Spectrum - Monroe North Campus

[joeDowntown]

I really hope Spectrum does something nice with the liner buildings they show in the site plans. It'd be nice if they sold the property to a third party developer to build commercial and residential in that block. Otherwise, I think the concerns about it being a dead zone are totally valid (and should concern the city as they're planning what Monroe North will look like in the future).

Joe

[GR_Urbanist]

7 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

I really hope this isn't more "land hoarding for future parking needs." 

This was my gut feeling reading about the building they bought yesterday as well. Spectrum going on a buying spree in N. Monroe is a bad sign that they are just locking down properties that they will sit on for years, and use the buildings to either store stuff or to demolish them for a parking lot and/or a place to put company-owned utility vehicles, like what you see on the S. side of Michigan on the hill, and St. Mary's has done on Wealthy.

I just dont know if the city is really being firm that N. Monroe is not supposed to become a glorified office park where 2/3rds of it behind Monroe is devoted to parking, service streets, and otherwise dead space, with a thin strip of buildings along one street. Sort of like what we saw these institutions had in mind before Heritage Hill took away the land they were gunning for 50 years ago.

 

[uncus]

Agree. I was down on Monroe North over the weekend and it was happening.  If SH is taking properties that contribute to the vibrancy of the neighborhood, i hope there are plans to incorporate some ground floor retail/commercial.  To have that much area effectively *closed* outside of corporate business hours would be a travesty. 

Spectrum does not have a great history with that. They had the opportunity to do this on their building on Michigan, but instead they located the restaurants in an interior food court, leaving blank wall and parking ramp entrances along the Michigan sidewalk


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[wingbert]

On 7/9/2021 at 8:06 AM, uncus said:

Spectrum does not have a great history with that. They had the opportunity to do this on their building on Michigan, but instead they located the restaurants in an interior food court, leaving blank wall and parking ramp entrances along the Michigan sidewalk


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They’re just a humble non-profit organization focused solely on the health of the residents in the communities they serve.

[grandrollerz]

On 7/9/2021 at 8:06 AM, uncus said:

Spectrum does not have a great history with that. They had the opportunity to do this on their building on Michigan, but instead they located the restaurants in an interior food court, leaving blank wall and parking ramp entrances along the Michigan sidewalk


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Somehow I don't think having a street level restaurant in the middle of the Michigan St. hill is really going to achieve the foot traffic you think it will.  Not surprisingly, there isn't demand for those restaurants from the surrounding community of empty-after-5-buildings and the highway overpass. And you can't really put a drive through on Michigan Hill.

[joeDowntown]

5 hours ago, grandrollerz said:

Somehow I don't think having a street level restaurant in the middle of the Michigan St. hill is really going to achieve the foot traffic you think it will.  Not surprisingly, there isn't demand for those restaurants from the surrounding community of empty-after-5-buildings and the highway overpass. And you can't really put a drive through on Michigan Hill.

I would agree to some extent. Red Geranium had a very brisk business until Spectrum bought the building and mothballed it for years (but that is really the only place I can think of).

I think North Monroe is a much different animal than Michigan Street as they basically bought a couple of blocks that is dividing development to the north and south. I think they could make or break this area if they don't mix other uses in with this development. I'm hopeful that they're aware of this and the liner buildings proposed to the north and east of the parking structure help as a buffer between the Spectrum campus and the other developments in the area. 

We are talking about a stretch of land that has been void of life for a LONG, LONG, LONG time (I worked in the Brassworks Building when it first opened, and I can honestly say Bond and Ottawa are just as dead now as they were 20 years ago). I think people are beating up on Spectrum a bit (we sure were mad when they WERE NOT putting this downtown). I just hope they see an opportunity to mix other uses in with the campus. 

Joe

[JimiThing]

I'm cynical by nature, but setting that aside I still find this very concerning.  Monroe North is perfectly situated to be a cool little urban riverfront district where people actually want to live and hang out, but with the recent history we've seen in W. MI (St Mary's taking an also perfectly positioned neighorhood and turning it into a parking lot), I can only think this is what Spectrum will eventfully end up with as well. Is there a fallacy for this type of thinking? Now that there's a real possibility that half of their Board of Directors (and in the future, possibly most of them) will be from the Detroit area, is there any real reason to think Spectrum will have any desire to show some creativity and intention with their real estate in Monroe North? I personally think the initial renderings for this first building are rather drab (seriously, grey brick?), what makes us think they're going to put any more effort into "liner buildings", if that even happens?

Do cities ever buy large parcels and subdivide them up as if it was a new neighborhood 100 years ago? Would that even be feasible? Buy these bigger parcels and let various developers come in and build a bunch of smaller multi-unit buildings to give the streetscape some diversity? Obviously they aren't all vacant lots, but it can't be impossible to allow the neighborhood to develop an interesting streetscape organically (with guidelines, of course) instead of having a handful of developers build block-long buildings that, as joeDowntown said earlier, can make or break an entire neighborhood.  Split up some of these larger lots that we can, and have developers like the ones in Belknap who are tearing down scarce affordable housing come down here and build their condos and flats. I think a few half blocks of these mixed in with some larger scale mixed use wouldn't be awful.

