Studio Park - $140 Million Celebration Cinema/mixed use project

[joeDowntown]

Anyone have details on the results of the DDA meeting this morning. Do we get to fire up the crane-porn photos soon?

Joe

[arcturus]

21 minutes ago, grandrollerz said:

Definitely would prefer Reddit since I'm not on FB.  I've been contemplating alternatives for one of the groups I miss that lives on FB and a Telegram  channel would work for that, but something like UP might be better with Groups.io - https://groups.io/   Remember threaded email conversations from eGroups/Yahoo Groups?! I guess it's sorta like that.

Much love to @Neo then for keeping this alive!! 

Second this as I'm not on FB either though my first choice is Telegram over Reddit because there's less chance of troll attraction and brigading. 

Interesting how this forum has morphed from a site that (still) passes on news to one where we're quoted more frequently as a news source.

[cstonesparty]

2 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Anyone have details on the results of the DDA meeting this morning. Do we get to fire up the crane-porn photos soon?

Joe

https://www.woodtv.com/news/grand-rapids/studio-park-housing-tower-in-grand-rapids-gets-dda-ok/

[Chester Cheeto]

That's exciting!

Now if the racing games I've played over the years are accurate, there should be a ramp installed somewhere on 131 that'll jump me into the parking garage for a major shortcut.

[MJLO]

I love the location of this tower.  It'll add more depth to the skyline from the west.

[Cookin_peacocks]

20 minutes ago, MJLO said:

I love the location of this tower.  It'll add more depth to the skyline from the west.

I agree, I'd just like to see more height in the core of downtown.

 

Like here

 

 

 

 

[joeDowntown]

From the DDA's Board Meeting Outcomes document:

Quote

 

The Board authorized an agreement to support the development of the new 16-story residential tower on top of the existing parking structure at Studio Park.

The base floor of the tower will include a pool, terrace, fitness and community room. The next 11 floors will contain a total of 165 new residential apartments. The remaining four floors will contain a total of 24 residential condominiums.

The project is estimated to cost approximately $52 million. The DDA approved development support not to exceed $600,000 over a period of no longer than 10 years. The DDA funding specifically supports the construction of the elevator needed for the new tower as well as a fire suppression system to meet building code requirements.

Construction of the project is expected to begin by summer 2022.

 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, Cookin_peacocks said:

I agree, I'd just like to see more height in the core of downtown.

 

Like here

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I was at the Chamber the other day (in the Calder Plaza building) and walked by that parking lot by 5/3 Bank building. What a waste of prime real estate right in the core. That site is made for a 30 - 40 story tower. 500 footer!

[Matchetes]

19 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

Yeah, I was at the Chamber the other day (in the Calder Plaza building) and walked by that parking lot by 5/3 Bank building. What a waste of prime real estate right in the core. That site is made for a 30 - 40 story tower. 500 footer!

Any chance something could be built there in the future? Is there some major structural problem in the way?

[GRDadof3]

36 minutes ago, Matchetes said:

Any chance something could be built there in the future? Is there some major structural problem in the way?

Absolutely, I don't see why not. It already has underground parking and a few more parking floors could be added. I believe the entire Vandenberg Plaza (the area around the Calder) was meant to be completely filled in with government and private sector office buildings.  A new building, particularly a tall one, might need a lot of structural support columns added. But it's not like there's gypsum mines under it. 

The footprint is massive, about 62,000 square feet. You could frankly get two towers on the site, easily. 

This has been talked about in other threads though, should probably get back on topic of Studio Park. 

[Guest]

Is this an old mockup?  What are the other buildings on the site?  I was actually wondering if the parking garage was designed to support additional structures.  It would make sense, even if it was a long way down the road.

[Cookin_peacocks]

2 hours ago, GRDadof3 said:

Yeah, I was at the Chamber the other day (in the Calder Plaza building) and walked by that parking lot by 5/3 Bank building. What a waste of prime real estate right in the core. That site is made for a 30 - 40 story tower. 500 footer!

If I win the lottery, I'm gonna build a tower. That's gonna be my contribution.

1 hour ago, Floyd_Z said:

Is this an old mockup?  What are the other buildings on the site?  I was actually wondering if the parking garage was designed to support additional structures.  It would make sense, even if it was a long way down the road.

Gotta be old. Look at arena place.

[cstonesparty]

4 hours ago, Floyd_Z said:

Is this an old mockup?  What are the other buildings on the site?  I was actually wondering if the parking garage was designed to support additional structures.  It would make sense, even if it was a long way down the road.

