Bye-Bye to Electrolux Building

[blueradon]

I wish I could find the actual article in my local paper that had WAY more details with what was going to happen...but basically it's being announced that Greenville basically wants to get rid of the Electrolux building and put in something new.

Before this news came out, rumors were going around like crazy saying that Greenville is going to tear down the building and try to incorporate a lifestyle center...which I thought would have been cool...but it is not on a public highway or anything so to me it would not have been a great location.

I personally think that the current ideas for this is a great idea because it's in a good location and has a river going along it as well. From what I remembered in the paper they wanted to make a huge park (there are not a lot of parks in Greenville, good sized ones anyways) with a trail going along the river with some condos, and some small business plots along Greenville West Dr. And I remember they want to also keep some of the building (that is newer) and use that for industrial and build another new industrial building.

I'm going to try and see if I can take some pictures around Greenville this weekend and show all the development that is going on.

Here's the article from Milive.com

GREENVILLE -- City leaders are looking to breathe new life into the 1.7 million-square-foot Electrolux factory and 60 acres surrounding it with a proposal for a mix of industrial, commercial and residential uses.

The Greenville Planning Commission on Thursday saw a plan for rezoning conceived by city manager George Bosanic. A good portion of the vacated factory site would be reserved as open space for parks or public use.

http://www.mlive.com/search/index.ssf?/bas...?NEG&coll=6

[Allison Slater]

If I remember the rules correctly, you'll be required to prune that article snipplet down to 2 paragraphs and provide a link to it.

[blueradon]

I know these are kinda hard to see - I took them from my house (I live across the river) - but you'll see in the 2nd pic the pavement at the bottom - that's part of the new Fred Meijer trail - and I'm going to go through it tomorrow to see if I can get any better pictures - it ends up right at the street where I can snap right from behind the plant's parking lot.

It's been quite noisy - but I'll be so relieved when it's all gone.

The plan is still the same as far as what to do with the land - commercial up front against greenville west drive and housing/apartments/condos/mixed use towards the river...they'll probably do some sort of a park as well given the river frontage

[Eridony]

I was in Greenville for the first time about a month ago and I saw them tearing down the building. That thing is massive!

[blueradon]

Well it was at the time the largest refrigerator factory in the world.

I can't remember the exact square footage but I know it was around 1 million if not a little more. So just about the same size as rivertown.

That land would be so perfect for one of those lifestyle centers - but we probably wouldn't have enough interest nor support to build one and it'd be a traffic havoc.

Although it would be kinda nice for some in the 75,000 10-mile radius to come shopping a little bit closer instead of going to GR - but I prefer to go shopping in GR myself.

[Eridony]

Well it was at the time the largest refrigerator factory in the world.

I can't remember the exact square footage but I know it was around 1 million if not a little more. So just about the same size as rivertown.

That land would be so perfect for one of those lifestyle centers - but we probably wouldn't have enough interest nor support to build one and it'd be a traffic havoc.

Although it would be kinda nice for some in the 75,000 10-mile radius to come shopping a little bit closer instead of going to GR - but I prefer to go shopping in GR myself.

[blueradon]

Last time I heard or read about it there was maybe a couple interested developers but nothing concrete - Electrolux still owns the land as far as I know and they agreed with the city to tear down the worn plant and try to sell the land itself - would be better than trying to sell the building itself - all the town's industry is now being developed in its own "Industrial Park"

M-57 is really only going to go so far and the township had a battle itself with giving Walmart and some of the other nearby land to the city. Recently - I saw on LoopNet that right next to Walmart (behind the car dealership) Klackle Orchard is selling approximately 60 acres and put a description for "big box retail." But it says they'd be willing to split the land as well. There's been so much talk about Lowe's coming to town right when Walmart was starting to get built. My guess would have been Menards, but now there is already a store in Ionia which is fairly close (to some). I would say Home Depot or Lowe's would be a good guess for any next sort of big retail...we have a huge lack of lumber/home stores here in the area and it just seems to fit the bill really.

My biggest wish is for Kmart to shut down the Greenville store, it is such a WASTE of asphalt - nobody is hardly at that store - at best there's probably 10-15 cars in that parking lot except for Black Friday it's pretty filled up. That store could be EASILY bought by another big box retailer and give it a good face lift.

What also shocks me about M-57 is that for the limited land space there are 2 spaces - an old bank and a gas station that closed down a few years ago and nobody has bought any interest into it. When I worked at Independent Bank a couple years ago it was being researched by the exec's to see if it'd be worth trying a branch there - but the million dollar price tag is too much.

With all that said - I read an article recently in the local paper about the city trying to refocus it's attention to m-91. Since Meijer left that space has been somewhat stagnant - and not to mention there is plenty of room there for growth.

We have a lot of good solid existing establishments there such as the Meijer gas station, a Spectrum Health chiro office as well as a couple doctor's office, a car wash, McDonalds, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, Mancino's, and in the downtown we have a few local bars, the Winter Inn (which has fabulous food), cafe, bakery, and lots of local business stores.

But lately we have had some new developments - a couple years ago the former Eddie's Pizza (which was actually owned by my grandfather in its day) has been completely renovated and is now called The Other Place - across the street which used to be a video rental store and a daycare center with it's huge parking lot is now a car dealership (well fit for the parking lot), and in a few weeks or days the old Burger King is going to be turned into a 50's diner-style restaurant (probably Steak-n-Shake-ish).

