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What would you like to see in a Downtown Retail Project?

snoogit

By snoogit
in Grand Rapids

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GRguy Hamlet

GRguy

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A great walk on the river with shops and restaurants lining the boardwalk. Maybe an outdoor plaza or two, a wood pedestrian bridge across the river, and a bunch of nice condos that accept dogs. Since I have a dog, probobly don't want the alligators. I will leave those for the other side of downtown

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GR_Urbanist Burg

GR_Urbanist

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Brand names: Old Navy, Apple, Bath & Body Works and others. Places people know and like to shop.

I like the idea of a plaza. But it has to be a plaza in the classic sense, not in the mold of the Calder flats. There has to be statues, fountains, attractive plants, and it should be surrounded by buildings on almost all sides.

It should be intergrated into the existing downtown so that it does not feel as if you are in some outdoor shopping mall. Any roads that go by it should be public as well as any sidewalks that are in front of it.

Office and residental (apartments, condos, hotels) above the stores.

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GrandRiverCityKid Unincorporated Area

GrandRiverCityKid

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Tower Records!

H&M

whole foods/trader joe's

Nordstrom

Bebe

Crate & Barrel

Restoration Hardware

BCBG

Armani Exchange

Tiffany & Co.

Neiman

L'occitane

Kiehls

Urban Outfitter

Sharper Image

Anthropologie

hmmm.....how about that for starters? Not like I've been thinking about this ever, NAW!

Basically, everything that people take 3 hours trips to chicago/Somerset for. Make it a tourist attraction that people will travel for and pay to park for, make it safe for the suburban housewives so they'll go alone during the day, make it attractive for the teenagers, hip for the single and free, and also accesible for families on the weekend afternoons, and make it unique to the area. Add in Movie theatre/bars/kayak rentals/bike rentals etc. and you've got destination shopping.

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torgo Town

torgo

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The more I think about it, I agree with GRCK a big retail project downtown would be most successful with stores that don't exist anywhere in the 'burbs. Otherwise, the same stores at Woodland or Rivertown will be more convenient for too many people. I also agree that it has to be truly urban: small blocks, everything oriented to the street. The last think I want to see is a small rivertown or other "big footprint" sitting on the banks of the Grand River.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Here is an excellent example of what to do and NOT TO DO with any kind of urban redevelopment, especially riverfront. These are pictures of Southside Works and The Waterfront projects in Pittsburgh, both basically urban retail/entertainment districts. What a contrast

Southside Works

augflightl81.jpg

The Waterfront

augflightl84.jpg

(look at the giant street running through and the massive parking lots)

These were posted under the Urban Discussion section, where you can see more pictures:

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=12985

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MAU Whistle-Stop

MAU

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Living and working downtown, i'm not going to be too picky. Do you know how much of a pain it is when you need one little thing and have to drive all the way out to Alpine or 28th street? Like headphones. One day that was all i needed and there's no place down town to get those.

If i were to be picky, i'd say Whole Foods, although i guess that's not really retail.

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Greedo Whistle-Stop

Greedo

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I'm thinking of the something a little different--high-end boutique stores and restaurants, with a small selection of exclusive national retailers.

Think a mix between Columbus' Short North neighborhood or Ferndale in Detroit with North/Clybourn in Chicago.

VERY walkable!

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Sunlover38 Whistle-Stop

Sunlover38

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If talking about a potential development is enough to jinx it, let's talk about the strip club opening . . .bad karma, bad karma, bad karma. . . . . :ph34r:

A great walk on the river with shops and restaurants lining the boardwalk. Maybe an outdoor plaza or two, a wood pedestrian bridge across the river, and a bunch of nice condos that accept dogs. Since I have a dog, probobly don't want the alligators. I will leave those for the other side of downtown

Excellent idea, but that water treatment plant better get it in gear . . ever drive around that area in the spring????? P.U.!

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snoogit Town

snoogit

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If talking about a potential development is enough to jinx it, let's talk about the strip club opening . . .bad karma, bad karma, bad karma. . . . . :ph34r:

Excellent idea, but that water treatment plant better get it in gear . . ever drive around that area in the spring????? P.U.!

I think Mark London has already stated he wont open the strip club if it impacts a large development of national signifigance. (That doesn't mean he wont move it further south, probably somewhere in between Franklin and Hall Street near all the warehouses there by the railroad tracks)

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Greedo Whistle-Stop

Greedo

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Replace the Calder!?! Blasphemy!!!

If there's one thing GR has is it's cultural heritage, and no mall could ever replace that.

The Calder is the symbol of our city's leadership on a national scale. You should hear the artists who visit. They are always in awe that we have chosen one of the most magnificent pieces of modern art as the symbol of our city.

It's really something to be proud of.

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torgo Town

torgo

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Replace the Calder!?! Blasphemy!!!

If there's one thing GR has is it's cultural heritage, and no mall could ever replace that.

The Calder is the symbol of our city's leadership on a national scale. You should hear the artists who visit. They are always in awe that we have chosen one of the most magnificent pieces of modern art as the symbol of our city.

It's really something to be proud of.

I think the Calder is one of those things that is appreciated by those who like or appreciate modern art. But to the rest of us, its just some big orange metal thing. Since I am not exactly what you would call "artsy", I think its big and ugly and stupid and don't see why everyone loves it so much.

However, love it or hate it, its a major piece of the City and it should stay. But all those ugly buildings around it can go. :D

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Prankster Burg

Prankster

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I think the Calder is one of those things that is appreciated by those who like or appreciate modern art. But to the rest of us, its just some big orange metal thing. Since I am not exactly what you would call "artsy", I think its big and ugly and stupid and don't see why everyone loves it so much.

However, love it or hate it, its a major piece of the City and it should stay. But all those ugly buildings around it can go. :D

Tying that whole area back into the urban fabric around it would go along way for making it more apealing for most people. Maybe it is the God forsaken space that it's in, but I find no special attachment to it either. But my idea of great art is a well put together city skyline. :)

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snoogit Town

snoogit

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Tying that whole area back into the urban fabric around it would go along way for making it more apealing for most people. Maybe it is the God forsaken space that it's in, but I find no special attachment to it either. But my idea of great art is a well put together city skyline. :)

I can agree with that, La Grane Vitesse just seems more like a statement of sprawl then a statement of rapids.

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metrogrkid Hamlet

metrogrkid

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The more I think about it, I agree with GRCK a big retail project downtown would be most successful with stores that don't exist anywhere in the 'burbs. Otherwise, the same stores at Woodland or Rivertown will be more convenient for too many people. I also agree that it has to be truly urban: small blocks, everything oriented to the street. The last think I want to see is a small rivertown or other "big footprint" sitting on the banks of the Grand River.

Andy:

You are one of the few that gets the reality of downtown GR retailing at this point in our urban development. For a super-regional retail hub to work in downtown GR, the retailers CANNOT exist anywhere else in the ENTIRE AREA between Chicago and Detroit. Such retailers at a requisitely world-class downtown GR venue would have to be the ONLY ones in that trade area thereby forcing people to either drive two-three hours to Chicago or Detroit OR drive downtown (from 45-minute distant Lansing per se or the 30-minute distant lakeshore exurbs, etc.). That's what the logic of this forum's Metropolitan Center concept was predicated upon.

-metrogrkid

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