From this:  https://s3.amazonaws.com/downtowngr.org/general/Arena-South-Visioning-Plan-2013.pdf

[GRDadof3]

10 hours ago, cstonesparty said:

From this:  https://s3.amazonaws.com/downtowngr.org/general/Arena-South-Visioning-Plan-2013.pdf

Wow, throwback. I was a part of those charrettes. I remember being in a group and doing a walking tour with a planner around that area. Interestingly the Studio Park project as it looks now is very much like that last "vision" they had for that area. 

[cstonesparty]

23 minutes ago, GRDadof3 said:

Wow, throwback. I was a part of those charrettes. I remember being in a group and doing a walking tour with a planner around that area. Interestingly the Studio Park project as it looks now is very much like that last "vision" they had for that area. 

Seems like the process of those charrettes was pretty effective then.  The guidance this gave to development seems to have been pretty positive to me.

[GRDadof3]

19 minutes ago, cstonesparty said:

Seems like the process of those charrettes was pretty effective then.  The guidance this gave to development seems to have been pretty positive to me.

That's because I was there. 

I do recall a general consensus was that the "alleyway" between the arena and the backs of the buildings on Ionia was greatly underused as a pedestrian connection. And that a plaza at the southern end would be cool. And the plaza is what we got at Studio Park. Now with the city looking at sprucing up the alleyway, that will go a long way toward creating the vision. Now there just needs to be developments on the Ionia empty lots, and something on the backside of the arena... 

[Cookin_peacocks]

1 hour ago, GRDadof3 said:

That's because I was there. 

I do recall a general consensus was that the "alleyway" between the arena and the backs of the buildings on Ionia was greatly underused as a pedestrian connection. And that a plaza at the southern end would be cool. And the plaza is what we got at Studio Park. Now with the city looking at sprucing up the alleyway, that will go a long way toward creating the vision. Now there just needs to be developments on the Ionia empty lots, and something on the backside of the arena... 

Do we think those projects will come soon? Or just wishful thinking at this point?

[Khorasaurus1]

53 minutes ago, Cookin_peacocks said:

Do we think those projects will come soon? Or just wishful thinking at this point?

Honestly, everything on that drawing except the area behind the arena and the Tall House* site is either complete, under construction, or anticipated construction in the next year or two.  It's actually super impressive how close reality is to that vision!

*I think it's funny that we refer to this site by the name of a failed development from the mid-2000s. 

 

[joeDowntown]

2 hours ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

*I think it's funny that we refer to this site by the name of a failed development from the mid-2000s. 

 

It is funny. I still think of it as the Tall House lot, even though I barely remember what the proposal looked like (residential, rather modern design IIRC).

Joe

[MJLO]

2 hours ago, Khorasaurus1 said:

*I think it's funny that we refer to this site by the name of a failed development from the mid-2000s. 

That is funny to think about .  Tall house was proposed at a time when momentum was just getting started.  It's pretty memorable from that standpoint. Just about everything proposed at that time failed or ended up drastically scaled down.  It was super exciting to think of the prospect of that development in that neighborhood.  I never could have imagined the true scope of what would come. 

[GRDadof3]

48 minutes ago, joeDowntown said:

It is funny. I still think of it as the Tall House lot, even though I barely remember what the proposal looked like (residential, rather modern design IIRC).

Joe

Kind of looked like a Holiday Inn. 

 

[wingbert]

On 2/9/2022 at 5:48 PM, Matchetes said:

Any chance something could be built there in the future? Is there some major structural problem in the way?

IIRC the Fifth Third garage is not built as robustly as the government lot.  If you look at it compared to the government garage, it has thinner columns, higher ceilings.  It could all be my imagination, but I swear I remember someone telling me they don’t even like large crowds on that structure like they have on Calder Plaza.

[grandrollerz]

DGRI has this video on their site if you're interested: 

 

[GRDadof3]

Apparently the Grand Action Advisory Committee hasn't meant since probably 2020. So a dead end there. Might be a covid thing? 

[joeDowntown]

There's an article about Acrisure's growth and drive for in-person work. They'll be hiring 200+ additional people this year and will be above capacity for their new HQ, but don't know if they lease existing space or build the new tower next door. If they want my opinion, I say build the new tower.   By the time it's built, Covid may be "under control (endemic), and people will in office or hybrid, with a 3-4 day in office work week.

https://mibiz.com/sections/real-estate-development/acrisure-plans-230-new-hires-need-for-second-downtown-gr-building-still-unclear

Joe