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920 Cherry, ICCF/Blodgett Home and Fairmount Square

joeDowntown

By joeDowntown
in Grand Rapids

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GR1 Whistle-Stop

GR1

Posted
Posted

YEAH!!!!!!!

This morning there were architects, hard hats, and heavy machinery all around this property!!

Looks like they are beginning the reconstruction!

Stay tuned......

:yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

I know!! I got excited when I saw fences go up around the building the other day!!

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Mark Miller Whistle-Stop

Mark Miller

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Posted

My family and I walked up to the site on Friday and ran into someone from ICCF, who will be the new tenant of the Blodgett building. We had a conversation about why these "new" buildings were inserted onto the front of the Blodgett building so brutally, when there was so much room on the site behind the Blodgett building.

One of the theories was that whoever did it, had the desire to obliterate the facade of the Blodgett building. They wanted to revise the historical context by inserting the modern structures into it, effectively erasing the traditional form.

This is certainly a somewhat radical idea, but the revisionist history of modernism of that day does confirm the theory a bit.

What do the members of this forum think?

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Nitro Burg

Nitro

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This is certainly a somewhat radical idea, but the revisionist history of modernism of that day does confirm the theory a bit.

What do the members of this forum think?

GRTP, I don't think this is such a radical idea at all. Considering the time period that they were built (1950's) Urban Renewal had already started getting its ugly nose in the door. Old was bad and new was good, ala Old City Hall.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

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GRGyp Whistle-Stop

GRGyp

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Mr. Gorbachev... Tear down that ugly addition!

Nice to see that they are going to restore this building. I commented on it about three weeks back to my fiance as we left the Cherie Inn. I told her how sad it was to see a building with such a unique look be so rundown and abused. I look forward to seeing the finished project.

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Houser Crossroads

Houser

Posted
Posted

Greetings-

I have known about this site for a long time, but not had time to jump in. Someone earlier today alerted me to the fact that there was quite a diague going on about our building so I thought I should investigate. After reading many, but not all the postings, I thought it might be good to weigh in with a few facts.

First, the restoration of the old Mary Free Bed Hospital / D. A. Blodgett Home for Children is not being done by Guy Bazzani and Sam Cummings. The building is wholly owned by ICCF and we are the developer of it for its restoration. We, and our subsidiary mortgage brokerage will be the sole occupants of the building. It is true that a LLC organized by Cummings and Bazzani bought the entire site from Bethel Pentecostal Church in the fall of 2004. But they did so with a purchase agreement securely in their pocket from ICCF from the very beginning. In other words we began collaborating all the way back in February 2004 when we jointly agreed to purchase the site. We were a great match for one another because they really wanted the land to devlop housing on but did not know how they would use the big building in the middle. We wanted the land and the building but were willing to surrender access to the land in order to get the building.

This is going to be the single most costly real estate venture ICCF has taken on. We will be combining philanthropic support with equity from the sale of tax credits to fund the project. Because we are still in the quiet phase of the capital campaign, it is better that I not go into great detail on the project budget. Lets just say that we are at the 70% mark on a charitable goal of $5.5 million. The total costs are significantly north of that.

Actual restoration work is scheduled to begin on or very close to April 17. We expect that construction will take 12 months. Therefore we are anticipating moving in in the last half of April 2007. Where the MFB additions are coming down now we will be installing a beautiful formal garden area. It has been designed by Mike Bruggink of RJM design. Mike is very gifted in the design of such classic gardens. We are dedicating the gardens to be used by the general public.

I am glad to know that so many of you are keenly watching the progress of bringing back this grand old italianate structure. It is wondrful to note that our Grand Rapidian predecessors cared enough about vulnerable children to build for them a truly beautiful structure and now again today the people of GR are causing the restoration of the building back to its its former glory for the benefit of the families of our community who face huge housing issues.

