East Beltline Developments

[EEKris]

18 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Pretty sure I know what neighborhood you're in, and no offense, but you bought a home less than a quarter mile from one of the busiest traffic corridors in the metro area. I mean... c'mon, did you think it would revert back to a dirt road again at some point in the future? I remember the apple orchard on the Northeast corner of the Beltline and Knapp, and the old schoolhouse on the Northwest corner. And remember the lone gift shop that was right around where Noodles and Company is now? Baskets in the Belfry maybe? Ahhh, memories.

Anyway, if you do live in the neighborhood that I'm thinking, residents in the area fought long and hard to keep it from being built (i.e. you were going to hurt their property values, particularly Mason Lake Estates residents). 190 homes in multiple phases back then seemed huge. I was there when the public hearings were going on.

No, I'm not in that monstrosity of a neighborhood.

Yea, yea, I know it was all going to get developed.  But do we really need 550 "luxury" apartments within a block on the Beltline?  

[Prankster]

1 hour ago, EEKris said:

No, I'm not in that monstrosity of a neighborhood.

Yea, yea, I know it was all going to get developed.  But do we really need 550 "luxury" apartments within a block on the Beltline?  

Yes

[GRDadof3]

2 hours ago, EEKris said:

No, I'm not in that monstrosity of a neighborhood.

Yea, yea, I know it was all going to get developed.  But do we really need 550 "luxury" apartments within a block on the Beltline?  

What is this "need" that you speak of? 

[AvtpeasK]

Red Hot Inn and Gus’s Original on the corner of Leonard and Beltline have announced that they are closing .  Anybody have any insight on what’s going on there? Is it part of the Spectrum HQ project?

[Allison Slater]

Priority bought the properties and will turn them into parking lots so they can expand their current building into their existing parking lot. I'm really sad to see Red Hot go. I love that place.

[Guest]

Wow I thought Red Hot underwent a pretty large renovation recently.  Too bad they're coming down for parking.  I wonder how long it will be before some of those older office parks come down for more dense development.

[Allison Slater]

16 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

Wow I thought Red Hot underwent a pretty large renovation recently.  Too bad they're coming down for parking.  I wonder how long it will be before some of those older office parks come down for more dense development.

I don't know of any recent renovation at Red Hot.

[joeDowntown]

If Priority keeps acquiring properties to grow, I wonder if they’ll approach Northpointe Christian.  I’ve heard the school has outgrown its building, can’t do a whole lot of expansion on the current site, and they don’t have their own athletic facility (they use another high school’s football stadium, etc.).  Might be a win-win situation for both. 

Joe

[organsnyder]

I'm sure the Priority employees are thrilled about that. Gus' especially was a popular lunch spot. Of course, they're probably looking forward to not having to fight for parking...

[joeDowntown]

7 hours ago, organsnyder said:

I'm sure the Priority employees are thrilled about that. Gus' especially was a popular lunch spot. Of course, they're probably looking forward to not having to fight for parking...

Is Gus’ going too?!

[GRDadof3]

2 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Is Gus’ going too?!

Yes. It was owned by Red Hot Inn. 

[EEKris]

16 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Yes. It was owned by Red Hot Inn. 

The businesses were owned by the Koukios brothers.  Jim owned Red Hot while Matthew owned Gus'.  Both properties appear to be owned by the same business entity though.

https://www.grbj.com/articles/93601-longtime-diner-closing-doors

https://www.grbj.com/articles/93602-east-beltline-restaurant-closing

 

[GRDadof3]

22 minutes ago, EEKris said:

The businesses were owned by the Koukios brothers.  Jim owned Red Hot while Matthew owned Gus'.  Both properties appear to be owned by the same business entity though.

https://www.grbj.com/articles/93601-longtime-diner-closing-doors

https://www.grbj.com/articles/93602-east-beltline-restaurant-closing

 

Gus's wasn't really all that great, and for the longest time they didn't have a liquor/beer license (for personal reasons I heard rumored?). Not good for a dinner destination. Lunch was fine. 

Red Hot Inn had great chili dogs, and I loved that they have a drive through window so I could splurge on them once in a while. 

[joeDowntown]

3 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Gus's wasn't really all that great, and for the longest time they didn't have a liquor/beer license (for personal reasons I heard rumored?). Not good for a dinner destination. Lunch was fine. 

Red Hot Inn had great chili dogs, and I loved that they have a drive through window so I could splurge on them once in a while. 

