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Fulton & Division/JA Site Mixed-Use Development Idea


GRDadof3

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I said this in the other thread but I think the Monroe Center bookend on Fulton should feature some sort of iconic marquee. Times Square on Grand Rapids scale for lack of a better comparison. Something that can be clearly seen with bright lights from the other end of Monroe Center which will draw people to walk up Monroe Center (and hopefully stop at some other shops/restaurants/cafes/bars along the way).

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I'd like to see the drug store everyones been wanting, a bike shop because biking has gotten much more popular here over the last few years and every decent city has a bike shop, and more apartments for the working class. I can understand that its to prominent a corner for a drug store and perhaps theres to much traffic at that corner for a busy parking lot but we need one somewhere. I also heard the building should be saved because of its art deco style but if you ask me, its only that corner of the building that has any type of art deco to it.

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I said this in the other thread but I think the Monroe Center bookend on Fulton should feature some sort of iconic marquee. Times Square on Grand Rapids scale for lack of a better comparison. Something that can be clearly seen with bright lights from the other end of Monroe Center which will draw people to walk up Monroe Center (and hopefully stop at some other shops/restaurants/cafes/bars along the way).
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This one is my favorite so far but I think it could probably still even use some more glitz and glamour...I mean I think it should be bright! Construct a 50 foot tall vertical marquee flanked by a Coca-Cola ad and the Nordstroms logo and we're in business.
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I kind of agree here. I can't see anything more than six or seven stories going in on that corner (if that). Id love to see a bookend building but the line of sight up Monroe Center doesn't fall on that corner, it goes up to Sheldon and Fulton. Any building seen from Monroe Center and Pearl has to rise over the police station and account for the additional elevation. I retract my previous about the drug store, i just really needed one today and thought about it as I passed that intersection. On a second thought, that corner is where the "avant garde", "entertainment" and "arts" corridors come together so a development should bring all of those together. Perhaps a modern/trendy six or seven story apartment building with a pool hall or venue, maybe a mid-size restaurant (I have wanted a panera bread downtown), some type of meeting place anyway.
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I kind of agree here. I can't see anything more than six or seven stories going in on that corner (if that). Id love to see a bookend building but the line of sight up Monroe Center doesn't fall on that corner, it goes up to Sheldon and Fulton. Any building seen from Monroe Center and Pearl has to rise over the police station and account for the additional elevation. I retract my previous about the drug store, i just really needed one today and thought about it as I passed that intersection. On a second thought, that corner is where the "avant garde", "entertainment" and "arts" corridors come together so a development should bring all of those together. Perhaps a modern/trendy six or seven story apartment building with a pool hall or venue, maybe a mid-size restaurant (I have wanted a panera bread downtown), some type of meeting place anyway.
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Definitely keep the highest portion at the corner of Division and Fulton. That's probably the one thing I don't like about the current proposal the vacant lot there is that the tower is on the wrong side of the development. Also we need at least one decent tower as part of this project. Sure, most of it can be 3-6 floors, but the tower at the intersection should be at least 15 floors, but preferably 40. :)

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The pictured Tamias6 rendering and concept are spot-on and I must vigorously support the skywalk connections over to VanAndel Arena (and thus the rest of the system)for this reason: pedestrians will take advantage of whatever options are presented to them for reaching their intended destination. GR's traditional and flawed thinking that skywalks will hamper all at-grade foot traffic alternatives is unwarranted and just residue of our past worship of non-world-classness. In summer, pedestrians at Rosa Parks Circle/Pearl/Monroe will see a development like that of Tamias6 up at Metro Center and decide to walk outside to it. In our ULTRA winter or when it is otherwise incliment outside, pedestrians will gratefully and enthusiastically take the skywalk system to the same destination. They really can think for themselves and choose whatever option fits their fancy at that moment.

Provide all the ingress/egress options possible to a project to ensure the minimizing of excuses to not go to it. Minneapolitans can underscore and attest to this further.

With that said, Tamias6, please get with Rizzo and myself on this. Your head is definitely on correctly and I'd like to help flesh-out this concept.

-Metrogrkid

post-1658-1193777516_thumb.jpg

post-1658-1193777516_thumb.jpg

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Actually the UICA is supposed to move over to the vacant corner along with the construction of a seven story apartment building at fulton and commerce. Last I read in the paper, the city granted another six month extension on the option to buy the land. If it works out, it would be a huge publicity boost for the UICA. They show the foreign and independant films, they just need a lot more people to be aware of them. I went there to see the documentary on Frank Gehry and my gf and I were the only ones there.

Anyway, having a mainstream and an independant theatre next to each other would be pretty interesting. I haven't heard anything about the movie theater going in at the dash 4/5 lots in a while. Does anyone know if that plan has fizzled for now or is it still being taken seriously?

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