Kendall and the Keeler Building

[Veloise]

He had been asking $10,000,000 or $50/square foot. Now it's listed for $5/square foot.

Buildings that get redeveloped don't have any parking requirements.

[GaryP]

"Owner will consider all offers including exchanges or partnerships."

Is he ill? Downsizing a la Tom Monaghan?

[civitas]

That's why I think it may be a mistake, but he did buy it for $525,000 in 1995. Maybe Azzar has finally stopped gouging Grand Rapids and will accept a 100% return instead of 2,000%...

[Veloise]

That's why I think it may be a mistake, but he did buy it for $525,000 in 1995. Maybe Azzar has finally stopped gouging Grand Rapids and will accept a 100% return instead of 2,000%...

[DwntwnGeo]

No one has been able to find users for that building. It is very big and has no convenient parking. The listing says ground floor retail. Can you imagine any retailer who could survive in that location?

[joeDowntown]

Maybe he is just sick of us beating up on him. It does seem like he has multiple properties up for sale. Probably selling everything and moving to the Keys.

Joe

[Veloise]

Maybe he is just sick of us beating up on him. It does seem like he has multiple properties up for sale. Probably selling everything and moving to the Keys....

[blueradon]

We should raise money to buy an UrbanPlanet GR HQ and then we can form coalitions and show up at all the town meetings...

I always wondered if the city commission would ever be interested in meeting with us on a monthly basis where we can put together ideas for GR and represent the citizens (as we do) about what we feel should be done to make GR a better place to live...there's no other place to get the best source than from the people who live and/or work here.

Sort of like a DDA in our own right...

[GaryP]

Back to $10,000,000

http://public.carwm.com/public/carpagerpt....9&C=&B=

[Veloise]

Question for Nate or anyone who might have designed/built a parking garage: how many spaces per level compared with the existing surface lot?

And typical price per floor? (Discounting any details about the lot being for sale or for what price.)

[i can interpret a site plan and stipulate how many spaces are required, but have never done much with decks other than drive in them]

[Nitro]

Question for Nate or anyone who might have designed/built a parking garage: how many spaces per level compared with the existing surface lot?

And typical price per floor? (Discounting any details about the lot being for sale or for what price.)

[i can interpret a site plan and stipulate how many spaces are required, but have never done much with decks other than drive in them]

[GRDadof3]

Question for Nate or anyone who might have designed/built a parking garage: how many spaces per level compared with the existing surface lot?

And typical price per floor? (Discounting any details about the lot being for sale or for what price.)

[i can interpret a site plan and stipulate how many spaces are required, but have never done much with decks other than drive in them]

[Nitro]

Or how far down in price would Azzar have to come to make it worthwile?

[twoshort]

It would probably sell at $35/sq.ft pretty quick.

[Veloise]

I can't remember ratio of spaces compared to surface lot but my guess is that it is less due to extra circulation space in that same footprint. Parking garage cost goes all over the board but roughly $7K and up per spot. Compare that to surface lot at $1,500K per spot.

[GRDadof3]

[dad wrote:] Lot next to Keeler - 132' x 168' = 22,000 sf

Parking space per zoning: 9' x 20'.

[indelibly imprinted because I had an applicant try to squeeze the required number of spaces out of a 5 lb parking lot..."let's just make them smaller!"]

What's the number of floors in the building and the sf? (I think I might be able to figure out that zoning factor.)

Tamias, you got Sketchup fired up?

[Allison Slater]

I think I heard Azzar was hoping to make the upper floors into living space if he could not sell the building soon. Regardless, I would expect something to happen to the building within the next 5 years, whether it gets sold or not.

[Veloise]

If you mean the Keeler Bldg, it is 7 floors, 198,000 sf total, 175,000 sf of that is office space.

[Prankster]

Even if the Keeler building at 175,000 sf was totally occupied, there would be what (?) 250 people working in it? Add retail on the first floor along Division and partially down Library, and it would be quite the transformation. So, you only need to get Azzar to come down on price, Ellis to sell or partner on a ramp, on-street parking added to North Division, and tenants to fill the Keeler. $18 - $20 Million in and you have a 200,000+ sf building downtown with "attached" parking. Is it worth it? Or how far down in price would Azzar have to come to make it worthwile?

[joeDowntown]

It seems to me that since Ellis has built vertical in the past, if the right development came along (with guaranteed income), it would help the area tremendously. It also would help Civic patrons. Ground floor retail would be a must though.

Joe

[GRDadof3]

Zoning is C-3.

Required Automobile Parking:

...one space for each 1,000 square feet of gross floor area for all non-residential buildings and hotels, and one space per dwelling unit for all dwellings...

Exemptions: Off street parking shall not be required for any building constructed prior to January 1, 1998, nor for new buildings and cumulative additions to existing buildings with a gross floor area of ten thousand (10,000) square feet or less...

So if this were a new building, it would need 175 spaces...

-AND-

Required Bicycle Parking: Bicycle parking shall be provided in conjunction with new automobile parking facilities. Any new facility providing parking for more than fifty (50) automobiles, shall provide bicycle parking at a rate of one bicycle parking space for each forty (40) automobile spaces, with a minimum of six (6) spaces.

[Nitro]

Maybe one of the office furniture makers' healthcare divisions could benefit from a downtown GR location, like Steelcase's Nurture division or Herman Miller's clinical product lines. They could do market testing right up the street.

[twoshort]

It seems like if you could work out an agreement with Ellis, and then a decent option price with Azzar, then you could take that and present it to numerous office users (no not Meijer or Amway).

[foo_gr]

175 spaces could be easily met and then some. A 300 space ramp would also help the Children's Museum a lot better than a surface lot at Fulton/Division.

It seems like if you could work out an agreement with Ellis, and then a decent option price with Azzar, then you could take that and present it to numerous office users (no not Meijer or Amway). 200,000 sf is nothing to shake a stick at. Maybe one of the office furniture makers' healthcare divisions could benefit from a downtown GR location, like Steelcase's Nurture division or Herman Miller's clinical product lines. They could do market testing right up the street. It would be interesting too if something more modern were done with the Keeler Building, like creating a multi-floor atrium inside, or doing something wild to part of the outside. Maybe even some added height.

Just some thoughts.

[snoogit]

It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and while that doesn't stop an owner from doing anything crazy to the exterior, I'm not sure that you'd want to. It is a very attractive building at street level.