I agree. The pizza was pretty good, but an odd setup, and I never liked the vibe there. The building isn't very old, which is why I was surprised. Priority must have given them a really sweet offer (which makes sense from Priority's standpoint). 

Someone mentioned they're adding a parking lot and adding on one of the buildings. Does anyone have details?

Joe

[Allison Slater]

On 6/17/2019 at 7:06 AM, joeDowntown said:

If Priority keeps acquiring properties to grow, I wonder if they’ll approach Northpointe Christian.  I’ve heard the school has outgrown its building, can’t do a whole lot of expansion on the current site, and they don’t have their own athletic facility (they use another high school’s football stadium, etc.).  Might be a win-win situation for both. 

Joe

They still have a big grassy area out front, don't they?

[joeDowntown]

4 hours ago, tSlater said:

They still have a big grassy area out front, don't they?

Yeah, though the parking is pretty tight. They also have grass to the east (adjacent to Priority) but it’s not big enough for much expansion or onsite athletic facilities. 

Joe

[Guest]

Anyone have any word on former Sunshine Church property?  There's a new for sale sign up.  Did the old plan fall through?  Whoever owns it probably could have made some cash renting it out for graduations like they used to do.

At this point it looks like mother nature is slowly reclaiming her.

[GRDadof3]

2 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

Anyone have any word on former Sunshine Church property?  There's a new for sale sign up.  Did the old plan fall through?  Whoever owns it probably could have made some cash renting it out for graduations like they used to do.

At this point it looks like mother nature is slowly reclaiming her.

It was proposed to be 1/2 high end apts and 1/2 single family homes or condos. Numbers probably didn't work. And a lot of apartments dumped on the market at once. 

[Guest]

It would be cool if they would build actual blocks with starter homes and affordable condos, a school, a park, a daycare, all out in the burbs.  It sounds crazy but that's exactly what Miller Ranch is in Edwards, CO - http://www.wlarch.com/projects/berry_creek.html

I guess there's really no incentive for builders to build starter homes when they can make more going high end.

[GR_Urbanist]

1 hour ago, Floyd_Z said:

It would be cool if they would build actual blocks with starter homes and affordable condos, a school, a park, a daycare, all out in the burbs.  It sounds crazy but that's exactly what Miller Ranch is in Edwards, CO - http://www.wlarch.com/projects/berry_creek.html

I guess there's really no incentive for builders to build starter homes when they can make more going high end.

Wasnt there some project sort of like this like on 44th street by Shaffer(?) a few years back. I recall that it didnt really get past the first phase.

[GRDadof3]

11 hours ago, GR_Urbanist said:

Wasnt there some project sort of like this like on 44th street by Shaffer(?) a few years back. I recall that it didnt really get past the first phase.

They're building in there again. There's another similar one up on Belding Road at Myers Lake in Rockford. Bailey's Grove could also be considered a project like this. It has a school, daycare, parks, clubhouse, retail, "starter homes," etc..   There are a lot of these out West because growth is brisk enough to support such a big project, and since all the land around most of the major cities was previously owned by ranchers who owned 10s of thousands of acres, you can buy massive parcels and master plan the heck out of them. But because we have had such rich farmland here going back 100's of years, Michigan is pretty heavily parceled up in the lower part of the lower Peninsula. 

 

[wingbert]

They’ve really been going to town on that development at 44th and Shaffer.  Looks like condos or apartments are part of the plan.

Toward the northern end of Shaffer they’ve put a lot of effort into fixing up the Tassel mansion and adding an event space.  Looks remarkably better.

[joeDowntown]

4 hours ago, wingbert said:

They’ve really been going to town on that development at 44th and Shaffer.  Looks like condos or apartments are part of the plan.

Toward the northern end of Shaffer they’ve put a lot of effort into fixing up the Tassel mansion and adding an event space.  Looks remarkably better.

Glad to hear they’re fixing it up. It’s a cool property and I was always worried it would get bulldozed for industrial space. 

[Guest]

I really like the development at Myers Lake and Belding.  I didn't know that was still Rockford School District.  Every time I drive down Belding road I'm always surprised how much open space and little development there is

[joeDowntown]

3 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

I really like the development at Myers Lake and Belding.  I didn't know that was still Rockford School District.  Every time I drive down Belding road I'm always surprised how much open space and little development there is

That’s actually still well within Rockford school district. You probably need to travel another 5 miles east to be outside the district. 

This development is a classic leftover from the recession. It sat for years with 1 or 2 condos along Myers Lake Rd. with fully improved streets, stop signs, etc. it looked like a ghost town.

Joe