Venue Tower at the BOB - 20 Monroe Live - House of Blues/Live Nation Venue

[Sailor]

"A bigger B.O.B.? Greg Gilmore plans tower with condos, hotel, theater"

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/a_bi...e_planning.html

Edited March 13, 2008 by Sailor

[houseofdon]

From today's Press. http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/a_bi...e_planning.html

Gilmore said today he wants to buy the city-owned parking lots next to his entertainment complex so he can build a "House of Blues-type" performance venue, a 200-room boutique hotel, 40 condominiums, a 250-space parking ramp and two ground-level "piazzas" that could include "everything from a piano bar to an art gallery."

The performance venue would be built below the piazzas while the parking garage, hotel and condominiums would be located in a 20-story tower, Gilmore said.

Definitely would be awesome, but is it worth getting excited about yet?

[GR Pyro]

Sweet.... start digging !

[dbrok]

"A bigger B.O.B.? Greg Gilmore plans tower with condos, hotel, theater"

http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/a_bi...e_planning.html

I think he talked about doing this 2 or 3 years ago. My impression was that the Gilmore Collection couldn't come up with financing for the project at that time because they stretched themselves too thin building Blue Water Grill and remodeling Mangiamo! plus opening Red Ball. How much of that is true though, I'm not sure.

Hopefully it'll come together this time.

[GRDadof3]

I merged the topics together. Hope the title is OK.

Also dbrok, I think Gilmore's plans were put on hold because the owners of 50 Monroe were going to buy the lot in question. Apparently that's not going to happen now. I told you guys all the big news would come out of the Parking Commission this year.

For anyone who wasn't on here in 2005, here's the original discussion:

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/Owner-en...lmore&st=15

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/Theatre-...&hl=hob+bob

[fotoman311]

I think he talked about doing this 2 or 3 years ago. My impression was that the Gilmore Collection couldn't come up with financing for the project at that time because they stretched themselves too thin building Blue Water Grill and remodeling Mangiamo! plus opening Red Ball. How much of that is true though, I'm not sure.

Hopefully it'll come together this time.

I think a 20 story infill project right there would be pretty darn awesome. It's right across from the arena and less than 2 blocks from lots of great restaurants and bars and GRAM.

Here's the obligatory aerial shot. Anybody else find themselves typing maps.live.com instead of maps.google.com more and more often?

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&...4&encType=1

200 more rooms right there would definitely help get us closer to what we'd need to host an NCAA regional in three to five years.

Edited March 13, 2008 by fotoman311

[twoshort]

Here's the obligatory aerial shot. Anybody else find themselves typing maps.live.com instead of maps.google.com more and more often?

maps.yahoo.com - good for determining townships

maps.google.com - good for judging distance from address to specific businesses

maps.live.com - good for getting a look at the property up close

accesskent - good for figuring out which building you should be looking at in maps.live.com

[GRDadof3]

Just got an email from the Business Journal about the story. Apparently the performance venue will be underground?

[AlexPKeaton]

Nope, it's not April 1.

[GRDadof3]

More from the Business Journal:

) Gregory Gilmore, Gilmore Collection CEO, said the project would have a 35,000-square-foot footprint and would feature a below-ground theater

[WOT]

maps.yahoo.com - good for determining townships

maps.google.com - good for judging distance from address to specific businesses

maps.live.com - good for getting a look at the property up close

accesskent - good for figuring out which building you should be looking at in maps.live.com

Can anyone tell me the best way to get online map / outline of property boundry lines from above?

[GRDadof3]

Can anyone tell me the best way to get online map / outline of property boundry lines from above?

www.gvmc-regis.org

I'm interested the most in how these "piazzas" will be laid out. 35,000 square foot footprint takes up the entire parking lot. So it sounds like: underground theater, 2 story piazza section, parking ramp (3 - 4 floors), 6 story hotel and then condos on top.

[twoshort]

www.gvmc-regis.org

I actually find https://www.accesskent.com/Property/ to be much more friendly. Type in the address and when at the parcel description click the Get Map. It's Firefox friendly and it has been updated to allow you to zoom in, out, identify, etc. No longer is it the static satellite picture it used to be.

[numstead]

I'm very curious about what they mean by "piazza".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza

[AlexPKeaton]

Could Campau be (re-)extended to Ottawa?

[GRDadof3]

Could Campau be (re-)extended to Ottawa?

Maybe, with a "piazza" facing 50 Monroe, and then maybe another facing Fulton Street/Van Andel Arena (?). Maybe by "piazza", they mean like an alley "promenade".

http://www.jackfrench.ie/budapest/corvin%2...omenade%206.jpg

I'm trying to find some images of the project.

[suydam]

The hotel should be a "City Flats Hotel"

Grand Rapids needs one of those. Holland has the coolest hotel in West Michigan right now.

[Allison Slater]

This may explain why they repainted 2 walls of the B.O.B., but not the other two.

[metrogrkid]

The hotel should be a "City Flats Hotel"

Grand Rapids needs one of those. Holland has the coolest hotel in West Michigan right now.

The MOST SWEET option for a boutique hotel would be none other than a hip W HOTEL http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/prop...ropertyID=97509 (and nearly adjacent to a JW at that!)!

The rest of Michigan is gonna really start hating us.

Edited March 13, 2008 by metrogrkid

[GRDadof3]

Nothing yet.

Maybe this development will be like Epicentre in Charlotte, on a smaller scale. I guess you could call the different plazas in it "piazzas".

[NorthCoast]

I'm usually pretty hesitant about architecture but if the project ended up looking something like that I would be pretty pleased. It is very modern and I think would serve as a nice contrast to the old-school brick BOB. I'm also excited about the lighting, Fulton Street sure would start to look pretty glitzy.

Nothing yet.

Maybe this development will be like Epicentre in Charlotte, on a smaller scale. I guess you could call the different plazas in it "piazzas".

[GRdutch]

Does anyone know if they want to bring in a House of Blues or did they mean something "like" House of Blues?

[NorthCoast]

Does anyone know if they want to bring in a House of Blues or did they mean something "like" House of Blues?

From one of GRDad's earlier post...

"More from the Business Journal:

) Gregory Gilmore, Gilmore Collection CEO, said the project would have a 35,000-square-foot footprint and would feature a below-ground theater

[GRDadof3]

Does anyone know if they want to bring in a House of Blues or did they mean something "like" House of Blues?

The article says "like" the House of Blues.

I found out that Greg Gilmore doesn't want to shell out any money for renderings until he locks up the land. Guess we'll have to wait. I might try to make next Tuesday's City Commission meeting and see what he presents (site plan, conceptuals, etc.). He's already spent $200,000, so he must have something in mind.

[joeDowntown]

Maybe this is part of what Rich DeVos meant when he said Fulton & Monroe is the Time Square of Grand Rapids.

Fantastic news. I would love to see an actual House of Blues / HOB Hotel. A W would be nice too (as Metrogrkid mentioned) but W's are usually a little bigger. The W does have the new concept "A Loft" (www.alofthotels.com which might fit.

The possibilities are exciting!

Joe