Twin Apartment Towers Downtown

[Allan]

Does anyone know if this is what the twin apartment towers in downtown GR are supposed to look like? Or have they changed the design since this was made?

[ColinSuperCool]

Hmm I haven

[ColinSuperCool]

On second thought this complex seems to have the same problem the ren cen had the gray blocks or what ever they are seem to isolate the complex from the street which would seem to indicate that this is more of a gated community than a downtown apartment complex.

[Allan]

That's exactly what I thought when I first saw it. It looks like a fortress, just like the Ren Cen. But why? GR is a safe city, so what reason is there to barricade the towers from the rest of the city?

[superNOVA]

Two things here...

1. The gray blocks are a parking ramp at the base of both buildings.

2. You are actually looking at the back of the building, from the East, and angle that you would never see because in the real world there is a steep hill there. The building on the right gives a better idea of what face will be presented to the city.

About the project... I'm about 50/50 on it now. Moch is shady and this may have just been another one of his ploys. Or he is trying to farm the project out to a developer that has money. Or, he could be waiting for steel and concrete prices to drop, they have been very high for a while now and the extra cost on a project like this is quite high.

Whatever the case, if things don't get moving soon I am going to lump this with the numerous other GR should haves. Hell, if even half of the proposed buildings were built in this town, the skyline would be top notch. At this point we are at about 1/10 for major projects, and the only winners are DeVos and VanAndel buildings.

[Allan]

Oh ok. Thanks for clearing that up. I go to GR all the time....I really should be more familiar with downtown than I actually am.

[joeDowntown]

Indeed, Joseph Moch seems shady. He almost completed a very complex land swap with the city, the Grand Rapids Press and a private land owner that would have given him the entire riverfront north of 196 to the park. People called it a brilliant deal and he had planned several towers (Office and residential). This failed a couple of years ago. He also was working with the city of Parchment (I believe) to build an entire community with houses, condos and golf courses but Parchment backed out at the last second.

To add to this, he also owned the Reptile house building in 2000 and was to have renovated it "within 6 months". Never happened.

The only thing that makes me think this might happen is 1) he fought REALLY hard to win all of the zoning and 2) he has already demolished several buildings, which means he has put more into it than time.

Time is ticking though. The city gave him one year to start construction on the "twin towers" or they would pull his height variances. I hope it happens, but I hear funding is the major issue (which he said he had in place before he went before the planning commission).

Can we please get some people to stick to their building plans?!

Joe

[Allan]

The last I heard, the project has been put on hold indefinately and Moch is looking to sell the properties to other developers. This doesn't surprise me though, since Moch is notorious for pulling out of developments.

[joeDowntown]

That is too bad. I used to work in the Brassworks Building and that is an up and coming neighborhood. Hopefully some kind of funding falls in place. If people weren't aware, the architects that designed the towers are the same architects that designed the riverfront Sheraton in downtown Chicago (they actually look similar).

Joe