Medical Mile/Michigan Street Developments

[twoshort]

I heard from a pretty good source yesterday t

haven't heard THAT in a while...

[hombre_de_ciudad]

I heard from a pretty good source yesterday that this is where the new med school is going, on Michigan between McDonalds and GVSU.

I think it's a great location. It's very visible from the expressway and will allow easy collaboration with GVSU, Spectrum, and VAI. Plus, it will fill a gap in a solid wall of new development that will extend from the Women's Health Center on the east all the way through the western edge of downtown with RiverHouse and Union Square. I-196 will be a very impressive drive, indeed.

[GRFuture]

If this is the spot the MSU decides to go to, does the new ramp at the RDV project have enough parking to replace all of these spots?

[tamias6]

MSU isn't built yet. So I would assum they would includ a parking structure in their design if need be.

[Allison Slater]

Wouldn't it be nice if Prospect and Sinclair were reconnected by bridges over I-196? It might help reconnect the neighborhood to the north. The College Ave. bridge probably isn't the most pedestrian friendly place, or even car friendly for that matter.

-nb

I don't think I could see it happening with Sinclair, but perhaps a pedestrian-only street connecting Prospect could really help spur residential growth just north of the highway for student housing, I would imagine.

[GRDadof3]

If this is the spot the MSU decides to go to, does the new ramp at the RDV project have enough parking to replace all of these spots?

The ramp under construction at RDV doesn't even have enough parking spaces for Spectrum as it is. I hear Spectrum is scouting out shuttle lots.

[Rizzo]

I wonder what the combined dollar amount will be for employee/student parking for Medical Mile.

[AlexPKeaton]

Seeing as they've just been selecting a site I imagine there hasn't been much of any design work done yet, right? Maybe they can start planning for a rail stop under this thing using the previously mentioned Michigan Street route.

BTW, I actually saw a train cross on those tracks at Fuller the other day. I'm sure they come by every once in a while, but I hadn't seen a train there in at least a few years.

-nb

[Allison Slater]

Didn't we figure out that Amway/Alticor used the track once a week? Or am I imagining things?

[Raildudes dad]

Didn't we figure out that Amway/Alticor used the track once a week? Or am I imagining things?

The Mid-Michigan Railroad (formerly the Grand Rapids Eastern) used to go east everyday to Ada, Lowell, Ionia and / or Greenville. Their major customers to the east included Amway, King Milling, Michigan Wire, American Bumper (now Meridian) and Electrolux. At one time, 1 crew worked Greenville to Lowell and return and 1 crew worked GR to Ionia and return. Today, the Electrolux plant is gone and Meridian ships exclusivley by truck and I don't see that changing. The MMRR still serves Rosewoodworks & Precision Poly on Oak Industrial Drive, King Milling and Michigan Wire. They get occasional cars of fertilizer for Greenville & Ionia and a car or two of lumber for Standard Lumber in Ionia. They rarely work 5 days a week, usually 4 and only go as far as needed. They go as far west as Marne with their biggest customer that direction being Van's in the smaller Meijer warehouse on Walker Ave.

Short version: They used to go east 5 days a week, now it may be less than that depending on traffic

Hope this wasn't too much detail

[Allison Slater]

Too much detail doesn't exist in these forums. If anything, we're usually asking for more detail, haha.

Do you know about what times those trains usually run?

[blueradon]

I used to work by one of the rails and every morning around noon the train was coming from Greenville (I worked in Belding) and heading to Lowell...but obviously that doesn't happen anymore. I haven't seen a train in Greenville since probably 2000

I say it every time...passenger rail to GR would be nice from here!!!!

[concretepoem]

The Mid-Michigan Railroad (formerly the Grand Rapids Eastern) used to go east everyday to Ada, Lowell, Ionia and / or Greenville. Their major customers to the east included Amway, King Milling, Michigan Wire, American Bumper (now Meridian) and Electrolux.

Raildude...Did any railroads using that track ever offer passenger service between those cities?

[Raildudes dad]

tSlater: Now that they run pretty much on an "as needed" basis it's hard to say. Usually go east sometime in the morning 8-10am but certainly can vary from that.

concretepoem: this line entered GR in 1857, the first railroad to arrive here. In those days, rail was the way people moved long distances so yes this line was used for passengers. The Grand Trunk had a huge station (at least as I remember it at a young age where the downtown post office is today. There are two railroad bridges over Monroe north of Leonard. The south one allowed passenger trains to depart and arrive from the east. The building was last used by the Liquor Control Commission as a warehouse. The mantel company at Leonard & Plainfield is in the replacement station. I do not remember scheduled passenger service from there but I do remember the GR Fire Dept (probably the fire fighters union) sponsoring Saturday excursion from there to Detroit for a ballgame in the late 50's early 60's. The C&O was the last railroad to have passenger service to & from GR. They had a train from GR to Detroit and return and one to Chicago and return everyday. At the end I believe they dropped Sunday service. Service came to an end in 1967 with the formation of Amtrak. It returned with the Pere Marquette in 1984.

[concretepoem]

GRDAD: Sorry this has gone so far off topic...but thanks to Raildudes for sharing your considerable knowledge on the rail service infrastructure. Imagine passenger rail service someday between Lowell and GR, with a station near College to serve the Medical facilities.

[Raildudes dad]

concretepoem & GRDAD: It's all Rizzo's fault He turned me on to this board. Maybe we should start a railroad / commuter rail thread? I'll leave it to to R, I know he wants me to expound on the famed Weslin Group report on the S-curve commuter rail study

[GRDadof3]

Already going Raildude's Dad:

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.ph...mp;#entry618427

I don't mind if topics go "off-topic", especially if they are still "urbane" off-topics.

Glad to see another "Dad" on here.

[Rizzo]

That seems to be our "rail thread" anyway. Couldn't hurt to add to it

Edited November 20, 2006 by Rizzo

[dbrok]

Just drove past the site on Division this morning and the workers are installing a crane.

[dtown]

Cool!

[Kayak1]

It looks like Grand River just moved the one from Icon across the street to RDV/Christman. Three tower cranes for one project is great.

[GRDadof3]

I thought we were going to see steel on Lemmen Holton by now?

Continuing to backfill the massive UG parking garage:

The Trifecta

Another

Full size pano

[designcritic]

I thought we were going to see steel on Lemmen Holton by now?

Continuing to backfill the massive UG parking garage:

The first picture shows the mass of concrete surrounding the linear accelerators. At some points it is 7'-0" thick. There is also 8" of solid steel in the floor and 4" in the ceiling. The structural steel should begin to rise the second week of December.

The second picture shows them creating a pad for a material staging area.

[GRDadof3]

Thanks for the info designcritic! Not knowing what a linear accelerator was, I looked it up:

Linear Particle Accelerator

Are there any others like this in West Michigan? I see in a google search it looks like there are ones at MSU, Henry Ford Hospital and U of M?

[designcritic]

Thanks for the info designcritic! Not knowing what a linear accelerator was, I looked it up:

Linear Particle Accelerator

Are there any others like this in West Michigan? I see in a google search it looks like there are ones at MSU, Henry Ford Hospital and U of M?

I don't know where others might be but there are five of them in the Cancer Pavilion.