Thanks again for your interest,

Jonathan Bradford

CEO -- Inner City Christian Federation

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evac311 Whistle-Stop

evac311

Posted
Posted

My family and I walked up to the site on Friday and ran into someone from ICCF, who will be the new tenant of the Blodgett building. We had a conversation about why these "new" buildings were inserted onto the front of the Blodgett building so brutally, when there was so much room on the site behind the Blodgett building.

One of the theories was that whoever did it, had the desire to obliterate the facade of the Blodgett building. They wanted to revise the historical context by inserting the modern structures into it, effectively erasing the traditional form.

This is certainly a somewhat radical idea, but the revisionist history of modernism of that day does confirm the theory a bit.

What do the members of this forum think?

Well said. Many people believe the 60's marked the beggining of the moral decay of America, as well as the decay of the inner city. Maybe this was all spawned by the growing popularity of the automobile, and as has been said before, the way it changed living patterns and neighborhood design and architecture.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

Posted
Posted

Greetings-

I have known about this site for a long time, but not had time to jump in. Someone earlier today alerted me to the fact that there was quite a diague going on about our building so I thought I should investigate. After reading many, but not all the postings, I thought it might be good to weigh in with a few facts.

First, the restoration of the old Mary Free Bed Hospital / D. A. Blodgett Home for Children is not being done by Guy Bazzani and Sam Cummings. The building is wholly owned by ICCF and we are the developer of it for its restoration. We, and our subsidiary mortgage brokerage will be the sole occupants of the building. It is true that a LLC organized by Cummings and Bazzani bought the entire site from Bethel Pentecostal Church in the fall of 2004. But they did so with a purchase agreement securely in their pocket from ICCF from the very beginning. In other words we began collaborating all the way back in February 2004 when we jointly agreed to purchase the site. We were a great match for one another because they really wanted the land to devlop housing on but did not know how they would use the big building in the middle. We wanted the land and the building but were willing to surrender access to the land in order to get the building.

This is going to be the single most costly real estate venture ICCF has taken on. We will be combining philanthropic support with equity from the sale of tax credits to fund the project. Because we are still in the quiet phase of the capital campaign, it is better that I not go into great detail on the project budget. Lets just say that we are at the 70% mark on a charitable goal of $5.5 million. The total costs are significantly north of that.

Actual restoration work is scheduled to begin on or very close to April 17. We expect that construction will take 12 months. Therefore we are anticipating moving in in the last half of April 2007. Where the MFB additions are coming down now we will be installing a beautiful formal garden area. It has been designed by Mike Bruggink of RJM design. Mike is very gifted in the design of such classic gardens. We are dedicating the gardens to be used by the general public.

I am glad to know that so many of you are keenly watching the progress of bringing back this grand old italianate structure. It is wondrful to note that our Grand Rapidian predecessors cared enough about vulnerable children to build for them a truly beautiful structure and now again today the people of GR are causing the restoration of the building back to its its former glory for the benefit of the families of our community who face huge housing issues.

Thanks again for your interest,

Jonathan Bradford

CEO -- Inner City Christian Federation

Welcome Johathan and thanks for the background information! :thumbsup: I hope you don't mind if you see someone taking some pictures in the area :whistling:

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einsteinrig Unincorporated Area

einsteinrig

Posted
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hi all - just found this site, and i'm absolutely loving it...i'm in the local construction industry, an architect and green building professional, and to see so many people discussing local design, construction, and development is extremely exciting to me.

i happen to be part of the team for the iccf project, and i though i'd give an update (btw - hi jonathan!) - the old building is pretty much gone, and now the demo guys are just sorting the piles of junk to be brought to the respective recycling facilities - we are targeting a diversion of over 75% of the construction / demo waste from landfills - many hundreds of tons fo waste will be recycled instead of landfilled...

one of the things we were delighted to find was the very good condition of existing terra cotta that had been covered by the additions:

118809520_6cc0d1a99e.jpg

the interiors are really going to be quite beautiful as well - will post more as they become available.

...and to echo jonathan - thanks for the interest, and keep watching!

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