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New 44 Story Tower Rumor


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The problem I see with this rumor is that unless a MAJOR tenant moves in (ie. some large corporation from the burbs moves downtown), this won't happen. Too much space. Now if the mix was 5 retail/parking, 20 residential, 20 office, I could see a chance, but even 20 floors seems completely iffy at this point.

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i wonder if i could sign up my suburban employer to relocate downtown... sigh -- that is probably pie in the sky -- but i would love to see GRAP do a Detroit with Compuware and snag someone like Perrigo to come dt.

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  • 4 weeks later...

i wonder if i could sign up my suburban employer to relocate downtown... sigh -- that is probably pie in the sky -- but i would love to see GRAP do a Detroit with Compuware and snag someone like Perrigo to come dt.

Any further nuggets on this from anyone?

I've heard rumblings of a new "mid-rise" project downtown, but don't think it was this.

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i wonder if i could sign up my suburban employer to relocate downtown... sigh -- that is probably pie in the sky -- but i would love to see GRAP do a Detroit with Compuware and snag someone like Perrigo to come dt.

Downtown Allegan?

That would be cool...they'd instantly grow downtown Allegan by an order of magnitude. :)

As for downtown GR candidates, I'd say some of those big corporations that are truly HQ'd out of town (Meijer, Amway, etc.) are the only ones that would make national news. That's what I'd like to see.

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The SE corner of Lyon and Ottawa has an 85' height limit. The building would have to "step back" a certain amount too.

If its an office building with a lot of retail on the ground floor or something, then the developer can get bonuses:

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Why are the building restrictions so tight in downtown GR? In Lansing the entire downtown is zoned "G-1 Business district," there are no height, setback or parking restrictions and it allows for a variety of uses.

It was to minimize "dark canyons", and to encourage developers to add retail to the ground floor so that they could get "height bonuses". I think it's poorly put together. I believe it is going to be overhauled soon.

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It was to minimize "dark canyons", and to encourage developers to add retail to the ground floor so that they could get "height bonuses". I think it's poorly put together. I believe it is going to be overhauled soon.

Look at the city's slogan: "Building a better city...by design."

Seems rather laughable with the hoops developers have to seemingly jump through at times. :)

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I don't really think all that really qualifies as "hoops." I would argue that many developers won't mind lots of restrictions, as long as the City is clear in telling them what they are.

The only part of that I dont really get is the 85' height limit. The other bonuses it talks about seem to me to be a good incentive to get developers to build stuff that is desirable; i.e. housing and ground floor retail. Those bonuses are optional, so I don't think its that big a deal. But thats just me. :D

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I have talked to enough commissioners to know that if something really big came along, and it broke the rules - the zoning guide would be out of the window in no time. Investment is the number one goal of the city.

Oh, absolutely. Just like with Faust's proposal. It would require rezonings galore, but the City would leap at the chance and jump through hoops for the guy, if it were presented. I'm sure most other large projects are no different.

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I've been hearing rumors for some time that Comerica has been priming itself to be sold to a larger bank by cleaning up its loan portfolio, selling off non-core assets (Munder), etc. Should a bank that already has a decent-sized presence in Michigan and specifically in downtown GR purchase Comerica (i.e. JP Morgan Chase), I would guess that they would look for a building / site to put all of their employees under one roof.

Also, I work for a decent sized company downtown GR, with about 110 employees and the prospect of being between 130-150 employees in the not-too-distant future, and with current leased space being fairly constricted, it's amazing how little Class A there is downtown that would accomodate a company of this size (desire being having contiguous space on one floor, two consecutive floors if necessary). I am really hoping that we stay downtown when the time comes to find bigger digs...

Follow-up question...in a standard "high-rise" in downtown GR, how many bodies typically inhabit one floor of an office building?

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Any further nuggets on this from anyone?

I've heard rumblings of a new "mid-rise" project downtown, but don't think it was this.

Not helping...Not helping! I went through the official Mystery Development Detox Center and completed the program sucessfully. I swear if I have a relapse I'll be sending you the bill for the added medication and inpatient visits to the center.

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I've been hearing rumors for some time that Comerica has been priming itself to be sold to a larger bank by cleaning up its loan portfolio, selling off non-core assets (Munder), etc. Should a bank that already has a decent-sized presence in Michigan and specifically in downtown GR purchase Comerica (i.e. JP Morgan Chase), I would guess that they would look for a building / site to put all of their employees under one roof.

Also, I work for a decent sized company downtown GR, with about 110 employees and the prospect of being between 130-150 employees in the not-too-distant future, and with current leased space being fairly constricted, it's amazing how little Class A there is downtown that would accomodate a company of this size (desire being having contiguous space on one floor, two consecutive floors if necessary). I am really hoping that we stay downtown when the time comes to find bigger digs...

Follow-up question...in a standard "high-rise" in downtown GR, how many bodies typically inhabit one floor of an office building?

That is interesting. I've heard the "Class A shortage" from a number of different people. Is it getting close to time for a speculative Class A office tower downtown? Maybe if they had it 40% pre-leased or so?

Isn't the average for an office building something like 200 sf/person (when you include the entire floorplate like elevators, common areas, lounges, lobbies, etc.)??? I could be wrong.

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I've been hearing rumors for some time that Comerica has been priming itself to be sold to a larger bank by cleaning up its loan portfolio, selling off non-core assets (Munder), etc. Should a bank that already has a decent-sized presence in Michigan and specifically in downtown GR purchase Comerica (i.e. JP Morgan Chase), I would guess that they would look for a building / site to put all of their employees under one roof.

Also, I work for a decent sized company downtown GR, with about 110 employees and the prospect of being between 130-150 employees in the not-too-distant future, and with current leased space being fairly constricted, it's amazing how little Class A there is downtown that would accomodate a company of this size (desire being having contiguous space on one floor, two consecutive floors if necessary). I am really hoping that we stay downtown when the time comes to find bigger digs...

Follow-up question...in a standard "high-rise" in downtown GR, how many bodies typically inhabit one floor of an office building?

Square footage per person can range from 150 for call center jobs, to 350 for a law firm. This includes all common areas that are not directly used as office space. So for a 150 employee firm, you are talking approximately 37,500 sf. This is larger than most floor plates in downtown, so you would more than likely have to go with 2 contiguous floors.

Hope that helps. :thumbsup:

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I've been hearing rumors for some time that Comerica has been priming itself to be sold to a larger bank by cleaning up its loan portfolio, selling off non-core assets (Munder), etc. Should a bank that already has a decent-sized presence in Michigan and specifically in downtown GR purchase Comerica (i.e. JP Morgan Chase), I would guess that they would look for a building / site to put all of their employees under one roof.

I'd love to see J.P. Morgan Chase move Comerica's operations to GR, but my guess is more then likely J.P. Morgan would move to Detroit.

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Top 10 largest private companies in Michigan:

Meijer - $12.50 billion

Alticor - $6.40 billion

Guardian Industries - $5.00 billion

Gordon Food Service - $3.63 billion

Affinia Group - $2.11 billion

Metaldyne - $2.00 billion

Cooper-Standard Automotive - $1.86 billion

Soave Enterprises - $1.61 billion

Key Safety Systems - $1.28 billion

Haworth - $1.26 billion

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