24-Story Tower Proposed for Fulton and Ottawa

[GRLaker]

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2020/01/24-story-mixed-use-building-proposed-for-downtown-grand-rapids.html?utm_campaign=grandrapidspress_sf&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
 

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by GRLaker

[kwl]

Think it’s just a plug render?

[Pattmost20]

Really hope they can stick to that height. I think it would look great there. 

[joeDowntown]

It’ll be interesting to see how this progresses. I felt like they were fixing themselves a lot of wiggle room to go smaller. 

i really like that there is a condo component. 
 

Joe

[MJLO]

It's being proposed by Wheeler Development Group which is apparently been organized from Orion Real Estate solutions.  The Wheelers were the founders of Rockford Construction as well.  They definitely have a track record for completing projects downtown, though they are also notorious for proposing buildings with 20+ stories, then delivering  12 stories(though that is more of a city wide curse).   It will be interesting to see how far this progresses.  They should have the experience to pull it off.  Not a fan of the rendering shown but I'll reserve judgement for when more details emerge.

[GVSUChris]

There are more drawings in the Committee of the Whole agenda packet if someone wants to grab me and plant them in here. 

[MJLO]

23 minutes ago, GVSUChris said:

There are more drawings in the Committee of the Whole agenda packet if someone wants to grab me and plant them in here. 

The answer to this is always yes lol.

[GRLaker]

[gvsusean]

13 minutes ago, GRLaker said:

I think it’s cool... 

[Guest]

I kinda like the design too.  It will probably get scaled back due to blah blah blah.

I'd be interested to see how they integrate the parking structure into this.  This will pretty much be an extension of the Ottawa/Fulton ramp correct?  I would hope they would keep an entry/exit on Ionia or I guess they could add one to Fulton.  What happens when the Ottawa/Fulton ramp meets the end of it's life?  Will they design this so that it still work independently w/o O/F ramp?

[ironyisadeadscene]

Yes please! This would add so much to the skyline and really add to the excitement this area of downtown is building.

 

And I love the look. Its modern, sleek, different 

[GRDadof3]

Well dang, this looks like it's been in the oven for a little while. Cool!

[ironyisadeadscene]

19 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

Well dang, this looks like it's been in the oven for a little while. Cool!

Yeah, I get the feeling reading the article that this is much further down the line than we possible could know. The fact this could be under construction by this winter shows this is a very real possibility 

[Khorasaurus1]

Why does the lot have Ottawa address? It abuts Fulton and Ionia, not Ottawa.

Fulton Street itself will need some improved streetscape/trees/median etc with this and the Hinman project. Not a road diet necessarily, but something to make it feel like less of a concrete jungle. 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Khorasaurus1

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

Why does the lot have Ottawa address? It abuts Fulton and Ionia, not Ottawa.

Fulton Street itself will need some improved streetscape/trees/median etc with this and the Hinman project. Not a road diet necessarily, but something to make it feel like less of a concrete jungle. 

The parcel takes up the whole block except the CWD building.  It will probably be split if this actually happens.

Lots of trees will be coming with the Arena project.  There will also be trees in the right of way for this and the Hinman project.  The only area you could really put a median would be east of Ottawa on Fulton.  This area of Fulton has a lot of traffic and the center turn lanes are needed.  It gets way worse if there is any event or construction.  

I saw a few people complain about the loss of "green space" and I don't really see it.  It's not like this is a park.  It's a parking lot with trees and a grassy hill for dogs to crap on.  It's a valuable piece of property and probably the best piece of undeveloped property downtown.  GR is far from a "concrete jungle", it's much greener than a lot of cities like Detroit for example.

As for the ramp entry/exit it looks like the Ionia side will stay.

[Khorasaurus1]

Oh yeah I have no qualms seeing a building built there. That parking lot is not "green space," nor does it have much value in it's current state.

It's just that Fulton is going to be lined with buildings that have a lot of massing right at the sidewalk AND feature heavy traffic, so it's going to need to be softened with streetscape.

As for medians, something similar to the ones in Fulton east of Division would work between Ottawa amd Ionia and still leave space for left turns at the intersections. And one could go between Ionia and Commerce by prohibiting left turns onto Louis.

