Medical Mile/Michigan Street Developments

[Allison Slater]

I love terminating vistas in the fact that they make a city seem bigger by closing it in and reducing the field of vision. On North Division looking South, the horizon is seen and one can easily determine that downtown ends that way. On South Division looking North, one is unable to determine where downtown ends because a large building blocks the way.

It is one things I don't much like about the grid system, but thankfully we have enough curves and jogs to provide a few such terminating vistas.

[GRDadof3]

Hey GRDad, do you think this is one of those terminating vistas that John Norquist was talking about? BTW, rumor has it that Norquist will be speaking at the GR Bike Summit in April, when that gets pulled together.

Not quite the same as what Norquist talked about, where buildings and streets are placed precisely so that there is a focal point at the end of major streets. But we have a couple of pseudo new terminating vistas underway:

The other being the view up Louis St looking at Gallery on Fulton when it's finished.

[egrguy]

Wow! Its amazing to see the progress on these buildings. For me the last time I looked was last year and its nearly mind boggling. I can't wait to get a upclose look next month. Things certainly haven't stopped in GR.

[fotoman311]

I just heard on the radio that they will be topping out the new Children's Hospital at a ceremony at 10am this morning.

[John E]

Here is the GR Press article for the topping off of the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital building:

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/ind...r_helen_de.html

~John

[Jamez]

Here is the GR Press article for the topping off of the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital building:

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/ind...r_helen_de.html

~John

From the article: A signature spire that was to extend above the roof with cables looping down across Michigan Street has been deleted. Was it kinda like the entrance to the hospital?

[John E]

No, the cables where to connect to the top of the skywalk that will connect the new hospital with the new medical building that is going up where the Towers building was.

~John

[jbr12]

Here's the rendering for ya:

Here's the new rendering from a different angle:

Edited February 2, 2009 by jbr12

[GRDadof3]

Here's the rendering for ya:

Here's the new rendering from a different angle:

This rendering reminded me that apparently Wolverine Construction has to figure out a way to get the pedestrian bridge built before the Tower 25 is ready, so that MDOT can open up all lanes on Michigan Street in 2010 for I-196 reconstruction. Seems like they could build a temporary support on the North side of Michigan until Tower 25 is ready to receive it (?)

[fotoman311]

If this is a hint of what's to come viewing this building at night, I gotta say I like it! Although, the construction lighting probably helps make it more dramatic than it will be when it's completed.

These photos are posted by permission of Flickr user Skywalker_ranch [Dennis].

http://www.flickr.com/photos/starwars/3245805508/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/starwars/3245793800/

Thanks Dennis! Awesome photos.

[joeDowntown]

Is it intended to light up at night with multiple colors or am I just seeing an overly saturated image? I'd love to see some interesting lighting effect as a "beacon" on the hill.

It isn't nearly as tall as I had imagined. To me, it doesn't seem much taller than the surrounding buildings.

Joe

[GRDadof3]

This seems like big news, but I'm not sure.

The Van Andel Institute has now formed a partnership with (VAI will become the parent entity of) Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN) of Phoenix. The current Director of TGEN will lead both organizations.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/ind...and_rapids.html

TGEN recently built a new facility in Arizona State University's Biomedical Collaborative Complex near downtown Phoenix.

From this article, it sounds like a good match:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/b...z-tgen0211.html

[joeDowntown]

I didn't quite understand the inner workings of the deal. The director of TGEN will lead both organizations, but Van Andel Institute will be the parent company of TGEN. Yet they will both retain their own boards. So is this truly just a partnership, or did one of the organizations (presumably VAI) pony up the cash as a sort of merger?

Joe

[GRDadof3]

I didn't quite understand the inner workings of the deal. The director of TGEN will lead both organizations, but Van Andel Institute will be the parent company of TGEN. Yet they will both retain their own boards. So is this truly just a partnership, or did one of the organizations (presumably VAI) pony up the cash as a sort of merger?

Joe

In some of the articles, it sounds like VAI gave TGEN a cash infusion and future financial funding. It also sounds like several board members from each organization will join the other board, and a team of employees will work together to forge "translational partnerships", for which TGEN has more expertise.

[GRDadof3]

Ferris State University's Pharmacy program to use space on the 7th Floor of the new Secchia Center (MSU CHM):

http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article...school_building

I don't think their Pharmacy program has a presence here in GR, do they?

[OneSweetWorld]

Ferris State University's Pharmacy program to use space on the 7th Floor of the new Secchia Center (MSU CHM):

http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article...school_building

I don't think their Pharmacy program has a presence here in GR, do they?

My school! I just did a course search at FSU's website and didn't find any pharm classes at the Grand Rapids campus, so I guess they don't. I do know their pharmacy program is a pretty prestigious one, so this should be good for GR. I wonder how many classes they're planning on offering here? I can't imagine all of them...

[blueradon]

Maybe they'll pressure GR Press to move out so they can build another building

[MuskeMI]

My school! I just did a course search at FSU's website and didn't find any pharm classes at the Grand Rapids campus, so I guess they don't. I do know their pharmacy program is a pretty prestigious one, so this should be good for GR. I wonder how many classes they're planning on offering here? I can't imagine all of them...

Ferris currently splits their 3rd-year pharmacy students in half, with half going to Kalamazoo's KCMS/Spindler Hall and half going to GR (classrooms are in the GRMERC area in the basement of the Waterworks building). This has been going on for 5 or more years now. 4th year pharmacy is spread all over the state with emphasis in GR and K'zoo. Currently 1st and 2nd year classes are taught in Big Rapids. I can't see that changing as the faculty is generally exclusive to one site or the other, plus they just remodeled the college of pharm in BR.

The facilities at MERC are very nice, and the students appreciate being able to go upstairs for drinks after class. But I have to worry about the fate of MERC as a whole with MSU's newfound presence in GR.

(FSU CoP alumnus and adjunct faculty, btw....)

Edited February 20, 2009 by MuskeMI

[John E]

New Bus Shelter On Medical Mile

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johne777/3300469225/sizes/l/

Van Andel Institute Phase II

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johne777/3301...57613453870119/

MSU School Of Human Medicine - Secchia Center

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johne777/3300...57613453870119/

~John

[GRDadof3]

New Bus Shelter On Medical Mile

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johne777/3300469225/sizes/l/

~John

Cool. A TOD on MSMM (or PH)!

[fotoman311]

Cool. A TOD on MSMM (or PH)!

There's a similar concrete casting on Lyon just east of Bostwick. Amy and I wondered what it was for, but seeing this, I'm pretty sure it's another shelter. The DASH bus picks up and drops off a ton of people at that GRCC location, so I'm pretty sure it will be well used.

[GRDadof3]

There's a similar concrete casting on Lyon just east of Bostwick. Amy and I wondered what it was for, but seeing this, I'm pretty sure it's another shelter. The DASH bus picks up and drops off a ton of people at that GRCC location, so I'm pretty sure it will be well used.

I just drove by that spot today and noticed the new bus shelter has been installed.

[John E]

Web pages for the Van Andel Institute Phase II project have been upgraded.

Page for the renovation of Crescent Park has been added.

See the latest construction photo from today here:

http://www.vai.org/About/Facilities/~/medi...tion022709.ashx

~John

[GRDadof3]

Insert skywalk here:

The glass looks rippled, but I think it's just the sun reflecting off of LHCP across street.

[GRDadof3]

His and Hers:

I'm sad to think that the VAI crane will probably be coming down this Spring or Summer, but probably just in time to go up on Tower 25 across the street.