New Construction and Renovations in the Heartside District

[mpchicago]

From 30 years ago, even before the Van Andel arena, which did not come for another 10 years, the seeds of rebirth in "Oldtown Heartside."  Some familiar locations in the story, now changed for the better. 

[GRDadof3]

Some business owners on S Division are pushing back on Heartside Ministries' takeover of the old Goodwill store to turn it into an  "art studio, fiber arts studio, retail gallery and performance space, all in a kind of "coffee shop atmosphere," according to documents filed with the city."

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2016/06/ministry_gets_pushback_from_bu.html

 

 

[EastownLeo]

Heard a rumor that the Waldron Public House was going to close to open public and become and event and banquet only establishment.

Has anyone heard the same thing?  Has that area hit Bar saturation? Are the local breweries pulling people out of the city core?

[GRLaker]

19 minutes ago, EastownLeo said:

Heard a rumor that the Waldron Public House was going to close to open public and become and event and banquet only establishment.

Has anyone heard the same thing?  Has that area hit Bar saturation? Are the local breweries pulling people out of the city core?

The BOB has a monopoly on the downtown nightclub scene. Anyone else goes to the breweries and other laid back places like Hopcat. I think it's more an issue of a club hopping culture coming to an end.

[ctpgr34]

32 minutes ago, EastownLeo said:

Heard a rumor that the Waldron Public House was going to close to open public and become and event and banquet only establishment.

Has anyone heard the same thing?  Has that area hit Bar saturation? Are the local breweries pulling people out of the city core?

Looks to have already happened.  The site is now all event space, no mention of bar/restaurant- http://www.waldrongr.com/#urban-unique-unmatched

[GR_Urbanist]

41 minutes ago, EastownLeo said:

Heard a rumor that the Waldron Public House was going to close to open public and become and event and banquet only establishment.

Has anyone heard the same thing?  Has that area hit Bar saturation? Are the local breweries pulling people out of the city core?

I wouldn't be too worried just yet.

With the movie complex soon to go up, the area could afford to lose an establishment to this type of thing, which honestly is not a bad path for this establishment to take considering the business they could get from wedding receptions alone.

[EastownLeo]

Article about waldron.
http://www.grbj.com/articles/85925

[GRDadof3]

One of my favorite S Division buildings, finally getting its renovation. It's sad seeing the Harris Building completely empty once again. It was looking pretty sweet. 

 

[GRDadof3]

The Design Team at the city is reviewing alternative concepts for completely rebuilding Sheldon from Wealthy Street to Library. 

Thoughts on these? Here's the existing conditions:

 

 

Completely separated bike track? Sharrows? Dedicated bike lanes inside or outside of the parking spaces? I'm personally a fan of separated bike lanes ILO sharrows, but I'm a cyclist so I'm a bit biased. 

 

 

 

[joeDowntown]

I like the bike lanes as well. They annoy me on some of the busier streets but I think it's a good use for Sheldon. 

Joe

[GR_Urbanist]

It's nice. Sheldon is a good street to experiment with this type of thing to be honest. I like the bike lanes in their own separate section idea.


But I hope more that Sheldon would actually start to be developed enough where people will actually want to be on that street to enjoy it.

Right now it's mostly churches, non-profits, and parking lots

[wmrharris]

Don't forget the pop-up park for Art Prize. That always had a nice touch.

[GRLaker]

23 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

The Design Team at the city is reviewing alternative concepts for completely rebuilding Sheldon from Wealthy Street to Library.

Thoughts on these? Here's the existing conditions:

 

 

Completely separated bike track? Sharrows? Dedicated bike lanes inside or outside of the parking spaces? I'm personally a fan of separated bike lanes ILO sharrows, but I'm a cyclist so I'm a bit biased.

 

 

 

I like concept 4a. It's more in line with the rest of the bike lanes in the city. Plus, I'm always a fan of more green space between lanes to absorb some of the filth we're pumping into the air.

[mpchicago]

Here is Sheldon from the late 1920's, thanks to PPWII on flickr.  It is a very wide street!  I like 4a.  I prefer when the bike lane is next to the curb vs between the parking and the traffic lane. 

 

Edited November 21, 2016 by mpchicago

[joeDowntown]

2 minutes ago, mpchicago said:

Wow, Fantastic pic. Love the ornamental top on "The Lofts" building. The used car building is great as well. 

