50 Monroe to get de-skinned?

[joeDowntown]

Love the new red facade. Also, lots of brick work. 

 

[mpchicago]

Nice ,  thanks Joe -  I love the detail on the red brick building.   

I still have not heard how they will handle the concrete blocks at the top of the buildings.   And there is that stone arch missing at top right too.    I have to say I'm super disappointed to hear that they don't have enough in the budget to put in historically appropriate windows, and will have to go with plate glass in most openings. Tough, and costly rehab.  Looking forward to seeing how it comes out.  

[x99]

33 minutes ago, mpchicago said:

Nice ,  thanks Joe -  I love the detail on the red brick building.   

I still have not heard how they will handle the concrete blocks at the top of the buildings.   And there is that stone arch missing at top right too.    I have to say I'm super disappointed to hear that they don't have enough in the budget to put in historically appropriate windows, and will have to go with plate glass in most openings. Tough, and costly rehab.  Looking forward to seeing how it comes out.  

If they don't put appropriate windows in, even if they are just cheap double-hungs, it will not look good in the end.  It would be very unfortunate to spend all of this money and then blow it on the details.  I've never really understood this project from the start.  If it was not to restore the buildings, then why bother with all of this?  Some half-baked effort could well be worse than if they had just left things well enough alone.  Hopefully they at least make the front facades look right.

Edited September 19, 2018 by x99

[joeDowntown]

1 hour ago, mpchicago said:

Nice ,  thanks Joe -  I love the detail on the red brick building.   

I still have not heard how they will handle the concrete blocks at the top of the buildings.   And there is that stone arch missing at top right too.    I have to say I'm super disappointed to hear that they don't have enough in the budget to put in historically appropriate windows, and will have to go with plate glass in most openings. Tough, and costly rehab.  Looking forward to seeing how it comes out.  

I noticed the plate glass windows (tinted) on the Monroe side. I was disappointed as it really doesn't look right (never noticed it in the renderings before). Like x99 said, going through all of this trouble (which I'm totally geeked about) and then skimping on windows, etc. is really disappointing. 

Joe

[andrew.w]

I have a hard time believing the windows are a cost issue. They picked undivided reflective glass because they wanted to, because this sort of modern insertion in historic carcasses is on trend right now. Doing a simulated double hung, which adds one extra horizontal mullion and putting the glass in two different panes cannot cost that much more that it blows the whole project.

Just as I said earlier that for the expense that they are already putting into these facades they could replace the CMU with brick and do simple arches for an extremely small change order compared to the total project budget. The missing rusticated sandstone arches would be more costly to replicate, but they could probably figure out something, even if it meant removing the last remaining one and doing them in brick.

[x99]

16 minutes ago, andrew.w said:

I have a hard time believing the windows are a cost issue. They picked undivided reflective glass because they wanted to, because this sort of modern insertion in historic carcasses is on trend right now. Doing a simulated double hung, which adds one extra horizontal mullion and putting the glass in two different panes cannot cost that much more that it blows the whole project.

Simulated?  Just use real ones.  They aren't exactly expensive, either.  I can't believe they would use plate glass on the street facades.  It's just tacky.  (... and here's hoping someone at least loosely affiliated with CWD reads this.  Sam Cummings is a good friend of historic preservation, which is why I'm questioning so strongly that they would do a variety of things that could take what smelled at first like a fairly noble preservation effort into a half-baked, ugly remuddle.)

Edited September 21, 2018 by x99

[andrew.w]

^^Real double hung windows tend to be rare in hotel and office buildings in the recent past because quite frankly the building owners don't want the users opening the windows at worst so they don't fall out of them and also for a range of reasons such as security and damage to interior finishes when nobody closes them and the way that open windows can mess with the building's climate control systems.

[GRDadof3]

Looks like furniture dealer MarxModa is moving into the ground floor of one of the Eastern facing buildings at 37 Ottawa. 4888 square feet. Called Grand Rapids Living Office. 

They recently opened their new HQ's in downtown Detroit:

https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2018/04/office_furniture_dealer_opens.html

[GrSportsGuy]

Horrible accident today

 

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/10/worker_dies_after_accident_at.html

[thebeerqueer]

On 10/20/2018 at 6:21 PM, GrSportsGuy said:

Horrible accident today

 

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/10/worker_dies_after_accident_at.html

That's awful!

[GRDadof3]

On 10/20/2018 at 6:21 PM, GrSportsGuy said:

Horrible accident today

 

https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2018/10/worker_dies_after_accident_at.html

That is awful. 

[x99]

On 10/22/2018 at 8:31 PM, GRDadof3 said:

That is awful. 

Construction accidents are horrible.  But I do sort of wonder about one of the comments over at mlive.  Someone claims "That Man was someone who I called my father" with a number of people offering condolences.  The username?  Darwin.   I really, really hope that's a bad coincidence and not some jerk who thinks the entire internet is 4chan.   Thoughts and prayers to this worker's family.  I cannot imagine getting that call.

Edited October 25, 2018 by x99

[joeDowntown]

Did they determine what happened. I heard it was a large board. Did it blow off the roof? I know the radio stations in the building couldn’t go on air that Monday, so I assume it came from the building on Ionia. 

