Stadium Drive Development

[joescia]

Today's Gazette had an article about the possibility of new development along stadium drive, within the city of Kalamazoo, that could potentially be an alternative to south Westnedge ave.

http://www.mlive.com/business/kzgazette/in....xml&coll=7

While I strongly disagree with suburban, strip mall style developments, I think since this is within the city of kalamazoo and so close to WMU, K-College, and the winchell neighborhood, it has amazing potential, and would be great for the city's tax base. I only hope that it can be done at least somewhat tastefully. It is also enroute to the WMU business tech. research park.

Any thoughts?

[tracer1138]

NO, NOT WAYSIDE!!!

I've been going since I was little when my aunt used to work there. I've had birthday parties there!!

I think it's a shame arterial commercial corridors can't be denser in Kalamazoo. Look at Stadium boulevard by Jackson road in Ann Arbor for comparison. Yes it's a suburban shopping corridor. Yes it's designed around the automobile, but at the same time, the setbacks are very limited as is parking. They recently renovated the strip adding historic lighting and more pedestrian crosswalks.

I really wish Kalamazoo would look at their zoning codes. Outside of downtown, there just doesn't seem to be much interest in promoting the urban framework. This is something I would expect from Portage.

Oh well, it is commercial development I suppose, and we shouldn't let the good be the enemy of the great.

[joescia]

Yes, I do agree with you, but the politics of suburban sprawl have stacked the odds so against kalamazoo and cities in general that they feel like they have to do this kind of junk developments just to survive. Now if the government would subsidize denser developments in the city like sprawl was/is subsidized that would be a different story...(and zoning is one way to do this, of course).

NO, NOT WAYSIDE!!!

I've been going since I was little when my aunt used to work there. I've had birthday parties there!!

I think it's a shame arterial commercial corridors can't be denser in Kalamazoo. Look at Stadium boulevard by Jackson road in Ann Arbor for comparison. Yes it's a suburban shopping corridor. Yes it's designed around the automobile, but at the same time, the setbacks are very limited as is parking. They recently renovated the strip adding historic lighting and more pedestrian crosswalks.

I really wish Kalamazoo would look at their zoning codes. Outside of downtown, there just doesn't seem to be much interest in promoting the urban framework. This is something I would expect from Portage.

Oh well, it is commercial development I suppose, and we shouldn't let the good be the enemy of the great.

[GR8scott]

hmm....so they are going to replace wayside along with adding retail and more apartments. If these apartments are geared towards students, this would be a bad idea, for the past 5 years wmu has been slowly loosing students while student-only apartment complexes open every year. notice all the "for rent" signs in houses directly accross from campus and inb the old "student ghetto". Things are really changing in kzoo and I think this would be a bad move at this time as there are jobs and people leaving and emty storefronts all over.

[bneidlinger]

hmm....so they are going to replace wayside along with adding retail and more apartments. If these apartments are geared towards students, this would be a bad idea, for the past 5 years wmu has been slowly loosing students while student-only apartment complexes open every year. notice all the "for rent" signs in houses directly accross from campus and inb the old "student ghetto". Things are really changing in kzoo and I think this would be a bad move at this time as there are jobs and people leaving and emty storefronts all over.

[egrguy]

I thought Wayside was just being rebuilt as a part of the entire project? Is it going away? Did I intrepret the article incorrectly?

[GR8scott]

I believe they are building a much smaller wayside (1/3) the size which would still make it a decent size place considereing its the largest bar in the state (so I heard), it would be in the strip mall in the back of the current parking lot as well as another bar/grill. I heard this from someone who works there.

[tracer1138]

That's still really disappointing. MOVE IT DOWNTOWN!

That would certainly make it more palatable.

[egrguy]

Wow, that's really disapointing that its getting reduced in size. It will not be even close to its former self in that scenario. I always thought they did pretty well; I guess Im just a little surprised to see a WMU/Kzoo icon lose some glory.

I've also heard it was Michigan's largest bar.

[tracer1138]

To me it's vaguely reminiscent of Bilbo's moving from that awesome location just off campus out next to the strip malls and auto-dealerships on Stadium Drive (basically across from Wayside, partially why I bring it up). For cities like Detroit that are struggling just a little more I can understand the "Development at any cost mentality" where you can't afford to let the great be the enemy of the good. But in Kalamazoo's case, their image problem isn't as bad as Detroit's. If anything, the problem with Kalamazoo's image is that it keeps approving stuff like this without thinking innovatively about vitality and walkability. They still have that oversize parking lot, massive 5 lane wide roadway mentality evidenced by the very development Wayside is moving into.

[tracer1138]

As far as I can tell, Wayside is merely the largest bar in Kalamazoo (possibly the biggest on the west side of the state according to some). I have to figure there's some massive bar out in the middle of nowhere that's some small town's claim to fame (i.e. Cabela's, Dundee).

Anyway, I'm going to write Wayside a heartfelt yet conciliatory e-mail on how I feel about the development and where I think they should focus their energies having been a loyal customer over the years.

Consider doing the same if you're motivated...

http://waysidewest.com/

[email protected] -- this email address appears to be malfunctioning, of course, why would they want you to get in touch with them.