Medical Mile/Michigan Street Developments

[bwindi25]

Well said GRTP...

It's in the city, therefore we can't be shortsighted in the design, because someday when more pedestrian traffic goes past this building, we'll be kicking ourselves for putting a blank wall and parking garage in there.

There are peak times on Michigan in regard to pedestrian use. 7am for one, is a very busy time. Also, I have never crossed the street at Coit/Michigan during the day by myself. There is always someone waiting to cross.

I think we will regret not designing any street in Grand Rapids without a focus toward the pedestrian. There are multiple destination points up and down the hill that will get people walking & biking. Michigan will forever be a slow moving parking lot from now on, construction or no construction. People will get frustrated enough in traffic and parking that walking, public transit and biking will become a part of their daily commute.

[GRDadof3]

Not a great pano, but the Cancer Center portion is definitely moving to above grade:

And the Western end of the project:

[MJLO]

looking at all these pics is exciting! I can't wait to come home.

[MrsB918]

As a tenant in the Towers building, it is very cool to see the progress on the Cancer Pavilion! Pretty soon the men are going to be right outside my window!

[Rizzo]

I'm assuming your husband dosen't read UP - GR

[Kayak1]

Shots from this morning

[joeDowntown]

Question: When do they expect to start above ground construction on the Cancer building?

Joe

[designcritic]

Question: When do they expect to start above ground construction on the Cancer building?

Joe

The next level poured will be the first floor of the LHCP. They will be starting the framing for it in a matter of days.

[ghostwriter13]

I spent close to a week earlier in the month in Seattle. I was impressed by a number of things there.

1. The great bussing system and soon to be monorail.

2. The pedestrian friendliness aspects of the city. Not just the streets, but the motorists, too. Pedestrians always have the right of way, but in Seattle, the motorists know it.

3. Even with the hills, people still walk and bike.

It's possible in GR... maybe not in the dead of winter, but I'd have to believe that there's hope.

[bwindi25]

I spent close to a week earlier in the month in Seattle. I was impressed by a number of things there.

1. The great bussing system and soon to be monorail.

2. The pedestrian friendliness aspects of the city. Not just the streets, but the motorists, too. Pedestrians always have the right of way, but in Seattle, the motorists know it.

3. Even with the hills, people still walk and bike.

It's possible in GR... maybe not in the dead of winter, but I'd have to believe that there's hope.

Seattle set a vision about 10 years ago that they would have the fewest pedestrian deaths of any city in the nation. That vision has guided their planning, hence the pedestrian right-of-way. The department responsible for pedestrian and bike planning actually has some guts and authority also. Here is a link to other pedestrian laws that Seattle has instituted.

http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/pedrcw.htm

So, where's our vision and who has authority to carry it out?

[Allison Slater]

I think Grand Rapids is already a little pedestrian friendly as far as traffic goes. I've ridden bicycle in Wayland and GR many times, and drivers in GR are much more considerate to pedestrians than in Wayland. Here, drivers RARELY stop before corsswalks at intersections, instead they edge as far into the road as they can, and will stay there regardless if somebody is trying to cross ot not. 75% of the time this happened in GR, the driver would back up to allow me to cross. Also in Wayland at least once every bike trip, I get insulted by some driver who doesn't want me on the road (often in places where there are no sidewalks anyways), whereas in GR this has never happened to me. Granted, I haven't ridden in GR often, but from the few times I have, it has proven to be a lot better than Wayland.

Is there room for improvement? Always. I'm just saying it's not as bad as other places are.

[sparky05]

Woohoo! 150 posts!

Edited August 4, 2006 by sparky05

[sparky05]

Semi-crappy pano:

In a larger context:

[localtalent]

Not sure if anyone's noticed...but the newest version of the design appears much more vanilla:

Evidently, it's taller than originally planned, and ground-breaking is supposed to be this fall?

Anyone else have updates?

It occurs to me that this is yet another project that will fill the skyline in nicely. 14 stories up on the hill will look pretty big.

[torgo]

It looks just like the "original" version, minus the pointy thing

[Rizzo]

Holy smokes that looks a lot bigger then what was led to beleive in the original renderings.

[egrguy]

how much height does that cone shape on the top add to the building?

[Lplan]

how much height does that cone shape on the top add to the building?

i believe that is a cloud.

[mgreven]

Longtime lurker, first time posting. . .

Some updates on the hospital for ya:

Plans have changed! The stained glass spire is out - Spectrum Health is looking for something a little more "funky." The new design should debut this fall (no clue as to what they're planning to change).

Building has increased to 14 stories(!), with about 3 or 4 floors left vacant for future expansion. Current goal is an opening in fall 2010.

So, I like the height, but so much for "more funky". Pretty plain, but should be very impressive up on the hill. Check out the video on Spectrum's site...

http://devoschildrens.org/ContentStore/For...240x180_7MB.mov

Near the end they spin around the building in a computer rendering. Lots of strange buildings in downtown as far as I could tell. I'm assuming some are just stock rendering buildings, but I know how much we like to speculate here.

The rendering does have it towering over the current hospital!

(BTW, I thought that cloud was a cone at first, too!)

Edited August 22, 2006 by mgreven

[gvsusean]

i liked the bridge in the black rendering, i wish they would've kept that

[GRDadof3]

Not sure if anyone's noticed...but the newest version of the design appears much more vanilla:

Evidently, it's taller than originally planned, and ground-breaking is supposed to be this fall?

Anyone else have updates?

It occurs to me that this is yet another project that will fill the skyline in nicely. 14 stories up on the hill will look pretty big.

I think the lighter color is just highly reflective glass reflecting the light blue sky. Although it appears that even the glass color is probably lighter based on the video.

14 stories on top of the hill will make it one of the highest geographical points downtown. Even taller than many of the high-rises. I did up this little ditty back a few months ago localtalent (based on eyeballing the heights):

[egrguy]

So, I like the height, but so much for "more funky". Pretty plain, but should be very impressive up on the hill. Check out the video on Spectrum's site...

http://devoschildrens.org/ContentStore/For...240x180_7MB.mov

Near the end they spin around the building in a computer rendering. Lots of strange buildings in downtown as far as I could tell. I'm assuming some are just stock rendering buildings, but I know how much we like to speculate here.

The rendering does have it towering over the current hospital!

(BTW, I thought that cloud was a cone at first, too!)

you're right, it is a cloud, but i had thought that they originally planned a spire at the top that pointed towards heaven -- that appears gone now in this new rendering.

[Allison Slater]

They kept the street wall, and unfortunately, I don't think that will ever change, so on to the other details. The lighter glass is a nice welcome from the black. The skywalk looks ugly... it's a rectangular prism with no style just growing off the side of the building. Give it some style, some form, some pizzaz. Doesn't have to be the calatrava-esque one we saw before (Although that would be very, very cool to see), as long as it looks better. Give the base a little bit of an arch, something..

And the spire? What happened to that? And the rainbow colours we saw incorporated into all of the previous designs.. where are those going to be? Are they going to be included at all?

[joeDowntown]

I was hoping for something more inspired. It seemed like they were trying to push the envelope for a while but somebody reigned them in. I thought Rockwell would come up with something a bit more interesting...

Joe

[tamias6]

I was hoping for something more inspired. It seemed like they were trying to push the envelope for a while but somebody reigned them in. I thought Rockwell would come up with something a bit more interesting...

Joe

I do like this latest rendering. Though you are right that somthing more inspiring is needed. But these renderings seem to change everyday and six times on Sunday. So I'm taking this rendering with a grain of salt along with any future changes until I see some tower cranes on that spot.