Hey, what's that (and other miscellanea)?

[RegalTDP]

4 hours ago, wingbert said:

Love the story about Citizens Telephone.  Very interesting.

I still want to know if any has an answer to the question above about that lighthouse looking monument 

It's a save point. You can heal your party and save your progress for later. You don't see them much anymore - ever since the PS3 era most video games use an auto-save feature. 

[GR_Urbanist]

So what exactly is the story of this now neglected fountain at Roosevelt Park? I dont have any info of when it was designed, or whom was the designer.  Honestly I  dont think I've seen it fuctional since the late 80s.

Sad to see something that was pretty iconic locally just crumble.

[ironyisadeadscene]

I believe a tower crane is going up near the hospital?

I dont THINK thats from the project already underway? The GVSU project?

 

Edited July 10, 2020 by ironyisadeadscene

[Chester Cheeto]

49 minutes ago, ironyisadeadscene said:

I believe a tower crane is going up near the hospital?

I dont THINK thats from the project already underway? The GVSU project?

 

Could be for the parking garage cover if the crane is south of Michigan.

[ironyisadeadscene]

3 hours ago, NoDustBusterNoMore said:

Could be for the parking garage cover if the crane is south of Michigan.

It is exactly in that location. All that for a cover? No air space?

[grandrollerz]

On 7/10/2020 at 6:06 PM, ironyisadeadscene said:

It is exactly in that location. All that for a cover? No air space?

"As our services and patient population continue to grow, so must our downtown parking capacity. Parking for our patients, visitors and team members continues to be a priority at the Spectrum Health Medical Center. An effective parking strategy contributes to a positive overall patient experience and higher job satisfaction from our team members. To that end, a four-level expansion to Parking Ramp 6 on Barclay Avenue NE  near the Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital emergency department will begin this week. Beginning July 9, Barclay Avenue NE will be closed between Crescent Street NE and Lyon Street NE to allow for the use of a tower crane, which will last until July 17.  The Butterworth Hospital emergency department entrance will remain open and available as traffic will be able to turn onto Barclay Avenue NE from Michigan Street NE. "

Four levels and a roof.

[ironyisadeadscene]

2 hours ago, grandrollerz said:

"As our services and patient population continue to grow, so must our downtown parking capacity. Parking for our patients, visitors and team members continues to be a priority at the Spectrum Health Medical Center. An effective parking strategy contributes to a positive overall patient experience and higher job satisfaction from our team members. To that end, a four-level expansion to Parking Ramp 6 on Barclay Avenue NE  near the Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital emergency department will begin this week. Beginning July 9, Barclay Avenue NE will be closed between Crescent Street NE and Lyon Street NE to allow for the use of a tower crane, which will last until July 17.  The Butterworth Hospital emergency department entrance will remain open and available as traffic will be able to turn onto Barclay Avenue NE from Michigan Street NE. "

Four levels and a roof.

Kinda wish they would have added usable space above, but whatever. That is a big upgrade to the ramp 

[GRDadof3]

I saw that crane. It was a pleasant surprise. 

[Guest]

Anyone know whats being built near the SW corner of Fulton and Straight?  Looks like some type of foundation work?  

Also, while we're on the subject.... what ever happened to those smaller projects a block or two east on the north side of Fulton?

[Cookin_peacocks]

So I saw this today: wood going up on windows on the Riverfront building. What's up?

 

 

[GRyan]

12 hours ago, Cookin_peacocks said:

So I saw this today: wood going up on windows on the Riverfront building. What's up?

 

 

Could be for anticipation of post election day violence unfortunately.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/29/businesses-boarding-up-anticipation-post-election-violence/6069157002/

[Cookin_peacocks]

What's this project I stumbled on?

 

Sheldon and Cherry I think? Did I miss somethin

 

 

[Pattmost20]

5 minutes ago, Cookin_peacocks said:

What's this project I stumbled on?

 

Sheldon and Cherry I think? Did I miss somethin

 

 

I believe this is it.

[ChevalierNoir]

Question for any road nerds out there. I've been seeing this device pop up at intersections around town and am curious what it's used for. Any ideas?

 

[Cookin_peacocks]

8 hours ago, ChevalierNoir said:

Question for any road nerds out there. I've been seeing this device pop up at intersections around town and am curious what it's used for. Any ideas?

 

I posted this about a year again and never got it answered!