Joe

[GRDadof3]

Does anyone know when these projects are supposed to wrap up? The AC Hotel and the Eastern office building?  I tried finding info on that in the past articles but haven't had any luck.

[joeDowntown]

Don’t know if this is accurate, but the Marriott website says the Ac Hotel opens in May of 2019. 

Joe

[joeDowntown]

Wasn’t able to snap a photo but they ended up painting the cinder block to match the blond and red brick.  Also, the siding on the south side (covering the area damaged in the eighties) looks really low grade and boring. 

Dont know if CWD got in over their head once they saw the extent of the damage? It looks somewhat chincy and cheap, which is a shame because I’m sure this is not an inexpensive project. 

I guess I’ll chalk it up to “maybe someone will restore it for real sometime in the future”. Still happy to see the old facades, but man does it seem like it missed the mark a bit. I’m scared to see what they do to the top 2 feet of the AC Hotel side (which is also cinder block). I fear they will vinyl side it.

Joe

 

[Prankster]

12 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Wasn’t able to snap a photo but they ended up painting the cinder block to match the blond and red brick.  Also, the siding on the south side (covering the area damaged in the eighties) looks really low grade and boring. 

Dont know if CWD got in over their head once they saw the extent of the damage? It looks somewhat chincy and cheap, which is a shame because I’m sure this is not an inexpensive project. 

I guess I’ll chalk it up to “maybe someone will restore it for real sometime in the future”. Still happy to see the old facades, but man does it seem like it missed the mark a bit. I’m scared to see what they do to the top 2 feet of the AC Hotel side (which is also cinder block). I fear they will vinyl side it.

Joe

 

Not sure about DeVos, but Sam always did a first class job when renovating old buildings. I would tend to agree with you, the cost overruns  must have turned it from a low profit labor of love to one that is severely bleeding red.

 

[GRDadof3]

18 hours ago, joeDowntown said:

Wasn’t able to snap a photo but they ended up painting the cinder block to match the blond and red brick.  Also, the siding on the south side (covering the area damaged in the eighties) looks really low grade and boring. 

Dont know if CWD got in over their head once they saw the extent of the damage? It looks somewhat chincy and cheap, which is a shame because I’m sure this is not an inexpensive project. 

I guess I’ll chalk it up to “maybe someone will restore it for real sometime in the future”. Still happy to see the old facades, but man does it seem like it missed the mark a bit. I’m scared to see what they do to the top 2 feet of the AC Hotel side (which is also cinder block). I fear they will vinyl side it.

Joe

 

I saw it in person today too and I thought you were being a bit harsh Joe.  But now that I look at these pictures. 

 

The ground floor windows on the Ottawa side are looking good. 

 

Industrial style metal panels are going on the side of the hotel. Wonder if these will grace the top as well? 

 

[HavingAhoot]

This project from like 2013 is dead right??  I think it was supposed to be in the parking lot between the 50 monroe and Rosa Parks circle

[GRDadof3]

1 hour ago, HavingAhoot said:

This project from like 2013 is dead right??  I think it was supposed to be in the parking lot between the 50 monroe and Rosa Parks circle

Yep, as far as I know.

I caught a glimpse of the two Ottawa buildings from Fulton Street today and they look really sharp. ie if you were standing in front of the arena and looking over. 

[crinzema]

[x99]

I walked by this project recently.  What a dumpster fire.  I almost think it would have been better if they had left well enough alone, if they weren't willing to do it right.   I realize there were some difficulties, but... yikes.

It's the architectural equivalent of some guy finding a Duesenberg Model J in a field under a tarp, slapping it full of bondo and house paint, and thinking that's okay.  It ain't.  Should have left the tarp on, or done at least a half decent job of it.

Edited February 20, 2019 by x99

[Prankster]

What is the announced opening date for the hotel?

[andrew.w]

20 hours ago, x99 said:

I walked by this project recently.  What a dumpster fire.  I almost think it would have been better if they had left well enough alone, if they weren't willing to do it right.   I realize there were some difficulties, but... yikes.

It's the architectural equivalent of some guy finding a Duesenberg Model J in a field under a tarp, slapping it full of bondo and house paint, and thinking that's okay.  It ain't.  Should have left the tarp on, or done at least a half decent job of it.

I haven't seen it in person or since the end of last year, but I'm at least a little optimistic that now that it has been exposed in another 20 years or so or when the found-urban-decay-chic look goes out of style someone will put in some more money for another improvement to keep quality tenants around.

[x99]

7 hours ago, andrew.w said:

I haven't seen it in person or since the end of last year, but I'm at least a little optimistic that now that it has been exposed in another 20 years or so or when the found-urban-decay-chic look goes out of style someone will put in some more money for another improvement to keep quality tenants around.

If that was the look they wanted, it would have been better to just rip off half the cladding to pull off some sort of interesting "reveal" look.  That would have been a conversation piece and a bit of an architectural lark for a lot of right reasons.  Unfortunately, I don't think CWD will probably ever sell any of their buildings, and if they do manage to get tenants, they will never bother finishing the buildings.  But I hope you're right.  Hopefully tenants will get sick of people asking why their building looks like garbage.  But I suspect most people won't notice all the plate glass, the painted cement block, the missing window arches, and all of the other garbage CWD thought was okey dokey.

Edited February 21, 2019 by x99