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New Apartment Complex at Lake Michigan & Lexington

GRDadof3

By GRDadof3
in Grand Rapids

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DwntwnGeo Hamlet

DwntwnGeo

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This is just West of Seward and Lake Michigan near GVSU. The drawings on the agenda are horrible, but you can see for yourself.

http://www.ci.grand-rapids.mi.us//download...ecb5818547a.pdf

I think it would be a good idea to get more GVSU students to live in the downtown area that attend classes at the downtown campus. The area seems like a nice spot also. I do agree the drawnings on the link above do show a whole lot and seem pretty plain. I wonder if they will look like the ones on the south side of Fulton across from the main campus? Those look very nice in my opinion. On the other hand, if these are going to be apartments for students, they cannot cost a whole lot, or they won't be able to afford it. I am glad to see that they will put retail on the first floor :yahoo: I would like to see some full color renderings for the complex though :thumbsup:

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GR_Urbanist Burg

GR_Urbanist

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Isn't it all residential West of there Urbanist? I snagged some of the poorly done images.

It's definitely not like the ones South of the Business School.

post-2672-1148344020_thumb.jpgpost-2672-1148344036_thumb.jpgpost-2672-1148344048_thumb.jpg

Not bad, and the parking is in the rear.

Unless my memory is off, there is supposed to be a building with a boarded up storefront with apartments on top.

here is an overhead. Its a bit old, so I marked the YMCA and GVSU ramp as red blocks. The building Im talking about is in the yellow box.

151634167_2107192fca_o.jpg

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AlexPKeaton Burg

AlexPKeaton

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That building would be across the street. From what I remember the houses on the proposed site were razed a couple years ago while I was still attending GVSU.

And for what it's worth, though they look nice, the apartments on the south side of Fulton on GVSU's downtown campus are really terrible. The facade is brick, but it's just a toothpick frame. The floors aren't all level, the drywall is cracking because of the uneven settling, and the windows aren't even all vertically aligned. From the top to the bottom of my front window there was a two inch different in the distance to the corner of the room. Can you say cheap?

-nb

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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This is a BETA project. I have had some input as my boss was designing it. I'll be back with more information and colored drawings later. Lots to do this morning first.

Thanks golscorer! And MJLO, really I've never been there, and I hardly ever drive down that part of Lake Michigan Drive. :D

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DwntwnGeo Hamlet

DwntwnGeo

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Thanks golscorer! And MJLO, really I've never been there, and I hardly ever drive down that part of Lake Michigan Drive. :D

GRDad, if they start this project you will have to go and take pictures for us :P

Inquiring readers always like to see photos :thumbsup:

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DwntwnGeo Hamlet

DwntwnGeo

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Can't wait until you live downtown, then we should see a slew of photos from Geo. :thumbsup:

But Dad.... Yours are always better :D

Yes, I too should go out and take more pictures to post. Once I sell the suburbian home and get settled in downtown, I won't have any excuses :blush:

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numstead Hamlet

numstead

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Alrighty, I've got Four Friends in my belly and pictures on the web. Here we go...

Here is a rendering by one of our architects. The view is of the Lexington and Lake Michigan corner looking Northeast

601Lakedrawing.jpg

Here are two massing diagrams that I put together. You'll see a ghosted mass that is larger than the actual building. That represents a building built out to the extents of the property line up to the heghts of zoning limits.

601Lakemassing1.jpg

601Lakemassing2.jpg

Our desire was to keep the building at a scale the related to the neighborhood condition to the west and the growing urban/university condition to the east, all the while meeting the number of units that the developer needed for feasibilities sake.

One obvious solution was to boost the overall mass of the building on the east quarter of the block and locate retail there.

Another solution was to set the building back a few feet and put in living units at a half level below sidewalk grade, thus creating an urban condition similar to row houses in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other large cities. This section illustrates that...

601Lakesection.jpg

The first level above grade are what we're calling "Brownstone" units. They will be 2-bedroom condos. The levels above, clad in cementboard siding (brick all the way up was cost prohibitive and a developer decision), will be 1 & 2-bedroom rentals. Here is a colored elevation that I put together...

601Lakesouth.jpg

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numstead Hamlet

numstead

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yeah, we're pretty excited about it, I think the neighborhood is too. The only NIMBY was the woman who lives in the yellow house just to the North...

601Lakemassing1.jpg

I didn't read those clipping from the city planning meetings, so I don't know if it mentions that Rockford Construction is the developer in association with Commerce Realty.

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GR_Urbanist Burg

GR_Urbanist

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yeah, we're pretty excited about it, I think the neighborhood is too. The only NIMBY was the woman who lives in the yellow house just to the North...

601Lakemassing1.jpg

I didn't read those clipping from the city planning meetings, so I don't know if it mentions that Rockford Construction is the developer in association with Commerce Realty.

This is goint to be a great building. The fact that it's a pedestrian scale structure, with store fronts and a transparent 1st floor, will go a long way in that area, because quite frankly the YMCA and GVSU has done little in that reguard with their respective structures, which still bow at the alter of the blank wall, and the automobile.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

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Amen to that! Is there something you would like to share with us?

I wish. I've always thought that would be a great area for some infill neighborhood-style development, if St Mary's would give up some of their parking, and some of those ugly little 80's office buildings along State were gotten rid of.

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