[Avocado]

These are traffic cameras. I'm not sure if it's this exact model, but here is a similar one:

https://gridsmart.com/products/the-bell-camera/

[grandrollerz]

On 7/16/2020 at 10:18 AM, grandrollerz said:

"As our services and patient population continue to grow, so must our downtown parking capacity. Parking for our patients, visitors and team members continues to be a priority at the Spectrum Health Medical Center. An effective parking strategy contributes to a positive overall patient experience and higher job satisfaction from our team members. To that end, a four-level expansion to Parking Ramp 6 on Barclay Avenue NE  near the Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital emergency department will begin this week. Beginning July 9, Barclay Avenue NE will be closed between Crescent Street NE and Lyon Street NE to allow for the use of a tower crane, which will last until July 17.  The Butterworth Hospital emergency department entrance will remain open and available as traffic will be able to turn onto Barclay Avenue NE from Michigan Street NE. "

Four levels and a roof.

Nothing too exciting but the ramp is making progress. They installed elevators last week so must be close to getting done/ready to top it off.

[Guest]

On 2/1/2021 at 2:00 PM, grandrollerz said:

Nothing too exciting but the ramp is making progress. They installed elevators last week so must be close to getting done/ready to top it off.

I was thinking the other day how this seems like a missed oppurtunity to add some awesome housing to the area.  The views from the top of this are probably going to be amazing.  

[joeDowntown]

Figured this was as good a place to ask a question as any.

I used to go to GR Public Library and look up specific addresses to get property cards (usually real estate listings). With the pandemic, the GRPL is pretty locked down. Does anyone know if there's a resource out there for looking up photos of Grand Rapids property online? There's a particular property that I want to see what it looked like originally. It used to be as easy as taking a quick trip to the main library branch. Hoping there's a resource online to do the same (I looked all over the library site). 

Joe

[Pattmost20]

11 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

Figured this was as good a place to ask a question as any.

I used to go to GR Public Library and look up specific addresses to get property cards (usually real estate listings). With the pandemic, the GRPL is pretty locked down. Does anyone know if there's a resource out there for looking up photos of Grand Rapids property online? There's a particular property that I want to see what it looked like originally. It used to be as easy as taking a quick trip to the main library branch. Hoping there's a resource online to do the same (I looked all over the library site). 

Joe

How old of photos are you looking for? BS&A has property photos, but they don't go back super far. Sometimes older listing photos will still be up online as well.

[joeDowntown]

7 minutes ago, Pattmost20 said:

How old of photos are you looking for? BS&A has property photos, but they don't go back super far. Sometimes older listing photos will still be up online as well.

This would be 1910-1930s. I'd like to see what a commercial property (for sale) looked like before it had been altered many times over the years. 

Joe

[Pattmost20]

1 hour ago, joeDowntown said:

This would be 1910-1930s. I'd like to see what a commercial property (for sale) looked like before it had been altered many times over the years. 

Joe

Unfortunately I don't have any resources to look it up online.

 

You could try emailing the GR City Archives Officer. He was able to get me photos of my house from 1936: 

 

[email protected]

 

Tony Wright

City Archives Officer

The City of Grand Rapids, Michigan

Community Archives and Research Center

223 Washington, S.E.

Grand Rapids, MI 49503

(P) 616-456-3114

(F) 616-456-4411

Edited May 10, 2021 by Pattmost20

[Tim G]

Email [email protected] with the address and we'll scan the real estate cards for you. We have been doing this ever since the Covid shutdown and are happy to do it for anyone who requests it. 

[grandrollerz]

Props to the writer of the article for doing their homework. I heard many of these same rumors as a kid growing up on the North End.  Going to need a lot of work to bring it up to date.

 

Iconic Grand Rapids Home for Sale (mix957gr.com)

[walker]

On 5/14/2021 at 10:30 AM, grandrollerz said:

Props to the writer of the article for doing their homework. I heard many of these same rumors as a kid growing up on the North End.  Going to need a lot of work to bring it up to date.

 

Iconic Grand Rapids Home for Sale (mix957gr.com)

I grew up in the neighborhood just across Plainfield from this house.  I don’t know about the bootlegger part but the rest of the story matches what my father told me.  A&P and Reliable Cartage Co. were still pretty big around here in the fifties.  This is hard to believe so I could be remembering this wrong but it seems to me my father told me it cost $35,000 to build.  Of course, this would have been built right at the tail end of the great depression when I imagine building costs were very depressed. 

My sister’s best friend when she was a teenager lived directly across Plainfield from this house.  Her friend’s house was nice but it was not nearly in the same class as this mansion.  I can remember the two of them taking photos to send their pen pals in Europe and trying to impress them as being better off than they were by carefully framing the photos so that the mansion would show up on the background. 
 

Edit: looking at the photos in the listing just now (not the ones in the initial link,) it looks like there may be some serious water damage in the ceiling and thus perhaps in the attic and roof.  This isn't a property where you want to skip the inspection.

2615-Plainfield-Ave-NE listing photos

page to the twenty-seventh photo.

Edited May 17, 2021 by walker