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McKay Tower Renovations


GRDadof3

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GVSU has a really nice clocktower along Fulton across the river. You can see it quite clearly from Division and Fulton, and probably even a bit further east.

I'm not sure if the historical city hall clocktower in front of the County building makes still makes any noise.

Yeah you have a point there...but I think what some people here are trying to say is that a clock tower somewhere in the heart of downtown would be cool to have as well instead of the college. If you are walking down Monroe or what not you probably can't see the clock tower unless you're up by the river somewhere I would assume.

As for the whole lighting discussion - I think despite my idea that I put out for all the stores on Monroe Center to have some sort of lighting festival - I think some if not all of the buildings on Monroe Center would have some sort of dramatic lighting presence (and of course doing it in tune with the environment).

I wonder why Plaza Towers doesn't do something like this to give their building a little more "umph" at night time when driving past 131. Heck - even the top of Van Andel Arena to have some sort of lighting would be cool as well.

Alrighty - I think I'm starting to get a little :offtopic: here

So about McKay Tower :lol:

.....

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...They could also freeze colored LED lights into the ice rink and make the ice glow :thumbsup:

Above the existing constellation lights? Maybe they should just turn those on.

Sometimes during the skating the ice goes completely away, and then you'd have a mess of LED strings or ropes out there in the standing water.

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... you'd have a mess of LED strings or ropes out there in the standing water.

At that point, the museum could call it their latest modern art installation and then people would ooh and ahh over it instead of perceiving it as a mess.

ooops! :offtopic:

Best of luck to the McKay Tower folks. Another time and place and I'd be interested in one of those condos. I may not be the biggest fan of that chunk of metal on the roof, but to each his own. I still like the building as a whole.

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Just make the lights an emerald green color and power them with solar and call it good.

C'mon, if I can power my landscape lighting with solar, then I would like to think that the lighting on the side of a building facing south could be handled the same way.

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GVSU has a really nice clocktower along Fulton across the river. You can see it quite clearly from Division and Fulton, and probably even a bit further east.

I'm not sure if the historical city hall clocktower in front of the County building makes still makes any noise.

Speaking of clock towers, there's also one on the plaza outside the Fifth Third building and then there is that big 2-sided one that hangs off the side of the River City Building over the sidewalk between the Amway and Devos Place.

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Speaking of clock towers, there's also one on the plaza outside the Fifth Third building and then there is that big 2-sided one that hangs off the side of the River City Building over the sidewalk between the Amway and Devos Place.

Also not technically towers, but I think there is a digital clock along with stock ticker on the Trust building, and also isn't there a clock tower outside the courthouse?

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

Lately I've been seeing some lights in places on the top floors at night. Saw some flashing in one which suggested a TV being on. Looks like there's already some people living here. =]

Hey, me too. From my place I have a clear view of the entire back of McKay Tower and I've seen a number of lights on the upper floors on at night.

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Hey, me too. From my place I have a clear view of the entire back of McKay Tower and I've seen a number of lights on the upper floors on at night.

The city assessor's records seem to indicate 5 units each on the 14th and 15th floor have been created, one of which has been sold to an individual owner other than the developer. If lights are on in other units, it is possible that they have been rented or that the new owners have moved in but haven't closed for some reason.

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The city assessor's records seem to indicate 5 units each on the 14th and 15th floor have been created, one of which has been sold to an individual owner other than the developer. If lights are on in other units, it is possible that they have been rented or that the new owners have moved in but haven't closed for some reason.

By the way, it is just a coincidence that my avitar is an old post card of the McKay Tower. I'm not associated with the project in any way. Like dad said, she's a beauty... and this is a great location for a condo!

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I may have missed this but what is the parking situation for the residences.

Why on earth would someone living downtown need a car? :P

Okay serious answer: Someone can correct me if I'm mistaken but I would assume someone with a condo there would need to lease a space in one of the nearby parking ramps.

There's large pinkish/reddish lettering in each of the west-facing windows spelling out "CONDOS." Looks a little tacky to me, especially as I tried to grab a respectable photo of the building for an architectural blog I'm working on starting.

Really, is that new? I don't remember seeing that before, but maybe I just didn't look closely at the west side last week when I was by there. Speaking of taking pictures of McKay, here are a couple I took last tuesday:

2880898440_21a37fbf7f_b.jpg

2881001658_acb80b7e11_b.jpg

One of the perks of living in the building if you are a coffee lover:

2880835650_625136ce83.jpg

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  • 3 months later...

Thought I would give this topic a bump.

There was a conversation last year on this forum about the wire ball on top of the building.

The lights are always on now at night and also in the morning, but only about half of them work. I have good view of them from my windows, and it actully looks worse than if they were not on at all. This is a pretty prominent point on our skyline at night and looks pretty bad if you ask me. Would it really be that hard to replace some bulbs so that all the lights would work. It is a cool look if they are all lit up. Otherwise I say shut them off all together and save the juice. Maybe it's just the type A personality in me, but it feels kind of like having a string of lights out on an otherwise beautiful Christmas Tree.

Maybe there is something else to the story that I don't know about.

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Thought I would give this topic a bump.

There was a conversation last year on this forum about the wire ball on top of the building.

The lights are always on now at night and also in the morning, but only about half of them work. I have good view of them from my windows, and it actully looks worse than if they were not on at all. This is a pretty prominent point on our skyline at night and looks pretty bad if you ask me. Would it really be that hard to replace some bulbs so that all the lights would work. It is a cool look if they are all lit up. Otherwise I say shut them off all together and save the juice. Maybe it's just the type A personality in me, but it feels kind of like having a string of lights out on an otherwise beautiful Christmas Tree.

Maybe there is something else to the story that I don't know about.

I'm on the record as not being a big fan of that whole rusting assembly of girders. Having that rusting heap up there in an urban environment is the equivalent of a car on blocks in the front yard of your nice suburban house in Jenison.

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I have no idea what the original use was, but I like it. I'd like to see it restored, or even "re-envisioned" to be a nice little beacon of light on top of a great building. :)

I'd still like to see the uplighting too!

Joe

I'm on the record as not being a big fan of that whole rusting assembly of girders. Having that rusting heap up there in an urban environment is the equivalent of a car on blocks in the front yard of your nice suburban house in Jenison.
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I think I've seen pictures of when the McKay tower was completed (by that I mean the additional floors) in the 1920s and the half iron ball girder was placed on top. I think it was just meant as a decorative item that no one decided to take down, since then it has become apart of the building's character which no one today wants to take down. I think, like joedowntown stated, it should be re-invented.

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