Is it just me, or is there a "jumper" on the 4th story of the Lofts building?

[mpchicago]

It does look like an outline of a person on the 4th floor of the lofts building!    I notice that ornamentation too, It's amazing how much of that is stripped away from buildings.   Yes, two care dealers in the pic.  I think the one on the left is Pontiac, and the one on the right is Buick, which later became a Chrysler/Plymouth dealer.   You can just make out The Ladies Literary Club on the near left.  And check out those super tall Elm trees in Vets park!

[Kinkema]

15 minutes ago, mpchicago said:

I like 4a.  I prefer when the bike lane is next to the curb vs between the parking and the traffic lane. 

I think the problem with this design is that it would trap bikers in the door zone. If a passenger opens their door without looking you'll have nowhere to go.  I personally like 1a because it has a wider, protected bike path as well as less wasted space spent on a boulevard.

[GRDadof3]

I agree that keeping the boulevard is a nice way to go. 

1 hour ago, mpchicago said:

Here is Sheldon from the late 1920's, thanks to PPWII on flickr.  It is a very wide street!  I like 4a.  I prefer when the bike lane is next to the curb vs between the parking and the traffic lane. 

 

That street looks gigantic. The docs say that it's 86 feet ROW with the sidewalks.  

I like the idea of keeping it as a boulevard, but does it have to stay a one-way, I wonder? The graphic shows the cars going two ways so maybe they're going to do away with it. 

[sfloria]

I like 4 the best.  Keeps the boulevard.  4a doesn't make any sense to me.  Parking between a drive lane and a bike lane makes it dangerous for anyone getting out of their car on either side. 

[x99]

Dump the boulevard and turn this into a great street with two way traffic and angled parking... Not a lot of places where you could do a "main street" because of the typical 66' ROWs, but there is opportunity here.  Grossly underutilized street, probably due to the way the city completely screwed it up.  

[GRDadof3]

43 minutes ago, x99 said:

Dump the boulevard and turn this into a great street with two way traffic and angled parking... Not a lot of places where you could do a "main street" because of the typical 66' ROWs, but there is opportunity here.  Grossly underutilized street, probably due to the way the city completely screwed it up.  

Angled parking for what? All of that land along there is owned by non-profits or churches. They'll never let it go (unless one of the church sells). 

If South Division can't make a go of retail, Sheldon certainly can't. 

 

[mpchicago]

23 hours ago, iK1NkY said:

I think the problem with this design is that it would trap bikers in the door zone. If a passenger opens their door without looking you'll have nowhere to go.  I personally like 1a because it has a wider, protected bike path as well as less wasted space spent on a boulevard.

I disagree. Having the bike lane in between the parked car and the traffic is is not as protected for the bicyclist than if it's between the curb and the parking lane. Whether it's option 4 or option 4a the size of each lane doesn't change, and if the overall project is sized properly then the car door should not obstruct the bike lane.  With 4a you are avoiding moving traffic, and it offers the the bicyclist easy egress from the street.  If you look at all the new bike lanes all over the Chicago area, they are moving to this design.  

Whatever they end up with, having a bike lane on Sheldon is better than none at all.

Edited November 22, 2016 by mpchicago

[Kinkema]

1 hour ago, mpchicago said:

I disagree. Having the bike lane in between the parked car and the traffic is is not as protected for the bicyclist than if it's between the curb and the parking lane. Whether it's option 4 and option 4a the size of each lane doesn't change, and if the overall project is sized properly then the car door should not obstruct the bike lane.  With 4a you are avoiding moving traffic, and offers the the bicyclist easy egress from the street.  If you look at all the new bike lanes all over the Chicago area, they are moving to this design.  

What ever they end up with, having a bike lane on this street is better than none at all.

The one shown in 4a doesn't show a buffer between cars and the bike lane like your picture shows, and without a buffer its just not very safe. Maybe if they thinned the boulevard they could fit a buffer zone, but even doing that I prefer option 1a which has both wider bike lanes and wider sidewalks.

[GRDadof3]

1a might be the best option, actually. 

[GRDadof3]

Just now, temporary.name said:

I wonder what the bicycle traffic counts are for Sheldon. Anybody have those figures?

 

Probably not very high, but for people riding into downtown from the Heritage Hill/Wealthy Street area, it would make a good route instead of busy Wealthy and Division.