Plante & Moran Building

[numstead]

Oh, I also thought I would mention that there will be no obligatory "the building is on the river (or just in Grand Rapids for that matter) so there has to be an arc, curve, or wave gesture in plan, section, or elevation". Thats not what we're about.

But I did explore the buildings relationship to the river in this sketch which I affectionately refer to as the "fish guts concept"...

[blindside]

Kinda like the giant handcuffs-shaped jail only much more hilarious.

[winjer]

Oh, I also thought I would mention that there will be no obligatory "the building is on the river (or just in Grand Rapids for that matter) so there has to be an arc, curve, or wave gesture in plan, section, or elevation". Thats not what we're about.

[GRDadof3]

Oh, I also thought I would mention that there will be no obligatory "the building is on the river (or just in Grand Rapids for that matter) so there has to be an arc, curve, or wave gesture in plan, section, or elevation". Thats not what we're about.

But I did explore the buildings relationship to the river in this sketch which I affectionately refer to as the "fish guts concept"...

[DwntwnGeo]

Some updates from Chris Knape:

"The Michigan Economic Development Corp.'s MEGA board this morning approved brownfield tax credits designed to spur development of a new $10.3 million riverfront office building and parking structure along Scribner north of the Fish Ladder and Int. 196."

"Plante & Moran spokeswoman Diane Baumann said she didn't think the firm had signed a lease yet. Christman's Joe Hooker said the deal is done and construction would start in two to three weeks."

"The glass and metal-clad building is designed by Beta Design. Among its features will be some badly needed improvements to the riverwalk in that area, which finally will make the section between the Sixth Street Bridge and the Fish Ladder more pleasant."

The complete story is on Chris's blog on mlive.com

** There is a rendering on his blog, but I couldn't upload it from work**

[numstead]

Here are the most recent renderings...

[sparky05]

But I did explore the buildings relationship to the river in this sketch which I affectionately refer to as the "fish guts concept"...

[numstead]

It only works for me if there's a fountain involved, spraying guts. I demand realism.

[GRDadof3]

Here are the most recent renderings...

[mpchicago]

I thought I had seen that building before Golscorer

I like it too, let's get to work.

[GR_Urbanist]

As much as I like this project, this whole thing with leveling the land across the street for a huge parking lot just sours me.

I mean, what exactly is the philosophy with this project and the Mercantile Bank building that tries to pretend that they are adding to the urban landscape but keep shoving in these large parking lots. Yes, in the end you get development activity in this area, but what's the point if it vast majority of the land just becomes a place to park used cars? It gets old really quick when this keeps happening.

Obviously the developers aren't too proud of them either as none of the renderings show an inch of parking lot.

This whole area is perfect for dense development, but the two largest projects here don't seem to share that vision. Was there just no creative solution here?

[andrew.w]

This whole area is perfect for dense development, but the two largest projects here don't seem to share that vision. Was there just no creative solution here?

[AlexPKeaton]

Is there anything on the ground floor facing the river besides parked cars?

[wolverine]

Very nice design!

[GRDadof3]

As much as I like this project, this whole thing with leveling the land across the street for a huge parking lot just sours me.

I mean, what exactly is the philosophy with this project and the Mercantile Bank building that tries to pretend that they are adding to the urban landscape but keep shoving in these large parking lots. Yes, in the end you get development activity in this area, but what's the point if it vast majority of the land just becomes a place to park used cars? It gets old really quick when this keeps happening.

Obviously the developers aren't too proud of them either as none of the renderings show an inch of parking lot.

This whole area is perfect for dense development, but the two largest projects here don't seem to share that vision. Was there just no creative solution here?

[numstead]

As much as I like this project, this whole thing with leveling the land across the street for a huge parking lot just sours me.

I mean, what exactly is the philosophy with this project and the Mercantile Bank building that tries to pretend that they are adding to the urban landscape but keep shoving in these large parking lots. Yes, in the end you get development activity in this area, but what's the point if it vast majority of the land just becomes a place to park used cars? It gets old really quick when this keeps happening.

Obviously the developers aren't too proud of them either as none of the renderings show an inch of parking lot.

This whole area is perfect for dense development, but the two largest projects here don't seem to share that vision. Was there just no creative solution here?

[DJL3CDP]

Nice design GS4! as you know, we have had some difficulty with the building on stilts concept before. Did you guys get any pushback from the tenants? Also, any thought to putting office/retail on 1 and parking on two like the design for the building you guys did for the Western American Mailers site? Would it fit?