 

I really hope the city isn't letting Spectrum hijack this neighborhood though,  otherwise their precious riverfront they've been spending so much time on is going to end up looking like this:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by JimiThing

[Raildude's dad]

I've said it before and will say it again. Spectrum has no long range plan or direction. It's way too big to have a concise vision or plan. It's like a ship without a rudder. How many "plans" have they announced and then dropped. 

Look at the size and investments of their endowment fund - far from non-profit in my opinion.  The merger with Beaumont will mean nothing of benefit to Spectrum in West Michigan. Ego trip by the CEO?

As for your development idea, I'll let others speak up with more knowledge but I suspect city regs would be too onerous.  (unprofitable)

[GRDadof3]

On 7/17/2021 at 5:37 PM, JimiThing said:

I'm cynical by nature, but setting that aside I still find this very concerning.  Monroe North is perfectly situated to be a cool little urban riverfront district where people actually want to live and hang out, but with the recent history we've seen in W. MI (St Mary's taking an also perfectly positioned neighorhood and turning it into a parking lot), I can only think this is what Spectrum will eventfully end up with as well. Is there a fallacy for this type of thinking? Now that there's a real possibility that half of their Board of Directors (and in the future, possibly most of them) will be from the Detroit area, is there any real reason to think Spectrum will have any desire to show some creativity and intention with their real estate in Monroe North? I personally think the initial renderings for this first building are rather drab (seriously, grey brick?), what makes us think they're going to put any more effort into "liner buildings", if that even happens?

Do cities ever buy large parcels and subdivide them up as if it was a new neighborhood 100 years ago? Would that even be feasible? Buy these bigger parcels and let various developers come in and build a bunch of smaller multi-unit buildings to give the streetscape some diversity? Obviously they aren't all vacant lots, but it can't be impossible to allow the neighborhood to develop an interesting streetscape organically (with guidelines, of course) instead of having a handful of developers build block-long buildings that, as joeDowntown said earlier, can make or break an entire neighborhood.  Split up some of these larger lots that we can, and have developers like the ones in Belknap who are tearing down scarce affordable housing come down here and build their condos and flats. I think a few half blocks of these mixed in with some larger scale mixed use wouldn't be awful.

 

I really hope the city isn't letting Spectrum hijack this neighborhood though,  otherwise their precious riverfront they've been spending so much time on is going to end up looking like this:

 

 

 

 

 

What exactly would the city do? They can't block the sale of real estate from one private party to another. That's unconstitutional. 

[joeDowntown]

I'm hoping the city has been working closely with Spectrum on the whole plan. I'm sure they had to change zoning, and they vacated part of Bond, so it seems like they had some bargaining chips when approving it to make sure the neighborhood gets built properly. 

But again, Bond and Ottawa in this stretch were not nice, walkable areas before (I remember playing frogger with the trucks loading and unloading) so it will be a massive improvement. I just hope they mix it up a bit (out of the goodness of their heart).

Joe

[joeDowntown]

Wide open space down on bond. they're already pushing quite a lot of dirt around.

 

[walker]

Some nice renderings and a site map included in this article about DDA district boundaries being expanded to include Spectrum Health project property:

WOODTV: spectrum-health-hq-project-clears-another-hurdle-in-grand-rapids

Edit: just noticed the site map and renderings were already posted here back in the spring but the rest of the story is new.

Edited October 14, 2021 by walker

[GRDadof3]

Spectrum is seeking a $22 million brownfield package for this project. Every project in Monroe North has gotten a brownfield incentive so I don't see it being an issue that they'll have to fight for. 

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2021/11/spectrum-health-seeking-22m-brownfield-incentive-for-new-downtown-campus.html

Steel rising in the Spring 2022. 

[GR_Urbanist]

As soon as they start on the liner building and other developments promised, then they can get it.

Edited November 17, 2021 by GR_Urbanist

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, GR_Urbanist said:

As soon as they start in the liner building and other developments promised, then they can get it.

I think it's reimbursed over 21 years, according to the article (which I can't read now). So it's not $22 million all in one lump sum. 

[GRDadof3]

Noticed this from the highway today. Went to investigate. Which is good because I was starting to get crane withdrawal!

 

[GRDadof3]

Tower crane is going up. Might even be putting the boom on today although with this sub zero weather, maybe not. I'll try and get another picture today.

A month without a tower crane in Grand Rapids in what, 7 or 8 years? I was having withdrawals. 

[civitas]

[GRDadof3]

29 minutes ago, civitas said:

Nice! 

[Cookin_peacocks]

You guys like night shots?

 

 

[GRDadof3]

On 1/22/2022 at 8:18 PM, Cookin_peacocks said:

You guys like night shots?

 

 

Wonder when they're going to put the boom on? 

[Cookin_peacocks]

Please excuse me, I was drinking.

[GRDadof3]

Here we go!

Even though it's really crooked I was not drinking. 

 

[GRDadof3]

That tower crane looks cool from I-196 coming into downtown from the West. Especially when the sun is out. Hard to take a picture driving though...

[joeDowntown]

1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

That tower crane looks cool from I-196 coming into downtown from the West. Especially when the sun is out. Hard to take a picture driving though...

It's like a giant placeholder. "Building goes here."