Medical Mile/Michigan Street Developments

[GRDadof3]

Here are a few shots from closer to the ground:

Looks like floor 8:

Preparation for tying into the structure and adding a few more sections:

New curtain wall frame up on the Southeastern side of VAI:

That was kind of an odd looking side to the VAI, so I'm not going to miss it.

And new helicopter landing pad on top of Spectrum:

[MuskeMI]

Wondering if anyone out there can share some info.

Considering how well the medical mile is doing, it can only be a matter of time before some of the vacant/undeveloped/underdeveloped properties along Michigan to the East get some attention. Are there any plans or thoughts for some of these properties?

>>The old Red Geranium/Rite Aid seems like a great location, but no activity since Rite Aid left.

>>There's that old Jade Pig Racing garage that just sits there (didn't MSU or GVSU buy the parking spaces behind it?).

>>Just to the west of that is some other seemingly abandoned building, quite dilapidated.

>>There's the old gas station/repair shop on Michigan and Lafayette.

[Gorath]

Just checking city records;

The Red Geranium/Rite Aid is now owned by Spectrum.

The Jade Pig garage, dirt lot to the west, and office building to the north are now all owned by MSU. Which would make that entire block MSU except the Bagel Beanery.

To the west of the dirt lot, across Sinclare Street, is a building on the south and an apartment/condo? north of it. And a small tiny lot north of the apartment. The tiny lot is owned by MSU. This leads me to believe that MSU would also like to purchase the apartment and building south of it. Terra Firma owns the apartment. 7 Oaks owns the south building. McDonald's is west of these three lots.

7 Oaks also owns that old gas station.

I have no idea what plans there are for any of the properties.

[GRDadof3]

Just checking city records;

The Red Geranium/Rite Aid is now owned by Spectrum.

The Jade Pig garage, dirt lot to the west, and office building to the north are now all owned by MSU. Which would make that entire block MSU except the Bagel Beanery.

To the west of the dirt lot, across Sinclare Street, is a building on the south and an apartment/condo? north of it. And a small tiny lot north of the apartment. The tiny lot is owned by MSU. This leads me to believe that MSU would also like to purchase the apartment and building south of it. Terra Firma owns the apartment. 7 Oaks owns the south building. McDonald's is west of these three lots.

7 Oaks also owns that old gas station.

I have no idea what plans there are for any of the properties.

I don't think Terra Firma has any plans right now, or at least not the last time I talked with Justin a few months ago.

[MuskeMI]

Thanks Gorath. Who/what is 7 Oaks?

[GRDadof3]

Thanks Gorath. Who/what is 7 Oaks?

http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/bcs_corp/dt_ll...7%20OAKS,%20LLC

Here's MSU from yesterday:

And check out the church. Nice job.

And a new entrance on the East side:

[wingbert]

http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/bcs_corp/dt_ll...7%20OAKS,%20LLC

Here's MSU from yesterday:

If you were watching WOOD TV this morning on the 6:00 and 6:30 AM newscasts they gave a shout out to the topping out ceremony today at the MSU Medical School. They also showed footage of the building itself... from several months ago. The footage showed the building only constructed up to the top of the parking garage. You would think from the footage and the talk of topping out that this building was only going to be three or four stories tall. Nice fail WOOD TV.

PS: Kudos to the church for doing such a nice job of integrating old and new. I hate when new additions to old builidings don't match.

[LA Dave]

Good job, Immanuel Lutheran, on the new parish hall. A big improvement over the 1950s building that was there before. And, nice to see Little Brother's medical school topped off. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

[blueradon]

Little Brother kicked Little Sisters butt (sorry, couldn't resist)

[LA Dave]

Little Brother kicked Little Sisters butt (sorry, couldn't resist)

Yeah, that's why I have take my revenge in cutting remarks about buildings.

"The horror . . . the horror ... " (Kurtz in "Heart of Darkness," no doubt referring to Michigan football this year.)

[Josh]

Curtain wall on HDVCH going up...

Watched it at work today.

There's also a smaller crane putting steel and equipment on top of the Heart Center. From what I heard, it's most likely to move the antennas from near the AeroMed landing pad to the to top of the Heart Center.

Pictures anyone? It's nice out

[MuskeMI]

Curtain wall on HDVCH going up...

Saw it today. The glass does indeed have that "electropheresis gel" look to it as shown on the drawings. Very impressive and unique in person. Only noticed a tiny bit of glass, on the eastern part of the 2nd floor.

[fotoman311]

Any update on when the big ugly eyesore is coming down? Seems like they should have it pretty well gutted by now.

[suydam]

Any update on when the big ugly eyesore is coming down? Seems like they should have it pretty well gutted by now.

Wait, they're tearing down city hall?!

[LA Dave]

Wait, they're tearing down city hall?!

You're kidding, right? City Hall might not be the most thrilling building downtown, but it is a fine, albeit modest, example of mid-century modernism, courtesy of Skidmore Owings and Merrill. That MOB thing on Pill Hill looks like a Daverman Plan 13 retread. It was ugly when it was built, and it will be civic improvement when it is demolished.

Now, the Federal Building looks like its ugly cousin, but given the state of the federal budget deficit, I don't expect demolition of that green-bricked monstrosity any time soon.

The real crime here was the destruction of the 1888 City Hall. Just think of what could have been done with that building in the new downtown.

[fotoman311]

The real crime here was the destruction of the 1888 City Hall. Just think of what could have been done with that building in the new downtown.

I thought about this building when I was in St. Louis and walked by their city hall, which looked to be of a similar design and from a similar time period, but bigger. It does need a good cleaning, though.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoman311/28...1/in/datetaken/

[GRDadof3]

Saw it today. The glass does indeed have that "electropheresis gel" look to it as shown on the drawings. Very impressive and unique in person. Only noticed a tiny bit of glass, on the eastern part of the 2nd floor.

The new glass looks awesome! Anyone get an pics yet? I can see if I can get over there this afternoon while the sun is out.

They've done about 3 or 4 floors now on the East side.

[sfloria]

Why has the HDVCH seemed to hit a roadblock on going vertical? Those stair towers haven't moved an inch in a couple months and now the steel has caught up and hasn't gone further either. Did they value engineer the height of the building?

[MuskeMI]

Funny you should say that sfloria, they're jumping the tower crane right this minute outside my office. GRDad, hurry up with the camera!

[Allison Slater]

I hope you're kidding, right? Well, I'm leaving for class in one minute so I guess I'll find out soon anyways.

[MuskeMI]

Dead serious.

Also, just found out that the front entrance/lobby will reopen Monday 11-10. About time. I can't tell you how many times I've nearly been run over by distracted/nervous/just-plain-bad drivers on Barclay.

[GRDadof3]

Funny you should say that sfloria, they're jumping the tower crane right this minute outside my office. GRDad, hurry up with the camera!

Here ya go. Guess I overestimated how many floors of glass were finished. Funny how it looked bigger when I drove by the other day.

I turned up the saturation because it was all washed out by the sunlight behind it, but that's the real color:

Crane jumping:

I don't remember seeing that large hydraulic unit on the other cranes around town.

And they were unloading some kind of crane over here, which I assume will be finally bringing down the Towers bunker:

[Allison Slater]

Wow, I'm completely blind then. I always check that site before and after my morning class and didn't even notise. I'm excited, yet still surprised I slacked off on the day it counted.

[tamias6]

The glass now appearing on the new Children's Hospital looks allot better than depicted on the renderings.

[AlexPKeaton]

Is there a texture on that glass? It looks like a DNA sequence.