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GVSU Downtown Development


GRDadof3

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

GVSU buys gas station. Will demo it for .... ?

http://www.mlive.com...iral_gas_s.html

Does this mean GVSU now owns the property that the billboard is on? Aren't billboards difficult to get rid of because of long lease agreements? Does anyone know the story with that? I hope this dosen't end up as more parking.

Edited by mpchicago
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Does this mean GVSU now owns the property that the billboard is on? Aren't billboards difficult to get rid of because of long lease agreements? Does anyone know the story with that? I hope this dosen't end up as more parking.

According to REGIS, the billboard sits on its own small parcel owned by Outdoor Systems in Phoenix. It probably ain't going anywhere soon.

My guess is initially they'll build some sort of pedestrian connection between the new business college and the other Devos campus. The gas station is a pretty small parcel in the grand scheme of things, but does have Fulton St frontage. Long term strategy probably.

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^^Sure would be a terrible shame if, during the gas station demo process, a backhoe or steam shovel or other BIG apparatus were to accidentally damage the billboard, to the point of making it unrepairable.

You mean some sort of soil contamination that required clean up.

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I'd hate to see it go. It was a convenient place to fill up, and very bust gas station. But then again they never bothered to enter the 21st century and give you the ability to pay at the pump, forcing you to stand in line behind people buying smokes and lottery tickets.

oh yeah, then there is this:

"

What exactly the property will be used for is unclear at this time, but demolition of the gas station is expected to begin this summer, administrators said."

Seeing that acres of land behind it are a used car lot, I'm not holding my breath as to what it will likely turn into.

Edited by GR_Urbanist
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It will just be temporary.*

admiralparking.jpg

* I made this image up. Not an actual plan.

Sadly there is no such thing as a temporary parking lot in DT GR. It will get the usual fake iron fence/juniper shrub treatment, and will be there for at least 8-15 years.

The amount of money it will cost to pave it over + the amount they will make from students that have to pay to park, will make that thing be there for a very long time. All of their big talk about development is just PR noise, just like what St. Mary's does.

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You mean some sort of soil contamination that required clean up.

Noooope. I mean the city's code that stipulates billboards are a non-conforming use, and if one is damaged beyond easy repair (50% IIRC) it must be removed.

We had a BZA case that included a billboard, and quite a bit of site prep. The regs made it into the public record.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My money is on straightening Mt Vernon to connect to Front street so the navigation through there isn't such a maze.

I think you're right sfloria. Driving on Mt Vernon I noticed the sight line down to the business school and Mt Vernon lines up with the entrance to the new building. In fact, after walking that area, it has a slight semblance of an actual campus with the little bit of tree canopy. I could actually envision a campus feel (with a TON of work). And the gas station is already being torn down. That was fast.

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  • 1 month later...

GVSU just received $30 million from the State to help construct a new $55 Million science center on its Allendale campus. Considering its 145,000 sf size, I gotta imagine there are some images available somewhere, and a location picked out?

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  • 3 weeks later...

GVSU just received $30 million from the State to help construct a new $55 Million science center on its Allendale campus. Considering its 145,000 sf size, I gotta imagine there are some images available somewhere, and a location picked out?

Is this the project? (Project cost and size is quite different.)

http://www.mlive.com...t_river_default

11354017-large.jpg

Photo courtesy Mlive

Edit: Never mind this seems to be in Muskegon. The Dateline said Allendale.

Edited by Gorath
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The gas station was the only thing in that area that GVSU did not own on "their" campus. They just wanted it, from what I understand, and have no plans for it other than ... well, not a gas station.

It looks like at least temporarily, the old gas station site on Fulton is going to be grass.

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