 

 

Edited January 18, 2020 by Khorasaurus1

[GRDadof3]

2 hours ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

Why does the lot have Ottawa address? It abuts Fulton and Ionia, not Ottawa.

Fulton Street itself will need some improved streetscape/trees/median etc with this and the Hinman project. Not a road diet necessarily, but something to make it feel like less of a concrete jungle. 

Agreed, Fulton needs something. It's horribly non-pedestrian-friendly and cars travel way too fast on it between Monroe and Division. I don't know why medians can't be added in places where there's no need for a left turn lane. Sort of like what they did with Fulton East of Division. I don't really feel like it hampered traffic that much when they put those landscaped medians in. 

With this project, if it goes through, and the Residence Inn and Studio Park, the downtown activated area will have decidedly moved away from Pearl and Monroe to the arena area. I'm going to add to my Predictions for 2020 that the lot on Ionia by Hopcat will finally see something proposed on it. The timing is perfect.  

In other news, the CEO of Experience GR put this article about this tower on his FB page and said "this won't be the last of the high-rises...more on the way!" 

 

[Chisox]

1 hour ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

Oh yeah I have no qualms seeing a building built there. That parking lot is not "green space," nor does it have much value in it's current state.

It's just that Fulton is going to be lined with buildings that have a lot of massing right at the sidewalk AND feature heavy traffic, so it's going to need to be softened with streetscape.

As for medians, something similar to the ones in Fulton east of Division would work between Ottawa amd Ionia and still leave space for left turns at the intersections. And one could go between Ionia and Commerce by prohibiting left turns onto Louis.

 

 

What about installing raised floor beds like we have here in Chicago on Michigan Ave? 

[Khorasaurus1]

1 hour ago, Chisox said:

What about installing raised floor beds like we have here in Chicago on Michigan Ave? 

So long as there's enough sidewalk space, that would be perfect.

[walker]

2 hours ago, Chisox said:

What about installing raised floor beds like we have here in Chicago on Michigan Ave? 

Something like this?

floral bed - Michigan Ave

 

[Chisox]

8 minutes ago, walker said:

Something like this?

floral bed - Michigan Ave

 

Yeah, with native plantings and also having a monument possibly. Just don't grass over a median like it's a suburban avenue.

[TheLonesomeHobo]

I really hope this doesn’t get scaled down, this is a perfect opportunity and hopefully the city / the developers don’t squander it. (fingers crossed)

 

I’m also INSANELY curious what the CEO of Experience GR is refereeing to... any speculation?

[GRDadof3]

9 hours ago, TheLonesomeHobo said:

I really hope this doesn’t get scaled down, this is a perfect opportunity and hopefully the city / the developers don’t squander it. (fingers crossed)

 

I’m also INSANELY curious what the CEO of Experience GR is refereeing to... any speculation?

I don't know if he was speaking in a broad sense or specifics. I asked on his page if he was talking about the convention center (tower) hotel and he didn't respond.  Probably because he has media people in his FB network. 

12 hours ago, Chisox said:

Yeah, with native plantings and also having a monument possibly. Just don't grass over a median like it's a suburban avenue.

It would probably be more like this, like the ones they just did at Fulton and Sheldon. Honestly some of the stuff they have in Chicago, I'm not a big fan of. Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue both come to mind, that are really just highways in a downtown core. They need to be totally redesigned, IMHO. 

 

I like how they ramped the curbs, so that cars and trucks that cut the corner too sharp don't totally destroy the curbs. 

Unlike this new one at Michigan St and the Ottawa exit, that has been completely destroyed in one short year. Funny that google streetview even has truck tracks all over it.

[grandrollerz]

1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

Unlike this new one at Michigan St and the Ottawa exit, that has been completely destroyed in one short year. Funny that google streetview even has truck tracks all over it.

When I see that, i wonder how much of that was simply due to the closure of 196?  when the city repairs it in the spring, i'd be curious to see if it continues to get that much damage. How many semis would choose to exit there (maybe USPS?).

[GRDadof3]

4 hours ago, grandrollerz said:

When I see that, i wonder how much of that was simply due to the closure of 196?  when the city repairs it in the spring, i'd be curious to see if it continues to get that much damage. How many semis would choose to exit there (maybe USPS?).

True. Probably not a lot of big trucks now.