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

[michaelskis]

I hope that they are able to make a blend of historic architecture with a modern flare. I think that what they have done with the BOB is beyond spectacular given the space before they bought it. I just hope that they don

[egrguy]

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.

That would be very exciting.

This is excellent news. I know its not that sexy of a brand but with little prsence DT I would think one of the several brands in the Holiday Inn umbrella may work.

[GRguy]

Under the Holiday Inn umbrella is Hotel Indigo. Interesting boutique properties...

[suydam]

I'd prefer something local. City Flats is cool, wants to go national, and definitely has a hipster-urban feel to it. If you haven't been yet, you should check it out.

[Sailor]

Under the Holiday Inn umbrella is Hotel Indigo. Interesting boutique properties...

I've stayed at a couple Hotel Indigos. Quite nice. Lots of blues and greens and whites, with wood-laminate (Pergo?) floors in the rooms. Very "modern summer beach." I liked it.

[cheshireguy]

If DeVos is correct in stating that the corner is the "Times Square" of GR, they need to make sure this property hits and hits hard. This lot is THE lot as far as GR making a statement, and in my opinion, they need to do this right. No cut-down scales, no budget - trimming, no penny-pinching. I hope that if this is really a go, that they take into consideration that hundreds of thousands of people (VanAndel Arena, DeVos Place, the hotels, etc.) will identify Grand Rapids with this section of the city.

Check out the hotel we stayed at last time we were in Montreal. a larger -scale version of the this would be great (kind of like City Flats) - www.opushotel.com

Edited March 14, 2008 by cheshireguy

[sparky05]

Now let's get something going in that lot on the southwest corner of fulton & Monroe...

[cheshireguy]

I agree - a 12-15 story building there with underground parking (at least one floor of parking) would be fantastic. A large office building with a few floors of loft condos and an Urban Outfitters on the first floor!!!

[GR8scott]

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

that would be awsome if it was a real HOB but that would be extremly unlikely, they are only in a handful of touristy markets. A hard rock would probably be more likely

[Floyd Z]

This is a really exciting project! I hope it all goes through as planned and they don't try to scale it down any. Will this be as tall as Bridgewater Place/JW? Finally a high-rise away from the river. The potential for the area is fantastic. I also hope that something will be done with the sw corner of Market and Fulton. Could this also be why Secchia was buying up land?

[cheshireguy]

No , at 20 stories (hopefully) it will fall just under the 23-floor JW and quite a bit further under Bridgewater Place (which will be 34 stories, around 400' once condo tower is finished).

[mgreven]

C'mon, where are the drawings and plans? I expect better of UP!

Just kidding, I know some of you are probably doing all you can to get the scoop...I'm very eager to see them, though. Hope something gets out there soon.

[metrogrkid]

Now let's get something going in that lot on the southwest corner of fulton & Monroe...

This is a really exciting project! I hope it all goes through as planned and they don't try to scale it down any. Will this be as tall as Bridgewater Place/JW? Finally a high-rise away from the river. The potential for the area is fantastic. I also hope that something will be done with the sw corner of Market and Fulton. Could this also be why Secchia was buying up land?

Every time someone says that I'm going to post the UP-GR/MBEI Metropolitan Center Concept: http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/FINAL-RE...lit-t11422.html

Ironically, though the Metro Center concept was re-tooled in 2005 by the hybrid UP-GR/MBEI Committee for the Planning of a World-Class Downtown (PWCD) to sit where The Gallery is being proposed now (at Division & Fulton), Metro Center actually germinated prior to that in 1998 as a concept from MBEI Intellectual Capital as a proposal for the very lot mentioned here - Amway Hotel Corporation's huge Market/Fulton surface parking lot with the skywalk juncture on it. Back then and likewise ironic, it was designed as a transit-oriented development by way of it having a street-level station for future light-rail. Fast-forward to 2008 and witness that lot being highly conducive for a station of the recently announced streerail corridor. Damn, if the city would listen to all of us here at UP-GR, downtown GR would be world-class already.

Edited March 14, 2008 by metrogrkid

[Quercus]

Wow, it would be great to see a project like this fill in those lots! Throw the UICA in there and suddenly looking down Fulton begins to feel very dense. And Tall House is still a go, right?

[GR Straight Edge]

I've actually been wondering about Tall House for quite some time now, same goes for 240 Ionia...

[highwayguy]

Article from Friday's GR Press:

B.O.B. owner still wants city land for expansion

Not much difference from the Thursday article, except:

The company that will operate the hotel has not been named, he said. Except for one he wants to live in himself, Gilmore said no condominiums have been reserved or sold.

Edited March 15, 2008 by highwayguy

[snoogit]

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

Sadly it's useless if you aren't using anything but Firefox or IE... (You can't use the Bird's eye view in Opera, and I think Safari is incompatible as well I haven't tested that.)

Although with IE8 I may have to put my current browser in hiatus.

[Sailor]

Sadly it's useless if you aren't using anything but Firefox or IE... (You can't use the Bird's eye view in Opera, and I think Safari is incompatible as well I haven't tested that.)

Although with IE8 I may have to put my current browser in hiatus.

I've got Safari and, yep, those links are useless in Safari.

