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275 Fulton Place


mgreven

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I went to the meeting tonight and have some snap shots of the renderings that were presented. The international Architect is someone from the Netherlands. He designed the "ING" building/headquarters in Amsterdam. There was a local firm that was named to represent the Architect during construction. The concept came about when (1) financial institution and (1) law firm came to Eenhoorn and asked them about building a new office building on the site to meet the needs of their growing businesses. It sounds like both businesses have leases that are about to expire and both need additional square footage for additional hires they will be getting or bringing into the City. Also mentioned some consolidation of offices from outside downtown GR will require additional space at their new location. A third party, an accounting firm, was mentioned as a third tenant. If all three tenants agree to lease/buy than over 80% of the building space will be leased. Original plans called for (16) condos at around 1000 square feet. That has been changed to (8) condos with 2000 square feet and (4) have already been reserved. They will have around 270 degree views of the city including the Grand River. I will post the pictures of the renderings later tonight as I get them uploaded.

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I went to the meeting tonight and have some snap shots of the renderings that were presented. The international Architect is someone from the Netherlands. He designed the "ING" building/headquarters in Amsterdam. There was a local firm that was named to represent the Architect during construction. The concept came about when (1) financial institution and (1) law firm came to Eenhoorn and asked them about building a new office building on the site to meet the needs of their growing businesses. It sounds like both businesses have leases that are about to expire and both need additional square footage for additional hires they will be getting or bringing into the City. Also mentioned some consolidation of offices from outside downtown GR will require additional space at their new location. A third party, an accounting firm, was mentioned as a third tenant. If all three tenants agree to lease/buy than over 80% of the building space will be leased. Original plans called for (16) condos at around 1000 square feet. That has been changed to (8) condos with 2000 square feet and (4) have already been reserved. They will have around 270 degree views of the city including the Grand River. I will post the pictures of the renderings later tonight as I get them uploaded.
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As promised here are the photos. I apologize that these are not the best pictures. The lighting wasn't the best and I don't have the best camera either. I hope everyone can get an idea of how things will look. I uploaded my orginal picture sizes incase anyone wanted to download them for themself etc.

Here is the layout:

532650209_3f03a97029.jpg

Here is an aerial shot:

532640603_2592243d60.jpg

Here is a closer aerial shot:

532640607_873c32de01.jpg

Here is a shot from the South across Fulton. This is more on ground level too.

532640611_d3e877c643.jpg

Here is a shot from ground level of the Western elevation:

532640619_ed7d057d40.jpg

*GRDad, you have my permission to remove or post smaller pictures if you would like.

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There is so much movement going on in the local legal community right now, it could be a number of big firms. My money would be on Barnes and Thornburg since they have been gobbling up attorneys from other firms and will probably continue to do so. Several of their partners represent some of the larger financial institutions in town as well.

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I know these are initial renderings. But I'd like to see some more refinement to the river front and a more effective way to transition from the solid and heavy mass of the Plaza Tower to glass of the new structure. Overall I think its a good start. With a bit of tuning and tweaking we might have something.

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I now know who the local firm is. :thumbsup:

I like it, a lot.

1) So much for Plaza Towers claiming their views will be lost forever

2) Compared to some of their work on the website, I think we dodged a bullet

3) I totally was not expecting the main tower to be situated along Fulton (shocked really)

4) We're sort of building a portfolio of some very interesting international designers (Vinoly, WHY, Maya Lin, Jonathan Bailey, Goetsch Parners, Ellenzweig)

5) The screening on the parking ramp addition is bizarre, but definitely something we haven't seen before

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I now know who the local firm is. :thumbsup:

I like it, a lot.

1) So much for Plaza Towers claiming their views will be lost forever

2) Compared to some of their work on the website, I think we dodged a bullet

3) I totally was not expecting the main tower to be situated along Fulton (shocked really)

4) We're sort of building a portfolio of some very interesting international designers (Vinoly, WHY, Maya Lin, Jonathan Bailey, Goetsch Parners)

5) The screening on the parking ramp addition is bizarre, but definitely something we haven't seen before

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Your #4.... they talked about this also. They mentioned GR is starting to get some unique buildings and therefore starting to attract attention from people that like to travel to cities to view different architecture. They mentioned this Architect has been in Grand Rapids several times already this year.
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I'm a fan. :camera: I appreciate the transparency of this building.

I can't tell whether the riverfront is illustrated. It appears to be just as the photo is showing as lawn and floodwall. I appreciate it if they keep the riverfront as simple as possible for continuity.

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While I really like the buidings that we are getting, I also worry that this is sort of a condemnation of the abilities of the local architects. What projects, of great significance, are going on downtown right designed by local architects? The Medical Towers on Michigan Street are locally designed, but I certainly wouldn't call it anything special. URS did better on the Heart Center. The current iteration of Riverhouse is DTS Winkleman, but its not going to be as stunning as the JW. Progressive did DeVos Place, but I'm pretty sure the initial design was from out of towners. The new Courthouse was by HOK. The Arena was by some Detroiters. Sam Cummings went out of town for The Gallery. I'll give Design+ some credit for GVSU's campus (but not the washing machine on Michigan). Integrated gets some credit for the Y, but I think that building is rather bland.
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532640619_ed7d057d40_b.jpg

I think it looks pretty good. I like the height on Fulton. The only thing I am not sure about is the cantilevered part on the south side. I hate those things.. makes it look like the giant mass is going to topple over at any moment. Its hard to tell what will happen along the river, but from what I see, it looks ok. Definitely an improvement over what is there now. What is the material used along the river on the north side? Will that be transparent?

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