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Division / Wealthy and ICCF


MiGuyz

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I thought they were waiting on a grocer to sign on the deal before launching. Is that still the case?

No, they did the groundbreaking on the first residential portions a little bit ago.

I don't know why construction wouldn't have begun. It's possible they are waiting for some of the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant dollars to actually be funneled down?

It is true that they are still looking for a grocer or other retailer to anchor the portion at Wealthy and Division.

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When is this thing gonna get rolling?

I drive by every day looking for some activity but nothing.

Thought they were suppose to start soon.

This is one of the reasons I became disenchanted with Urban Planet a while ago, and left for almost a year. A bunch of people whining because development projects aren't going fast enough for them. I wonder how many of these people have ever put their entire life savings into a project before?

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I didn't take it as whining (certainly could've been the impetus for you hiatus before); just someone looking for an update.

Thanks fotoman for the update.

Lastly, I don't know how many people make a decision that could make/break their lives like sinking all of their money into a project. But I sure got to say, putting yourself out there, can be a "high" of sorts.

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  • 2 months later...
Have they broken ground yet? Does this mean things are getting underway?

Things are definitely getting underway. They recently cleared the site of trees, as shown here. http://griid.org/2011/09/28/the-environmental-cost-of-urban-development-in-one-grand-rapids-neighborhood/

I have mixed feelings about this. I know what a bother "weed" trees can be, but I do wish there was a way that some of the trees could have been preserved and complimented by newly planted trees. That whole area is so devoid of mature trees, as shown in the photos I posted of Cathedral Square 2 or 3 weeks ago. It's pretty sad and it impacts the desirability of the neighborhood.

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Things are definitely getting underway. They recently cleared the site of trees, as shown here. http://griid.org/2011/09/28/the-environmental-cost-of-urban-development-in-one-grand-rapids-neighborhood/ I have mixed feelings about this. I know what a bother "weed" trees can be, but I do wish there was a way that some of the trees could have been preserved and complimented by newly planted trees. That whole area is so devoid of mature trees, as shown in the photos I posted of Cathedral Square 2 or 3 weeks ago. It's pretty sad and it impacts the desirability of the neighborhood.

Yeah, I don't know what they were thinking. The whole block is not going to go up all at once, so why not selectively cut trees as you need to? And calling them ghetto trees? Because they weren't planted by man but grew on their own? For a Christian organization, it seems strange that they put more faith into trees planted by man than by God. Oye vey.

If they knew one thing about market rate real estate, they'd know that people COVET trees. Natural ones. In residential construction, you can't GIVE away lots with no trees.

I know, people will come on and say that we should quit complaining. It's jobs, it's development, yada yada I can do what I want without answering to anyone but I still need you to tell all your friends to buy condos here...

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Hey -- Quit your complaining. This is development, economic progress, and jobs. Those were scrub trees! :whistling:

I know, people will come on and say that we should quit complaining. It's jobs, it's development, yada yada I can do what I want without answering to anyone but I still need you to tell all your friends to buy condos here...
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Bah. I looked at this more closely. The guy whining and moaning has lived there for two decades surrounded by NOTHING for FOUR BLOCKS save a handful of houses now owed by ICCF and slated to be razed. He's had his own little world to himself for, I suspect, decades. Now, he's got to share with new development going in. Methinks he's somewhat like the country guy that likes to whine and gripe about the farmland become subdivision in his backyard. I checked out the trees too, courtesy of Google and Bing Maps. Nothing to lose any sleep over. What do people think is going to get built in the City on a relatively tiny lot? Some kind of rural-chic bric-a-brac built scrupulously built around a forlorn oak tree (which will eventually die leaving a creepy hole in the middle of the whole mess)? Come on. There are not enough trees there to selectively save any of them. Besides, the trees will make nice mulch, and in 30 years, more will grow. Like it or not, buildings last a whole lot longer than trees unless something goes haywire.