DJL

[Allison Slater]

I think it's a fantastic looking building. It will add some much needed height infill to the area (No, it's not some 10 stories, but it's current height works very well).

I only wonder what the building will look like from the road, all renderings seem to be of the riverfront and south side.

[numstead]

Nice design GS4! as you know, we have had some difficulty with the building on stilts concept before. Did you guys get any pushback from the tenants? Also, any thought to putting office/retail on 1 and parking on two like the design for the building you guys did for the Western American Mailers site? Would it fit?

DJL

[AlexPKeaton]

I'm pretty sure retail would do just terrible in that location. I was curious if there was retail or anything fronting the river, but I knew it wasn't very likely. Maybe a bait shop would do well there? Overall the building does look nice and the design restrictions you had were pretty reasonable no matter how much we wish they weren't.

Is Plante & Moran (?) the only tenant of this building? I wonder if another floor could have been added on spec that a smaller tenant could fill. But, that's just me dreaming of more height.

[GR_Urbanist]

From the outset of the design phase two problems needed solutions...

1. all the parking displaced by the new construction had to be made up on the west side of Front for the Riverfront Center tenants (specifically the IRS... would you want to risk losing a government tenant from your building?) and X number of spaces for the new building had to be located on site so it could function/market/lease/sell independantly of the other piece of property

Not enough parking--> no project

2. The building needed to have a visible presence from both I-196 and US-131 so that Plante Moran's signage could be displayed prominently. They were sick of being in a building that has become known as "The Varnum Building"

No signage--> no tenant--> no project

- One common solution was to raise the building up on stilts above parking on grade and and on an elevated deck.

- Building tenants demand parking lots. Our team of designers lamented this fact early on and thought about how, in a perfect world, we could get some mass transit (busses/streetcars/etc) up to this area. We had to move on from that pipe dream so we could design a building and get paid.

- I can't speak to Mercantile Bank, but there is no specific neighborhood urban plan for the immediate west side of the river (unlike the plan on the other side for the Monroe North district) and we weren't charged by the developer do design anything of that nature. Our analysis of the site indicated that it was much more important for the building to address the river, respect and rebuild the riverwalk, and push the parking out towards the highway. I think this will really help tie the west bank of the river to whats going on in Monroe North.

- The design fits within the City of Grand Rapids' zoning ordinances and urban design standards. Suzanne and Landon over in the Planning Department were very helpful during Site Plan Approval. No variances were needed to my knowledge.

- There is a vegetated buffer between the riverwalk and the parking area. The lack of emphasis on the parking areas in the renderings is actually my bad. I didn't have any digital cars to put in the digital model. You will see cars in the parking lot if you walk past the building but I don't think you need to worry about seeing any eyesores (rusted out pickups with old refridgerators and washer-dryers in the back) in the lot of an accounting firm.

[michaelskis]

So in essence we have a whole constellation of people from the Cape to Cairo whom have no vision of a real urban environment and just want quick and easy with a side of parking lot?

I really wish I knew what these developers and tenants were drinking so we can make it illegal.

The sad thing is that this type of development will likely stretch all the way down the river, as developers will just find it easier to make one long parking lot from the Fish Ladder to Lenaord. Just show a picture of a nice riverfront and people will forget everything behind it.

I know I may seem a little picky, but I just see this as just another opportunity blown for something great rather than a glass half full approach

[Yankee Fan]

For some reason this building reminds me of the newly renovated Founders Trust building across from the new Art museum.

[GRDadof3]

It seems strange that the Plante & Moran spokesperson didn't know this was a go, yet the developer said ground-breaking in 2-3 weeks. Does anyone get a sneaky feeling that Plante & Moran is one of the mystery tenants that they are trying to get for 275 Fulton Place (in addition to certain bank downtown that currently resides in a gray building being painted black)?

Maybe not, but all these things happening simultaneously seem strange (when we haven't had this much movement downtown in a decade).

[Dutch]

It seems strange that the Plante & Moran spokesperson didn't know this was a go, yet the developer said ground-breaking in 2-3 weeks. Does anyone get a sneaky feeling that Plante & Moran is one of the mystery tenants that they are trying to get for 275 Fulton Place (in addition to certain bank downtown that currently resides in a gray building being painted black)?

Maybe not, but all these things happening simultaneously seem strange (when we haven't had this much movement downtown in a decade).