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Medical Mile/Michigan Street Developments


joeDowntown

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Heard this in the morning and have been waiting to post all day. This is great news for the hill. As if I recall, the second Phase is truely massive compared to the first. I am still waiting for the office tower portion that will make the third phase - but all in good time.

I also can't help but feel that they may be trying to tie this into the Towers redevelopment. Perhaps to either use space for offices or for development.

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Heard this in the morning and have been waiting to post all day.  This is great news for the hill.  As if I recall, the second Phase is truely massive compared to the first.  I am still waiting for the office tower portion that will make the third phase - but all in good time.

I also can't help but feel that they may be trying to tie this into the Towers redevelopment.  Perhaps to either use space for offices or for development.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tower Phase III, huh? Hmmmm. Bring me into the light on this one . . . .

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Tower Phase III, huh? Hmmmm. Bring me into the light on this one . . . .

The orginal plans called for three phases - I am not sure if this is still the plan but it was the way that it was intended. The third phase was to accomodate office staff and such opening the entire Phase I and II to research space.

It could be possible that the Towers redevelopment (which seems seriously tied to this announcement) may be filling this need. So there may never be a Phase III. Or it may take another form.

The very early announcements of the VAI (during the process of choosing an architect) clearly stated that a 20 or so storey tower was eventually to be integrated into the plan. There were never any drawings of the final project with the tower. The best I have found were Phase I and II - which the architect wanted to build all at once - hence the drawings are available on his website.

Here is Phase II as originally planned... Unfortunately it is flash so no posting the pic and you have to dig through the site to find it.

http://www.rvapc.com/

edit... Phase II is supposed to be about 300,000 sq. ft.

Edited by joeDowntown
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well this is really good news. i only thought it was a matter of time before they started on the second phase. its good to hear that with each completed project there are always more on the horizon. i can't begin to imagine the growth that is going on in this area in GR. with the midtown village going well, this, and the towers development, i think firm plans for msu's med school can only be around the corner as well.

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Here is the original model with Phase I & II. It was supposed to have the effect of a cascading waterfall. I always thought Phase I looked incomplete. I hope they keep Phase II Intact.

vai-model.jpg

Update: This is from Wood TV 8. It looks like the original plan is intact.

http://video.woodtv.com/index.php?video_id=664

Joe

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It definitely needs to be built up on the Division front- it should catch people's attention as they're passing by on the street. They should be able to look up and be amazed at how much research is going on up in there. :)

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  • 2 months later...

Im not sure how reliable this is, but i have started to hear chatter about the medical mile site being delayed by as much as two years. About a week and half ago i heard that it was set to start September 1st with bids being due in the last week sometime.... Anyone else heard anything about this?

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I heard full steam ahead (if you are talking about the DeVos-Christman development). I am sure that it is going to be like dominoes though. With all the construction on the hill they can only work on so many projects at one time.

Maybe they can turn the city centre ramp into a staging area for all the development? Oh wait, they already turned Tol down when he attempted it. ;)

Joe

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Well. The Cancer Center is definitely a go. The other project tied to it looks OK and might as well go up while the Cancer Center does. The reason for this is because the next project on the list, the Children's Hospital will make it extremely difficult to build on both sides of Michigan at the same time.

Spectrum has a policy of one project at a time to reduce the inconvienience to customers and ambulance drivers.

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I heard full steam ahead (if you are talking about the DeVos-Christman development). I am sure that it is going to be like dominoes though. With all the construction on the hill they can only work on so many projects at one time.

Maybe they can turn the city centre ramp into a staging area for all the development? Oh wait, they already turned Tol down when he attempted it. ;)

Joe

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have heard that the Medical Towers Phase I is a go, because it is not owned by Spectrum. It is actually RDV and Christman, and will not affect any part of the hospital logistics. But, my info could be wrong, if they have changed things in the last week or so.

Here is what the GRBJ said Monday:

...Construction should begin this fall on a 700,000-square-foot, five-acre medical complex that stretches from North Division Avenue to Coit Avenue on the north side of Michigan Street Hill.

Expected to cost more than $120 million, the Michigan Street Development project will consist of three office towers, a 2,300-square-foot parking ramp and, as part of a separate development, the cancer center.

The towers are designed to house medical offices, a food court and minor retail operations. With 100,000 square feet of lab space, it is the region's first private development aimed toward research-based tenants.

"Unlike other development projects, we're not just geared toward the physician office practices," said Joe Hooker, development services manager for Christman Co.

"We're taking extreme measures in the design process to make sure that we're able to recruit, attract and have facilities for high tech businesses as related to the SmartZone and Life Sciences Corridor."

A year ago, Christman entered into an agreement to redevelop the Towers Medical Building at 21 Michigan St. NE for East Lansing insurance company American Physicians Capital Inc.

With its premium position on the hill and within Grand Rapids' SmartZone, Hooker felt the seven-story medical office building was being underutilized. Its major tenant is Spectrum Health

Edited by GRDadof3
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Is the entire North side of Michigan going to be a parking garage? The area is going to be stunning visually from afar, but on a human scale this is going to be one of the most boring areas of town.

About a week and half ago i heard that it was set to start September 1st with bids being due in the last week sometime.... Anyone else heard anything about this?

Do we have any contractors that post or lurk? Somebody should know what the schedule is.

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Is the entire North side of Michigan going to be a parking garage?  The area is going to be stunning visually from afar, but on a human scale this is going to be one of the most boring areas of town.

Do we have any contractors that post or lurk?  Somebody should know what the schedule is.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It will not be boring. The area north of Michigan from Coit to Division will be parking deck but it steps down as the hill does so it has less of a presence. I have seen the design and once complete it will be very nice. It is certainly a challenge do to the severe grade change however.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I found this interesting bit in a newsletter regarding the new Medical Towers, and apparently URS is the architecture firm:

SME Newsletter 2005

page 4. URS also did the Meijer Heart Center, and I wouldn't be surprised if the buildings are similar to the Heart Center based on the renderings (they are a bit blurry).

Edited by GRDadof3
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I found this interesting bit in a newsletter regarding the new Medical Towers, and apparently URS is the architecture firm:

SME Newsletter 2005

page 4.  URS also did the Meijer Heart Center, and I wouldn't be surprised if the buildings are similar to the Heart Center based on the renderings (they are a bit blurry).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Glad to see that the "towers" are going to have more character in their design than what the original renderings showed. The originals looked like your basic bland glass office building.

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Glad to see that the "towers" are going to have more character in their design than what the original renderings showed.  The originals looked like your basic bland glass office building.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yah, I printed off the PDF file, and it looks like a lot more glass than the other renderings had.

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Major widenings of the Michigan Street bridge and Division Ave are needed for the new Medical Complex:

New bridge needed for Michigan Street Hill

Saturday, August 27, 2005

By Jim Harger

The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS -- A major new medical complex planned for downtown's Michigan Street Hill also calls for a major new bridge, according to city and state transportation planners.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ss...1540.xml&coll=6

Anyone heard any updates about the new Devos Children's Hospital building (tower) at the corner of Michigan and Bostwick?

Edited by GRDadof3
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