Regarding those surface parking lots.... I know that lots of people who work in the Huntington Bank building have employer-provided parking spots in that lot, and, in some cases, those spots are written into employment contracts. How does that work then? Will those parking spots be shifted elsewhere?

[NorthCoast]

I've got Safari and, yep, those links are useless in Safari.

Regarding those surface parking lots.... I know that lots of people who work in the Huntington Bank building have employer-provided parking spots in that lot, and, in some cases, those spots are written into employment contracts. How does that work then? Will those parking spots be shifted elsewhere?

Perhaps into the new parking structure?

[GRDadof3]

Reporting from the City Commission meeting. No images or conceptual plans to show, but there were some additional pieces of information presented and discussed:

) The project conceptually would be structured:

Below grade - A 600 seat "flexible" theater space, with room in the theater complex for a total of 1500 people, banquets, weddings, corporate events, concerts, dinner theater, etc..

At grade - 2 floors of retail in a European style open air esplanade/piazza style, 1st floor retail, restaurants, wine bar, etc. 2nd floor would be hotel/condo related retail services and amenities

5 floors of parking above the retail, 200 - 250 space (a net of about 150 over the current surface lot)

200 hotel rooms above the parking

40 condos above the hotel

20 stories total

The small metered lot by 50 Monroe would most likely go and be replaced by a service entrance for 50 Monroe and the Gilmore complex

) Two commissioners (Lagrand and Jendrasiak) expressed strong reservations about the added burden on the parking system. Pam Ritsema pointed out that between 3 city-owned ramps in the immediate vicinity, there are 2000 parking spaces. Again, commissioners expressed concerns about simultaneous events at the VAA and the Gilmore complex and the lack of parking. Other commissioners pointed out that with 38 Commerce and 2 West Fulton, more parking would be available for arena events.

) Concerns were raised about the residential market. Greg Gilmore stated that he believes that the market of today will not be the market of 1 year from now, or 4 years from now.

) The city will not own any of the parking on this project. Privately owned and operated.

) Option was extended on the parking lot for an additional year unanimously. Greg Gilmore would have to close in March 09, and would have to build on the land within 3 years of March 09 or pay a penalty.

[DwntwnGeo]

Thanks for the updates

I hope things will come together on this project and they can proceed as planned.

[OneSweetWorld]

Two commissioners (Lagrand and Jendrasiak) expressed strong reservations about the added burden on the parking system. Pam Ritsema pointed out that between 3 city-owned ramps in the immediate vicinity, there are 2000 parking spaces. Again, commissioners expressed concerns about simultaneous events at the VAA and the Gilmore complex and the lack of parking. Other commissioners pointed out that with 38 Commerce and 2 West Fulton, more parking would be available for arena events.

Good lord, the city better not f$%& this up. I think Grand Rapids is a little too mature to be worrying about "simultaneous events" happening close to each other. And are we ever going to get away from our dependency on a large amount of parking spaces? The city should be doing everything it can to get this thing off the ground, not holding it back.

Edited March 18, 2008 by the_grand_raggidy

[Prankster]

) Two commissioners (Lagrand and Jendrasiak) expressed strong reservations about the added burden on the parking system. Pam Ritsema pointed out that between 3 city-owned ramps in the immediate vicinity, there are 2000 parking spaces. Again, commissioners expressed concerns about simultaneous events at the VAA and the Gilmore complex and the lack of parking. Other commissioners pointed out that with 38 Commerce and 2 West Fulton, more parking would be available for arena events.

With that line of thinking, they would be better served to adapt the suburban mall way of thinking - "Let's build a huge sea of parking, in anticipation of the crowds that we will get for the day after Thanksgiving. To heck with it being empty the other 364 days of the year." It's a surprise that this city has gotten as big as it is with the "podunk" reasoning that goes on with our elected officials. (end rant)

[GRDadof3]

With that line of thinking, they would be better served to adapt the suburban mall way of thinking - "Let's build a huge sea of parking, in anticipation of the crowds that we will get for the day after Thanksgiving. To heck with it being empty the other 364 days of the year." It's a surprise that this city has gotten as big as it is with the "podunk" reasoning that goes on with our elected officials. (end rant)

Yes, I wasn't quite sure what they were getting at. What would be a solution in their minds, if there really is a problem? Make the developer build in 500 parking spaces on 10 floors? Some people like to object just to hear themselves speak, I guess.

[OneSweetWorld]

With that line of thinking, they would be better served to adapt the suburban mall way of thinking - "Let's build a huge sea of parking, in anticipation of the crowds that we will get for the day after Thanksgiving. To heck with it being empty the other 364 days of the year." It's a surprise that this city has gotten as big as it is with the "podunk" reasoning that goes on with our elected officials. (end rant)

If you think our commissioners are bad, you should go to a City Commission meeting in Ann Arbor sometime- its like a gathering of NIMBYs to rally against all development. I've been pretty pleased with Grand Rapids' overall cooperation with developers in the last few years, but if they screw this one up I'm gonna be pissed. Gilmore better not end up having to scale this project back because debbie-downer J.J. doesn't want a jazz concert going on at the same time as an AHL game at Van Andel.