Things are definitely getting underway. They recently cleared the site of trees, as shown here. http://griid.org/2011/09/28/the-environmental-cost-of-urban-development-in-one-grand-rapids-neighborhood/ I have mixed feelings about this. I know what a bother "weed" trees can be, but I do wish there was a way that some of the trees could have been preserved and complimented by newly planted trees. That whole area is so devoid of mature trees, as shown in the photos I posted of Cathedral Square 2 or 3 weeks ago. It's pretty sad and it impacts the desirability of the neighborhood.
Edited by x99
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Bah. I looked at this more closely. The guy whining and moaning has lived there for two decades surrounded by NOTHING for FOUR BLOCKS save a handful of houses now owed by ICCF and slated to be razed. He's had his own little world to himself for, I suspect, decades. Now, he's got to share with new development going in. Methinks he's somewhat like the country guy that likes to whine and gripe about the farmland become subdivision in his backyard. I checked out the trees too, courtesy of Google and Bing Maps. Nothing to lose any sleep over. What do people think is going to get built in the City on a relatively tiny lot? Some kind of rural-chic bric-a-brac built scrupulously built around a forlorn oak tree (which will eventually die leaving a creepy hole in the middle of the whole mess)? Come on. There are not enough trees there to selectively save any of them. Besides, the trees will make nice mulch, and in 30 years, more will grow. Like it or not, buildings last a whole lot longer than trees unless something goes haywire.

Tiny lot? It's almost a city block. But I'm glad you checked out the trees via satellite images... Were you able to ascertain their age and health that way?

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

What neighborhood? I jest, of course. Hopefully, this will actually result in the creation of a decent neighborhood in that area. The buildings that ICCF has designed for the place look downright respectable on the plans. I happened to drive by some of the other ICCF buildings around the new Kent County complex on Franklin, and I was downright impressed. Barring the lack of ornamentation, at first glance, you would be hard pressed to tell this stuff hadn't been there since the neighborhood began. Whoever designs this stuff for ICCF does a fine job. Toss in a few crown moldings on the exterior, lose the vinyl windows (or recess them into the openings) and they would have it nailed. Very nice job.

Drove past this development last night. It looks like a pretty big footprint of buildings being built on Wealthy. First floor is up. This development is definitely going to change the look of the neighborhood!

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  • 3 weeks later...
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I snapped a few photos of this project yesterday. For reference, the photos are of the two buildings fronting Wealthy in the center of this rendering from Seth Harry & Associates:

grand%20rapids_5.jpg

I believe this is an additional rendering of the buildings I photographed:

grand%20rapids_1.jpg

Looking south across Wealthy from the Diocese parking ramp:

6669092797_ef6f7ba95b_z.jpg

Corner of Sheldon and Wealthy:

6669094643_202a221cc9_z.jpg

View from Sheldon:

6669096819_f4bba38dd9_z.jpg

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I snapped a few photos of this project yesterday. For reference, the photos are of the two buildings fronting Wealthy in the center of this rendering from Seth Harry & Associates:

grand%20rapids_5.jpg

Is the building cut off in the lower left corner (SE corner of Wealthy and La Grave) part of this development as well, or just some speculative rendering filler?

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its going to look good. Whats it going to be?

Unfortunately, the site plans included in the city brownfield minutes (pdf) are missing some labels, but it looks like the two buildings under construction will have ground floor retail and 2nd and 3rd floor apartments. GRDadof3 posted the site plans on the first page of this thread.

Is the building cut off in the lower left corner (SE corner of Wealthy and La Grave) part of this development as well, or just some speculative rendering filler?

That block is not included in the ICCF development and the parcel is currently vacant, so it must be a sneaky speculative rendering.

In checking out their website, Seth Harry and Associates has some really nice projects, this being one of them! I really hope they can complete the master plan. With the Urban Market just a block or two away, seems like good synergy.

They've put together a great site plan, but does anyone else feel there is too much surface parking? If I've counted correctly, the plans call for 417 surface parking spaces. Considering the site's proximity to the city center, the inclusion of a BRT station, and the availability of 2+ blocks worth of on-street parking, it seems like surface parking would be a lower priority. To add insult to injury, many of the homes and mature trees that were removed from the site occupied spaces that will be used for surface parking.

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They've put together a great site plan, but does anyone else feel there is too much surface parking? If I've counted correctly, the plans call for 417 surface parking spaces. Considering the site's proximity to the city center, the inclusion of a BRT station, and the availability of 2+ blocks worth of on-street parking, it seems like surface parking would be a lower priority. To add insult to injury, many of the homes and mature trees that were removed from the site occupied spaces that will be used for surface parking.

The great thing about the ICCF is that they actually understand that if you have to have parking, hide it well.

The DA Blodgett building has lots of parking, but you would never know because it is completely invisible from the street.

They look like they understand it here as well.

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The great thing about the ICCF is that they actually understand that if you have to have parking, hide it well.

The DA Blodgett building has lots of parking, but you would never know because it is completely invisible from the street.

They look like they understand it here as well.

The problem I have is that it doesnt create any real density just percieved density. If arent any people who cares if the parking is hidden...

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