So with all that said it's obvious that M-91 is starting to get some attention again which is a very good thing - to tie it all off - the connector road between m-91 and m-57 (Greenville West Dr) is also selling some commercial parcels which will include most likely parts of the Electrolux area, and then a few parcels on both sides of the former plant. I really hope Greenville continues the streetscape improvements that they started downtown and worked its way towards the bridge down m-91 - I believe that they will stretch that all the way to the old Meijer site.

The old Meijer Site was supposed to turn into a Spectrum Health mini-campus thing for different specialized doctors, but that never turned out. Currently Goodwill is storing goods in the building. Meijer obviously still holds the land and isn't going to give it up to competition. The one thing that I thought about was this - Greenville had meetings awhile back that asked for resident input on things they want in the city...one of them was a Sports Complex arena. That old Meijer site would be PERFECT for such a thing - or even perhaps an indoor ice skating rink. There is not a lot of parks/recreation on the north side of town so that would be a good spot for such development.

Alright - I've rambled enough here - maybe I'll do Part 2 some time later

[Eridony]

Thanks for the Greenville update Blueradon. When I was in Greenville I ate at the Wendy's there and saw the old Buger King had its window trim painted pink and there were people inside, yet the for sale sign was still up.

You have some nice old buildings downtown, it would be nice to see that area re-engergized.

[blueradon]

Yeah here's a link with a short video about the new restaurant

http://www.thedailynews.cc/main.asp?Search...onID=11&S=1

[blueradon]

Electrolux related news from milive.com

GREENVILLE -- The city is looking to recoup more than $460,000 in taxes it lost with three companies' plant closings and is counting on state support to get it back.

The State Tax Commission will decide if Electrolux AB, Tower Automotive LLC and Greenville Wire Products Co. are obligated to reimburse the city.

The city figures Sweden-based Electrolux owes it $424,782 after walking away from four tax abatements with 12-year terms.

DUN DUN DUNNNNNN

[blueradon]

For those who are wondering just exactly how big the Electrolux complex is - well here ya go

The red part is what they have decided to keep and will try and sell it for light industrial purposes.

The entire pink area is what is being demolished for the city to re-create this space - TONS of potential and different things that can be done here. One of the things that I know will happen for a fact is selling lots off right at Greenville West Dr (the curvy road on the NW corner of the image) as commercial. About 500 feet down the road west they are prepping for more commercial.

The green is an approximation of what is still standing right now - and is in progress of being demolished.

[Veloise]

...

...

[blueradon]

Wow, looks like a whole 'nuther city! Got the acreage handy?

[blueradon]

Here's a better concept of the size of Electrolux in city view - I added some other colors to highlight some specifics in the area

Red - Electrolux campus

Pink - Historic Downtown

Yellow - Northside (former Meijer store on the top)

Light Blue (NE Side) - Industrial Park - United Solar Ovonics is here

Darker Blue (above Electro) - Commercial Space for sale - see where that would tie in with part of Electrolux selling commercial by the street?

Purple - Greenville Middle/High School Campus

Orange - Spectrum United Campus

Green - I call this Westside Sprawl - Meijer on the bottom - Walmart on the left side of the box

So that's just a comparison of how big this space is.

[blueradon]

So I was reading the town's Parks and Recreation 5 Year Master Plan and didn't know this...

The spot above Electrolux (refer to the map the green area with the river) actually was used at a time for Electrolux's industrial waste but the EPA and MDNR told them to knock it off - now the city is planning to take this entire spot and turn it into a huge city park - 50 percent of it is hardwood - the other half is marsh/wetland and of course great access to the Flat River.

They are also looking into taking one of the parks on the east side and offering tubing/canoe rentals during the spring/summer/fall seasons. Pretty neat.

[blueradon]

Bringing it back from the dead - I know...

But there is a new article in the local paper

GREENVILLE - A Grand Rapids developer has high hopes for portions of the former Electrolux factory site on the city's west side.

Last week Delta Properties in Grand Rapids purchased the 440,000-square-foot shipping warehouse at 635 W. Charles St. as well as about 15 more acres of land surrounding it and along Greenville West Drive from Electrolux AB, based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Link to Article

[Eridony]

Bringing it back from the dead - I know...

But there is a new article in the local paper

GREENVILLE - A Grand Rapids developer has high hopes for portions of the former Electrolux factory site on the city's west side.

Last week Delta Properties in Grand Rapids purchased the 440,000-square-foot shipping warehouse at 635 W. Charles St. as well as about 15 more acres of land surrounding it and along Greenville West Drive from Electrolux AB, based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Link to Article

[blueradon]

Not only that - but do notice that they purchased additional acres - so possibly they could be building something new as well. My hope is that they are going to leave some of the land available for commercial use because it sure needs it right there.

[Eridony]

Not only that - but do notice that they purchased additional acres - so possibly they could be building something new as well. My hope is that they are going to leave some of the land available for commercial use because it sure needs it right there.

[Eridony]

Also, do you know what exactly Delta bought? Obviously the building labeled "for sale," but what else? That triangular parking lot, or land accross the street?

[blueradon]

I honestly don't know - but my guess would be the triangular piece and maybe a chunk on the bottom portion. The articles don't specifically mention it.