West Michigan Park Projects - Updates

[GR_Urbanist]

Much needed replacement for the decades- old MLK Park lodge looks to be in the works! The park had seen a lot of upgrades in recent years, and this is definitely going to be the capstone in this. Potential plan @ 1:05.

I was hoping they would show what it looked like inside now. I honestly never seen what it looked like in there. But the lack of windows must not have made for a pleasant interior.

 

 

[organsnyder]

I was hoping the building could be renovated, but I do think the new building will be much better for the community. Those old locker rooms in the basement bring back a lot of nostalgia for me (I grew up near there and took a lot of swimming lessons in that pool), but they’re not adequate.

The King Park Neighbors association is meeting in my church because the lodge recently became unusable due to a ceiling collapse (IIRC).

[GR_Urbanist]

Park-ish related. A condo 35 or so unit development is meeting opposition near the south end of Huff Park. Neighbor concerns are somewhat vague, amounting to "it's too dense" and that it will do "something" to "disrupt" the park and wildlife? No one will detail what they think will happen in the report, though.

Also, the boilerplate "we aren't opposed to development, and we know the city needs more housing, just preferably not around us" sentiment comes up.

There are no actual site plans or renderings in the report, so it's all really frustratingly speculative.

 

 

[joeDowntown]

The “I’m angry because someone is developing something near me on land I don’t own” argument. It’s a classic!

Joe

[RiversideGR]

3 hours ago, GR_Urbanist said:

Park-ish related. A condo 35 or so unit development is meeting opposition near the south end of Huff Park. Neighbor concerns are somewhat vague, amounting to "it's too dense" and that it will do "something" to "disrupt" the park and wildlife? No one will detail what they think will happen in the report, though.

Also, the boilerplate "we aren't opposed to development, and we know the city needs more housing, just preferably not around us" sentiment comes up.

There are no actual site plans or renderings in the report, so it's all really frustratingly speculative.

 

 

35 units isn’t even very dense. The online petition I saw made a bunch of vague claims about environmental impacts that weren’t supported with any evidence. 
 

nature shouldn’t be something that is exclusively available for owners of single-family homes.

[numstead]

14 hours ago, GR_Urbanist said:

Park-ish related. A condo 35 or so unit development is meeting opposition near the south end of Huff Park. Neighbor concerns are somewhat vague, amounting to "it's too dense" and that it will do "something" to "disrupt" the park and wildlife? No one will detail what they think will happen in the report, though.

Also, the boilerplate "we aren't opposed to development, and we know the city needs more housing, just preferably not around us" sentiment comes up.

There are no actual site plans or renderings in the report, so it's all really frustratingly speculative.

 

It appears  that there is a common property owner of 1435 and 1439 Knapp, and that seems to be the most realistic  place to put a multi-unit development along there based on the parcel depth.  The NE corner of the site is about 240' from the trail with very mature tree coverage betweenThere is a long vacant, and dare I say blighted, house on 1435 and the rest of the site is strewn with debris. The same entity also owns 1335 and 1491 Knapp (red parcels below). The house  at 1491 is presently being renovated. There is another property owner along there  [rolls eyes at the name of their LLC]  with multiple parcels at 1443 and 1449 Knapp, and 2027 Joan (green parcels below). Maybe 1443 gets included somehow in the deal. The first guy they interviewed owns 2036 Joan (blue parcel below), which abuts the park and the possible development site. Of all the houses along that stretch of Knapp and Joan, his, and his business partner neighbor's, are the only ones that can be seen from the trail.

I had to chuckle when they mentioned the possible impact on wildlife and did a quick cut to the B-roll of the deer. I live about 1/2 mile south of there and walk the trails frequently. Those deer wander through all the neighborhoods around there, including multiple multi-family residential developments. We've seen them bed down in our front yard at night in the winter and eat our flowers in the spring. They aren't in any more danger by this proposed development. Maybe the birds and other critters that are more dependent on the wetlands habitat that the park provides are more at risk, but if the City puts some stringent stormwater runoff detention/retention requirements on the development I'm sure that would help significantly.

[ChevalierNoir]

The LLCs @numsteadmentioned all roll back to Fredrick Rosendall - owner of Copperrock Construction. So I would hazard a guess that most, if not all, of those properties could be a part of the development. 

[joeDowntown]

The little park/river walk at Lyon Square is finally getting redone (was supposed to start as early as 2017):

https://www-mlive-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2023/08/city-of-grand-rapids-to-borrow-up-to-12m-to-redevelop-downtown-riverfront-park.html?outputType=amp&amp_js_v=0.1#webview=1&cap=swipe

[Allison Slater]

I was convinced Lyon Square and Calder Plaza were both dead plans, things had been so silent on them both for so long.

[Zads]

Lyon Square construction will begin in October.

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/real-estate/construction-on-grand-rapids-riverfront-plaza-to-start-next-month/

[RiversideGR]

3 hours ago, Zads said:

Lyon Square construction will begin in October.

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/real-estate/construction-on-grand-rapids-riverfront-plaza-to-start-next-month/

I like that they are installing a snowmelt system! I hope we will see more of that incorporated into the riverfront development.

[Zads]

Here's an update on Sullivan "Valley" Field on the west side of the city.

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/sports-recreation/4-2m-restoration-starts-soon-on-historic-little-gem-baseball-field-in-grand-rapids/

[Zads]

Groundbreaking for the Sullivan "Valley" Field project on the west side. It's really coming along in funding and it's great to see this project breaking ground and starting the renovation process."

"The group, Fans of Valley Field, has raised $3.7 million of its $4.2 million goal to preserve and upgrade the aging ballpark..."

https://www.crainsgrandrapids.com/news/sports-recreation/local-leaders-former-players-turn-out-for-sullivan-field-groundbreaking/

[Pattmost20]

Work progressing on Lyon Square

[joeDowntown]

Thought this was a very interesting project. Nice new green space (instead of a parking lot). Definitely will increase the “curb appeal” on this section of 196:

https://www-mlive-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2024/04/whats-under-construction-near-i-196-kent-county-parks-has-big-plans.html?outputType=amp&amp_js_v=0.1&amp_gsa=1#webview=1&cap=swipe