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Will $1 Billion in medical development in GR spur the economy?


GRDadof3

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I have been to Rochester MN, a town that banks on the healthcare industry. The downtown is boring and rather ominous. Every building has sick or dying people in it. I would prefer to have a downtown of vibrant office buildings, hotels and condos. Just my opinion.

How many cities do you want to visit to see the pretty hospital? How many cities have you stopped to have your photo taken in front of the pretty hospital? Sure, it is great to have good health care, but if we think this is going to radically change our downtown, we are mistaken. I would rather never have to visit one of the new hospitals in health hill.

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Agreed. The next "big company" that will influence GR's future is probably already here, in a small office or someone's garage. Look at Meijer, Amway, Steelcase. I'm sure nobody, including the founders, ever imagined that their companies would grow so big and become so influential over the years.

Homegrown companies seem to take care of their own backyard better than transplants, or companies that have been acquired by someone who see Grand Rapids

Joe

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The article compared manufacturing-type growth vs. health care-type growth and danced around the fact that the realignment of our West Michigan manufacturing economy into something much smaller has already happened. It's not like we chose one over the other.

Given the fact that manufacturing losses are what they are....I'll take the increase in knowledge based jobs and the spinoffs they create any day -- even if it is 1.7 vs. 2.5 spin off jobs.

The boon in the construction trades also has been a needed shot in the arm. Hopefully when the current crop of projects are completed more work will be on the horizon for them, too.

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The article compared manufacturing-type growth vs. health care-type growth and danced around the fact that the realignment of our West Michigan manufacturing economy into something much smaller has already happened. It's not like we chose one over the other.
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Just a FYI -

The City of Grand Rapids, and I believe the DDA, have just begun another Area Specific Plan effort for the Michigan Hill area. I'm not sure the boundaries for the area they are looking at. Probably Monroe to Lafayette or College? They would eventually get the plan inserted into the Master Plan. I'm also unclear what the opportunities will be for stakeholder input and feedback. They are just completing a similar effort for the Monroe North Area, and I assume they are using the same consultants. Does anyone on Urban Planet know more? Was anyone involved with the Monroe North Area Specific Plan that could speak to how it went and the opportunities for public input?

Maybe this thread can go as an appendix in the final document :rolleyes:

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Allot of the disconnect of Health Hill from the rest of the core not just the fact its car centric. A large part of the blame can be attributed to a combination of typography and the presence of I-196 and how it was constructed. Typography plays a part because of the severe grade changes of the hill itself and the modifications implemented to accommodate roads and infrastructure. With bridges, retaining walls, and roads sunk into tranches its not surprising that Health Hill is not pedestrian friendly. Secondly I-196's elevated section between the river and the Hill disconnects North Monroe from Downtown while the sunken portion that cuts a deep trench into the hill itself next to the medical towers under construction severs nearly all connections between Michigan Street and the neighbor hood on the north side of the expressway.

A solution to help weave Health Hill into the urban fabric of the rest of the core at least to some degree would be to run a continuation of buildings and sidewalks along Michigan Street over Division Ave and in to downtown itself. Division Ave. would then run under these new buildings. Secondly, to reconnect the neighborhood to the north with Michigan street, pedestrian over passes need to be built over Health Hill's stretch of the expressway along with improving pedestrian accessibility to existing overpasses. However, a more ambitious way to reconnect Michigan Street to that neighborhood would be to actually build parks and buildings directly above the sunken stretches of the expressway. Chicago's city beautification master plan calls for a solution similar to this to be implemented over the sunken stretch of I-94 running along the western edge of that city's downtown area. Lastly, making cosmetic changes to the elevated stretch of I-196 to improve its appearance would help connect North Monroe to Downtown.

Again, with the design of the Michigan hill area, is it condusive to filtering people into downtown? IMO, it is almost built as it's own little capsule detached from downtown. Maybe because the area between Michigan hill and the part of downtown that has the retail/restaurants/entertainment is filled with government offices, which doesn't have much streetlife either.
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VAI and Spectrum form molecular medicine joint venture

It will result in new lab space to be housed in GVSU Cook Devos Center.

Center for Molecular Medicine website

At least I hope we start hearing these announcement on a regular basis over the next several years. It's better than the (Comerica) alternative.

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Agreed. The next "big company" that will influence GR's future is probably already here, in a small office or someone's garage. Look at Meijer, Amway, Steelcase. I'm sure nobody, including the founders, ever imagined that their companies would grow so big and become so influential over the years.

Some time ago there was discussion about Wolverine Oil and Gas (??? not sure if that is the company name or not). Didn't they locate some 1 billion barrels of oil out west somewhere? When that became news, there was quite some speculation as to how much $$ they would bring home and pump into the local economy. Anyone know more about this one?

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this is what i'm saying. I'm telling you once VAI gets more established we get a Pharmecutical presence downtown, or a new company headquartered here. Either way, as economics go Knowlege based economies may be slower taking off, but are ten times more steady than manufacturing based economies. This economic slowdown was a long time coming. But i'm telling you, the city and state are doing everything they can, and in my opinion, the right things to get the economy back on track.

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Some time ago there was discussion about Wolverine Oil and Gas (??? not sure if that is the company name or not). Didn't they locate some 1 billion barrels of oil out west somewhere? When that became news, there was quite some speculation as to how much $ they would bring home and pump into the local economy. Anyone know more about this one?
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