Traverse City

[Ka3kab]

Yeah, that drive in was long closed once we moved up here. There is the one in Honor still, that's pretty fun to go to in the summer (only time its open). It seems like they just opened a Dollar General in Interlochen, not a big fan of the places myself.

[GR8scott]

^^ thats a cool looking office building, it seems like it would be a lot cheaper for a new tennent to come in than convert to condos. Is there not much demand for that building as an office?

[Ka3kab]

Guess not, or its too expensive.

[dtown]

i would guess that theres not a lot of demand for that as an office, because their are several new office buildings downtown, and since this is right on the water, their could be a demand for them as condos

Edited April 2, 2006 by dtown

[Ka3kab]

Actually it sounds like the company selling the building doesn't really care who buys it and the person with the cash right now is someone who wants to turn it into condos. There was a letter to the editor in the record-eagle today from someone who works there, apperently about 100 people are being terminated and the office closed, not relocated. She said the place used to employ about 160 in the mid to late 90's. That kind of sucks, trust me I know right now, but cash is king in this world, ya know.

[dtown]

yea, that sucks

BTW, i was wondering, whats up with Greilickville, is it a town, or just a name for a place(like Chums Corners). ive never been out that way.

[Ka3kab]

It's one of those little places that when you drive into it there is just a green sign that says "Greilickville" on it but doesn't say village or city limits, so I guess it's an unincorporated village.

[dtown]

oh, okay, yea i know what u mean

[Ka3kab]

Well, this is my first attempt at taking pictures at dusk, they're a little fuzzy but I hope you still like them.

[dtown]

they are a little blurry, but not back. i still like them anyways...

[Ka3kab]

Yeah, my camera sucks, need a new one. I've never been able to figure out how to use it at night or even at dusk. If anyone has any tips, it would be greatly appreciated.

[dtown]

well, on mine, if you lightly hold down on the button that takes pics, it makes the picture brighter, but i dont know what kind you have

[dtown]

i found this pic on the city's website. i think its a pretty good aerial shot.

[Ka3kab]

Yeah, I really like what they did with the marina, it looks a lot better now than the old one.

[dtown]

yea its better know

so has there been anymore news on that 8 story building lately?

Edited April 9, 2006 by dtown

[Ka3kab]

Um, well nothing about development. There is a little controversy over how it was approved though. It seems our state senator for Traverse City, Jason Allen, got a little money from the developer (Federated Properties, LLC) and when they were proposing their parking deck to go along with this building another developer (Snoden Development) had the same kind of deck in mind, but for about $3 million less than the other guys. And them something about some letter that was given to the City Manager, Richard Lewis, about making sure that the Federated Properties guys got the bid.

God I love government mismanagement. That's why they want to put this in a referendum. We all know that this is how government works, right so let's just get on with it and quit stalling.

[dtown]

hmmm, if this federated properties guys has money to throw at gov't officials, you wouldnt think he would need so much public money to build his development

[Ka3kab]

Here are a few more shots from Wuerfel Park from their website.

That last one is looking west, in case your wondering.

[dtown]

man, that stadium looks really nice, it looks like it can hold quite a few people

do you think many people will go to the games?

[Ka3kab]

I don't know. I would hope so, though. We also have a Minor League Hockey team and all of the games I've gone to seem to be pretty empty. And I thought hockey was way more popular up here than baseball. But, there was a lot of support for this so I hope it does well. I've gone to Tigers games, Cubs games a an Blue Jays game, but have also gone to the Grand Rapids Whitecaps games and I think I actually like the Minors better. (and it's not about the money I pay, but rather the money the pros make)

[dtown]

ive never been to a minor league game, but id like to check this place out, so im probobly going to see a game there in the summer

[Ka3kab]

Well, the contract that the city gave to Federated Properties stands and they will go ahead without hearing from Sen. Jason Allen (R-Traverse City). I'm not sure how many votes were needed to put the deck on the November referendum, but I do know that they got about 1600 signatures.

[dtown]

do you think it will even get built now?

[Ka3kab]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it will. The one hurdle is that most CITY residents don't want them to build it while everyone else does. Hopefully us Township people will have some say.

From the sounds of debate that is going on with it, it's that it's pretty political. So maybe they want it built no mater what.

[dtown]

well, i really hope it gets built. I think that TC is a great, up and coming city. i think its downtown is great and hope it gets even better. i can see TC's population begining to grow again, maybe having close to 18, 000 people again someday soon.