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137 Year Old Historic Saint Andrew's School Slated to be Demolished


GRDadof3

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You win MiGuyz. It's a fabulous area bursting with life. It's a model neighborhood for the Midwest. Moving on.

Was this really necessary? "...a fabulous area bursting with life." Maybe not now but the potential certainly is there and it's a good deal better than it was just a few short years ago. The Diocese and St. Mary's are both committed to continuing their investment in the neighborhood and with the planned ICCF development at Division and Wealthy, "...model neighborhood..." may not be too far off the mark. I'm content to wait and see, hoping that some of that bursting fabulousity actually happens.

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I visited my grandma at St. Mary's on Friday. In the cafeteria they have a newsy screen, ad kind of stuff. They had a render of the guest house in the building across from Lacks on Lafayette. It doesn't look very different from now, except a small, I think lobby, extension to the south. post-21357-0-71008700-1304141216_thumb.j

They also had some "Postcards of the Future" slides. It looks as though there is going to be a 2 story building on the south side of this new walkway. Also the parking lot on Jefferson is going to be removed and replaced with a beautiful park, complete with water feature and red scuplture. I'll get pictures tmw. I can't remember anything more.

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Was this really necessary? "...a fabulous area bursting with life." Maybe not now but the potential certainly is there and it's a good deal better than it was just a few short years ago. The Diocese and St. Mary's are both committed to continuing their investment in the neighborhood and with the planned ICCF development at Division and Wealthy, "...model neighborhood..." may not be too far off the mark. I'm content to wait and see, hoping that some of that bursting fabulousity actually happens.

Every canvas of surface parking lots has the "potential" to be a great neighborhood. I guess we'll all have to wait and see.

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Aye, until it actually does become a great neighbourhood, right now it's still just an ocean of parking lots which could just as easily be filled with empty promises or failed attempts at building nice neighbourhoods. Can't really say it'll be great until it's here. Now, if they had demolished these buildings immediately for what they say is to come, skipping the parking lot phase, the story could be different here. But I really don't think a good neighbourhood needs a "desolation" phase to come to fruition, and the ends doesn't always justify this desolation phase, either.

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Saying St marys is better than spectrum isnt saying much. As that's a pretty low standard to beat. Really though, when was the last time anyone has seen a hospital that was pedestrian friendly. inthink that is a mythical creation.

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Much thanks to St. Mary's, Mary Free Bed, and Advantage Health for this joint venture:

New Wealthy Street Farmer's Market Announces Opening Date (MLive)

I appreciate their demonstrated commitment to the area and hope the neighbors around take advantage.

...But the fact they have the ability to do this also demonstrates there's no shortage of open space around there. So why do we need to build a plaza again?

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so is this a brand new farmers market? why would they build this when there is one thats one mile away and another planned market 1 block away??

They're not building anything, they're just closing that parking lot one day a week and setting up market stands. It's just meant to be a neighborhood thing. Like that market on West Leonard a couple weeks ago, I think. At least that's my understanding.

So... As I said: This is an area in need of more open space?

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so is this a brand new farmers market? why would they build this when there is one thats one mile away and another planned market 1 block away??

I don't believe they are building anything. I think it will be trucks and tables in a parking lot like the Traverse City Farmer's Market (which is a great market, BTW) and many of the other smaller markets in the area (Grandville, Plainfield, Downtown YMCA, etc)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28904058@N05/3980967671/

more: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=traverse%20city%20farmer's%20market

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  • 3 months later...

I hate to bring up an old topic, but I was just down at the Cathedral and they have put in much of the "plaza" and landscaping where St. Andrew's school used to be. Unfortunately, the stone work (pavers, etc.) doesn't really match up with the Seccia plaza that was built several years ago. I'll reserve judgment until the project is finished, but it's got to have a pretty strong second half from what I saw.

Sorry for the lack of pictures.

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Ask and you shall receive (sometimes). This happened to be a good excuse to take a different route home from work.

