The new Hilton Garden Inn on the East Beltline is an atrocious joke

[TheSutterKing]

Maybe it's just me, but with the right foliage around the building it wouldn't be as bad as you guys are depicting it. Especially in the summer when the leaves are green, and if it's that bad maybe the leaves would cover up the whole building 

[GRDadof3]

6 hours ago, TheSutterKing said:

Maybe it's just me, but with the right foliage around the building it wouldn't be as bad as you guys are depicting it. Especially in the summer when the leaves are green, and if it's that bad maybe the leaves would cover up the whole building 

There aren't any trees around it. They cut them all down. 

[joeDowntown]

5 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

There aren't any trees around it. They cut them all down. 

'Tis true. They cut down a probably heavily wooded lot to build this project. 

Joe

[Raildude's dad]

Only the rear 1/4 or so of the lot was wooded, west of the N-S access drive. The rest of the lot was a rough mowed field for many years, probably since the street was built. Interestingly, WMU owns the rest of the property on the street plus 3 adjacent out lots on the Woodland Mall ring road.

[ChevalierNoir]

On 1/21/2017 at 5:09 PM, RegalTDP said:

Maybe they're saving all their money for the N. Monroe project? 

They have tons of money, source: I used to work for them. I'm very disappointed in the outcome, especially considering how nice the Courtyard ended up in Holland. Does anyone know if they used the same architect from that project?

[GRDadof3]

19 hours ago, ChevalierNoir said:

They have tons of money, source: I used to work for them. I'm very disappointed in the outcome, especially considering how nice the Courtyard ended up in Holland. Does anyone know if they used the same architect from that project?

I haven't seen on any of their submittals who the architect is. Here's their application to switch from masonry material and fiber cement board to the EIFS:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjEv5aM6drRAhUI5oMKHeYaC3wQFghFMAc&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgrandrapidscitymi.iqm2.com%2FCitizens%2FFileOpen.aspx%3FType%3D12%26ID%3D2328&usg=AFQjCNEKaxAKWlBixQylYYRpAs0im-_zcg&sig2=fpQV2HmqSctcdA8iw_VNdw

They seem to blame a lot of it on the new energy code that came out early last year. 

It is GHB (Geoffrey H Butler) same architect as the Monroe North Hotel. 

[GRLaker]

21 hours ago, ChevalierNoir said:

They have tons of money, source: I used to work for them. I'm very disappointed in the outcome, especially considering how nice the Courtyard ended up in Holland. Does anyone know if they used the same architect from that project?

Seems like I remember you working with the company last time you posted.

Holland wouldn't allow in its downtown area 90% of the crap Grand Rapids allows to be built. They seem to be much more strategic with their progress than Grand Rapids that thinks any infill is better than none. The Holland Courtyard is a thing of beauty that fits in perfectly with Holland's downtown. 

[ChevalierNoir]

22 minutes ago, GRLaker said:

Seems like I remember you working with the company last time you posted.

I was. But, as a college student, I needed to align my work more closely with my major.

Holland's downtown as a whole is beautiful. And it really goes to show that people are willing to go the extra mile to fit in because of how attractive the market is. I'm no civil planning expert, but it seems like they're on to something that GR could take a lesson from.