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schnitzelbank

gvsusean

By gvsusean
in Grand Rapids

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civitas Burg

civitas

Posted
Posted

Im shocked! St. Marys was going to tear down a neighborhood building for a parking lot. Are you guys sure about this?

/sarcasm

Seriously, how much parking does this place need?

St. Mary's and Mary Free Bed have flattened blocks in that neighborhood. It is terrible.

On one hand the city should allow whatever is necessary to keep those institutions where they are, but, the other hand should not be allowed to disrespect the future of that neighborhood.

194427669_a4d10c2ce3.jpg

The building on the corner of Jefferson & Wealthy used to be the Schnitz.

194427561_9b3be85a3f.jpg

194427416_1d0949de57.jpg

194427380_7c567d975b.jpg

Years ago I offered Mary Free Bed an alternative to surface parking on the SE corner of Wealthy and Jefferson.

Brian Barkwell at VIA Design did this concept for a ramp with a liner of office and housing on two sides.

Unfortunatelly, they torn down all the existing buildings and built surface parking.

194427580_462fe034ca_o.jpg

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tamias6 Town

tamias6

Posted
Posted

Granted I'm for keeping buildings with historical value around. But if that vacant resteruant cannot be torn down, I hope the city and the hospital can find a way to put the building to good use. After all what good is a building, even a historical one, if it just sits there and rots. However if the resteraunt is torn down, I hope the city will talk St. Mary's into doing so to make way for somthing of greater value than a mere suface parking lot. Lord knows we have more than enough of those in that area and through out downtown GR.

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GRDadof3 Ecumenopolis

GRDadof3

Posted
Posted

Years ago I offered Mary Free Bed an alternative to surface parking on the SE corner of Wealthy and Jefferson.

Brian Barkwell at VIA Design did this concept for a ramp with a liner of office and housing on two sides.

Unfortunatelly, they torn down all the existing buildings and built surface parking.

194427580_462fe034ca_o.jpg

That's an awesome plan civitas! That would have been an incredible catalyst for Wealthy St in that area.

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hood Burg

hood

Posted
Posted

I don't understand why they wouldn't build a parking garage, it's standard practice for hospitals even in neighborhoods. Sparrow Ingham and St. Mary's all have parking garages, Sparrow has very little surface parking, and they are surrounded by negihborhoods that it would cheap for them to buy up houses or businesses for parking. They chose not to and the areas surrounding them aren't even historic. It just seems stupid to tear down anything but the worst of buildings for parking, let alone surface parking.

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Mark Miller Whistle-Stop

Mark Miller

Posted
Posted

At the same HPC meeting on Wednesday, St. Mary's Health Care requested to demolish four more structures in addition to the Schnitz. They included:

268 LaGrave

231 Jefferson

134-136 Cherry Street

138-140 Cherry Street

268 LaGrave and 231 Jefferson were buildings used by Eerdman's Printing. Neither of these buildings were deemed historically significant and thus can be torn down.

The other two on Cherry are referred to as "vacant and dilapidated wood frame apartment houses". These were designated in the same way that the Schnitz was and thus will need to go to planning commission for determination if they should be saved or if a study committee needs to be appointed.

Both of these "apartment houses" are actually former single family homes. They are quite nice, at least from the outside. There is little difference between the historical significance of these homes and the significance of homes in Heritage Hill, except of course that they are not in district. Do they need work, oh yes, but most historic structures do.

This is all under the guise of what the applicant calls "ongoing improvements to their campus".

The HPC decision is not based on what the new use would be. Although the ongoing improvements to the campus are for surface parking lots.

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GR_Urbanist Burg

GR_Urbanist

Posted
Posted

At the same HPC meeting on Wednesday, St. Mary's Health Care requested to demolish four more structures in addition to the Schnitz. They included:

268 LaGrave

231 Jefferson

134-136 Cherry Street

138-140 Cherry Street

268 LaGrave and 231 Jefferson were buildings used by Eerdman's Printing. Neither of these buildings were deemed historically significant and thus can be torn down.

The other two on Cherry are referred to as "vacant and dilapidated wood frame apartment houses". These were designated in the same way that the Schnitz was and thus will need to go to planning commission for determination if they should be saved or if a study committee needs to be appointed.