Looking north up LaGrave

http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

6102009996_c7ff7dd601_b.jpg

For all you bldg materials snobs, a closeup of the pavers

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

6101462091_36e6974d34_b.jpg

Looking south

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

6101461915_633f673fb9_b.jpg

Looking west. The large concrete parking lot...err plaza is at grade with the sidewalk.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

6102009742_9d487e4d69_b.jpg

Closeup of the edge where some bricks will actually go.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

6101460585_f5bc66a04f_b.jpg

No skimping on the automatic watering system.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

6102008532_b7f53f81a5_b.jpg

I like this design. I think it looks better in the photos, than in real life, though. "Old" (Existing??) Secchia plaza (scroll up to previous post for photos) has small pavers and incorporates the large ones for the design. New plaza has super large pavers with the small pavers forming the design.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

6102008716_470b5befbe_b.jpg

Just for fun, I thought I'd see how the new plaza fit into the existing "urban" fabric. Plus, I had always been meaning to the top of the St. Mary's parking deck and check out the view.

I actually do like how the west end of the plaza fits with the existing space in front of the church. That's where they apparently spent all the money. It could make a nice gathering space after masses or after weddings. If it were surrounded by things other than empty lots, I could see brides and grooms wanting to take photos there. Guess they will just have to settle for the angle with the church in the background (only works well for morning or cloudy weddings) or crank up the bokeh.

It will be interesting to see how the space to the south is finished.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

6102008454_d63d02c715_b.jpg

Thank God for that one tree that looks more than 20 years old. The rain garden is nice as well.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

6102008330_653f01aa27_b.jpg

Here you can see part of the Heart of City Health Center (no mention of the occupied apts they tore down on that site, only "This building will be LEED certified and will clean up an existing brownfield site," but that's for another thread)

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

6102008158_97ebc93b05_b.jpg

While I was up there, I took a couple of shots of the new addition to the medical building on Cherry. This is looking to the NE.

http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

6102014326_d517a53685_b.jpg

Good to see these formerly occupied houses aren't just weed filled lots anymore.

http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

6101981850_ac27430297_b.jpg

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Ask and you shall receive (sometimes). This happened to be a good excuse to take a different route home from work.

Looking north up LaGrave

http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

For all you bldg materials snobs, a closeup of the pavers

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

Looking south

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

Looking west. The large concrete parking lot...err plaza is at grade with the sidewalk.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

Closeup of the edge where some bricks will actually go.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

No skimping on the automatic watering system.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

I like this design. I think it looks better in the photos, than in real life, though. "Old" (Existing??) Secchia plaza (scroll up to previous post for photos) has small pavers and incorporates the large ones for the design. New plaza has super large pavers with the small pavers forming the design.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

Just for fun, I thought I'd see how the new plaza fit into the existing "urban" fabric. Plus, I had always been meaning to the top of the St. Mary's parking deck and check out the view.

I actually do like how the west end of the plaza fits with the existing space in front of the church. That's where they apparently spent all the money. It could make a nice gathering space after masses or after weddings. If it were surrounded by things other than empty lots, I could see brides and grooms wanting to take photos there. Guess they will just have to settle for the angle with the church in the background (only works well for morning or cloudy weddings) or crank up the bokeh.

It will be interesting to see how the space to the south is finished.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

Thank God for that one tree that looks more than 20 years old. The rain garden is nice as well.

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

Here you can see part of the Heart of City Health Center (no mention of the occupied apts they tore down on that site, only "This building will be LEED certified and will clean up an existing brownfield site," but that's for another thread)

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

While I was up there, I took a couple of shots of the new addition to the medical building on Cherry. This is looking to the NE.

http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

Good to see these formerly occupied houses aren't just weed filled lots anymore.

http://www.flickr.co.../in/photostream

Probably assume that the tree won't survive whatever else gets planned for that section.

The plaza could be paved in gold, would it get used any more frequently?

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I actually do like how the west end of the plaza fits with the existing space in front of the church. That's where they apparently spent all the money. It could make a nice gathering space after masses or after weddings. If it were surrounded by things other than empty lots, I could see brides and grooms wanting to take photos there. Guess they will just have to settle for the angle with the church in the background (only works well for morning or cloudy weddings) or crank up the bokeh.

??? Wazzat mean?

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??? Wazzat mean?

http://googleitfor.me/?q=bokeh

What I mean is that the photographer will need to use a wide open aperture and/or telephoto lens to decrease the depth of field and make the background (in this case, parking lots and ugly buildings) appear so out of focus that it is not distinguishable as an ugly building.

400px-Thumbs_up_for_bokeh.JPG

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