]

I noticed the old Thomson Auto at the corner of 52nd and Kalamazoo has been demoed and the lot being cleared. Any idea what's going on there? Did I miss something?

[GRyan]

1 hour ago, Cookin_peacocks said:

I noticed the old Thomson Auto at the corner of 52nd and Kalamazoo has been demoed and the lot being cleared. Any idea what's going on there? Did I miss something?

Kum N Go

[Cookin_peacocks]

3 hours ago, GRyan said:

Kum N Go

Dinner first?

 

 

But seriously, I had no idea one was going in there

[GR_Urbanist]

A bit confused by this report as to where this is going to go, or how they expect "downtown Wyoming" to be completed in 5 years, but here is the "next step" in that vision.

 

Reminds me of those metal pedestrian bridges that used to be over 28th street, Alpine, and S. Division. But this one is a tad bit nicer.