Both of these "apartment houses" are actually former single family homes. They are quite nice, at least from the outside. There is little difference between the historical significance of these homes and the significance of homes in Heritage Hill, except of course that they are not in district. Do they need work, oh yes, but most historic structures do.

This is all under the guise of what the applicant calls "ongoing improvements to their campus".

The HPC decision is not based on what the new use would be. Although the ongoing improvements to the campus are for surface parking lots.

This is exactly what I knew was going to happen when they bought those properties! That hospital is just a disgrace. They have done little more than turn that whole section of city into their own personal parking prairie. They will be the single reason why that whole area goes nowhere in terms of revitalization. If they wanted to improve their campus so much, then maybe they should start on one of their large parking lots!

Geeze, this make me so angry! I seriously wish there was a higher property tax on parking lots in the dt area. If your going to put up these things, then you should pay through the nose for wasting dt space like this.

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mringer Crossroads

mringer

Posted
Posted

Is there an online petition I can sign?

First time poster here...so I hate to be like this, but what would the petition say?

"The undersigned request that only the perfect developer be allowed to disturb this neighborhood. St. Mary's fails to meet our criteria."

You have a developer with plans to build a $60 million LEED facility right next to the properties in question. $60 million is a big project. There's sure to be a high volume of construction workers, equipment, etc. that will require accomodation.

http://www.smmmc.org/about/foundation/hauenstein.shtml

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gvsusean Burg

gvsusean

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First time poster here...so I hate to be like this, but what would the petition say?

"The undersigned request that only the perfect developer be allowed to disturb this neighborhood. St. Mary's fails to meet our criteria."

You have a developer with plans to build a $60 million LEED facility right next to the properties in question. $60 million is a big project. There's sure to be a high volume of construction workers, equipment, etc. that will require accomodation.

http://www.smmmc.org/about/foundation/hauenstein.shtml

that is the perfect suburban mentality we need.. 1) build something 2)sea of parking 3)repeat.

we need every corner to be utilised..... the fact that something nice is going in next door is all the more reason to build something nice at this corner, to complement each other.

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mringer Crossroads

mringer

Posted
Posted

that is the perfect suburban mentality we need.. 1) build something 2)sea of parking 3)repeat.

we need every corner to be utilised..... the fact that something nice is going in next door is all the more reason to build something nice at this corner, to complement each other.

LEED SS Credit 2: Development Density & Community Connectivity

Intent:

Channel development to urban areas with existing infrastructure, protect greenfields and preserve

habitat and natural resources.

Pursuing LEED certification is far from a suburban mentality, isn't it?

I just thought the significance of what they plan to do wasn't being considered.

Somebody called it the "guise of ongoing expansion". I didn't see the guise.

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gvsusean Burg

gvsusean

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LEED SS Credit 2: Development Density & Community Connectivity

Intent:

Channel development to urban areas with existing infrastructure, protect greenfields and preserve

habitat and natural resources.

Pursuing LEED certification is far from a suburban mentality, isn't it?

I just thought the significance of what they plan to do wasn't being considered.

Somebody called it the "guise of ongoing expansion". I didn't see the guise.

im all for leed buildings its the parking lot in question

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DwntwnGeo Hamlet

DwntwnGeo

Posted
Posted

im all for leed buildings its the parking lot in question

Maybe this parking lot in question will be another Hospital expansion in the next few years? I am not one for tearing everything down, but I would rather see it used as a parking lot than to see the Schnitzelbank that I remember sit there empty and rot away. Don't forget the hospital is a business of sorts and is looking to aquire land around its core when the opportunity presents itself. I do not know the "master" plan of the hospital, but maybe there are plans to build something other than a parking lot on that particular spot. We all, including myself, cannot expect to see and have everything happen in an area overnight. It takes time and most of all lots of money.

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Mark Miller Whistle-Stop

Mark Miller

Posted
Posted

This is on the planning commission agenda today too. BETA is presenting a surface parking lot plan.

One of the civil engineers in our office made the comment... "Whats so historical about it? Its just a block building with Bavarian graffitti all over it."

That's why civil engineers should stick to figuring out how to move fluids from point A to point B and leave aesthetic issues to those of us who actually understand them.

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