Downtown Flint construction,projects & Photo post

[VeeFan]

What's CNN doing in Swartz Creek?

They used to do that same thing at Flushing and there were water balloon fights too. But by my Freshman year they had to stop it because some people thought it'd be funny to put bleach in some of the balloons...

[dnast]

That's a crazy pic. It's surprising to see Swartz Creek on CNN.

I wonder if there will be a tour of the LBC since developers seem to like providing tours lately. If so, I hope they aren't on weekday mornings like the previous ones.

I was driving by the Durant today and noticed one of the boards had been removed and set aside. I guess somebody's doing some exploration. Hopefully they aren't vandals.

Now that June is here, I'm (somewhat) patiently waiting for Jewelry World to move and for something to happen at the Rowe Building site.

[Allan]

Haha, we didn't get to do that in my senior year! Grand Blanc took away the water balloons years ago. Come to think of it, they took away pretty much all the fun activities. Oh well, I was just glad to get the heck out of there after all that time.

As an urban explorer myself, I must speak up here....

The same idiot who keeps opening all the buildings in Detroit probably opened the Durant. Urban exploring is becoming way too mainstream. I have run into too many people in different buildings who are totally unprepared to be inside an abandoned building. People in shorts and a t-shirt...people without flashlights wandering around in total darkness. You name it, I've seen it. I've even seen people drive up to an abandoned building in a BMW, wearing dress clothes, and start pulling on boards in an attempt to find a way in! I always worry about people like these, since abandoned buildings are dangerous places. They often are structurally suspect in places. There are infinite hazards on which to trip and fall in. There may be asbestos. There may be crazy people or gang members inside. You just never know. I know people who have fallen through floors, and I know people who have had staircases give way underneath them, leaving them dangling in midair.

Then there is another group of "explorers." This group tags everything with spraypaint, breaks out windows, etc. What motivates these people is beyond me. I do not understand what humor these people see in dropping things like concrete blocks, beer bottles, or whatever else they find off of a rooftop 10 stories or more above the ground and onto a pedestrian on the sidewalk below. It is people like these that can cause a building to be demolished, and even worse, can cause innocent bystanders to be seriously injured or killed.

If you must explore an abandoned building, fine. But be advised that it is usually illegal. Be safe, and take only photographs.

</rant>

[VeeFan]

I'm not sure what's going on, but there's been a crane behind Marion Hall all this week.

And I have to say, the Brown Sugar Caf

[dnast]

I need to start paying more attention. I didn't even notice a crane by Marion Hall, and barely glanced at Brown Sugar Caf

[VeeFan]

That's what I was thinking too, but the crane is around the back of Marion Hall, not in a good position to do the lighting on the mural.

[VeeFan]

Atwood Stadium renovations have gotten a boost today. $100,000 has been donated by Robaire Smith, and the Mott Foundation is providing a $300,000 grant, that has to be matched in public donations.

Work is expected to be underway late this summer to restore the wrought iron gates and install classic light fixtures, among other things.

[dnast]

That's good news. It would be nice to have a fixed-up (or at least in better shape) Atwood possibly around the time 3rd Avenue gets its new streetscape.

It's good to see Robaire supporting the stadium he played in as far back as middle school, too. It's good to have a few young Flint-native millionaires around. The city needs all the philanthropy it can get.

[VeeFan]

Is 3rd Ave. getting the streescape for sure?

[dnast]

Well, Don Williamson has mentioned fixing up 3rd Ave. several times even before the riverfront plan was released. I'm assuming this is his next big clean-up project. I remember him once saying something like "wait until you see what we're doing with 3rd Ave."

He always could just be talking about only repaving the street, though. I guess it's just wishful thinking on my part. I'm hoping they wouldn't waste money repaving the street just to tear some of it right back up for medians.

[VeeFan]

But wasn't the reconstruction of 3rd Ave. supposed to coincide with some project for expanding the Kettering campus?

And more windows went up on the modern side of the LBC, and it's looking better everytime I see it!

I still haven't a clue what the crane is doing on Marion Hall. I could see a little bit of working happening as I left U of M today, and it looks like there's something being done to the back of it. I can only hope they're adding a second floor to the row of buildings next to Marion Hall.

[Pachuco]

I'm still waiting for the groundbreaking at the 500 building, I hope its not late.

I havn't seen any workers at the republic bank building in quite some time, what going on ?

[dnast]

Last time I went by there, Jewelry World was still open. I haven't been by there this week, so maybe they've started moving. I'd like to see something going on there soon.

I saw the crane at Marion Hall, too. I'm wondering what they're doing, also. It's kind of like the mystery at the state office building.

Yep, the LBC is looking nice. I want to see how the first floor of the modern facade will look.

I haven't seen anybody working at the Republic building lately, either. It looks like they might be done removing materials. Hopefully, we'll see some reconstruction soon.

[VeeFan]

I actually saw people working on the Republic Bank this morning when I was on my way to class. Looks like they're working on the upper floors now.

[VeeFan]

Jewelry World moved into its new location at the Mad Hatter yesterday, but it's staying open in its current location until the end of the month to clear everything out that they're not taking with them.

I'm going to take a guess and say we won't see any development until late-July to early-August.

[dnast]

Yeah I saw that too. To keep good terms with their contract, the complex still has to be complete by June 2006, so I'm not too worried. I'm not sure what they have left, but when I stopped by there about a month ago they had some great deals.

From what the article said, it looks like we'll be losing a rare clothing store downtown for the time being. Hopefully they'll adjust the signage to let people know what's available at the new location. "The Mad Hatter" doesn't exactly sound like a place to grab some snacks and gamble on lottery tickets among other things. It's nice to know that they'll still have some hats available, but there's a new store on the same block as the Soggy Bottom and Big Al's that specializes in hats only. I always hope for the best, but it'll be amazing if they both get enough demand to keep things going. Non-sports hats don't seem to be in big demand these days.

[dnast]

Pages Bookstore is going to be moving next door to Buckham Gallery on 2nd St.

Also, I've been wanting to get a pic of it for a while but never took the time to do it. Here's how the back of the LBC looks now for those of you who haven't yet seen it. I was surprised they even paid much attention to it let alone getting it to look relatively nice.

[VeeFan]

Curious...I wonder why they didn't continue the modern look all the way to the top. That blue divider just makes to look worse.

[dnast]

I was wondering that since the first time I noticed the back was different. I would like to see how it looks on top. Maybe First St. Lofts will be giving tours soon

[dnast]

Looks like Brown Sugar Cafe might be close to finally opening. It has been taking long enough for this little building.

[RustTown]

Black must be a popular color to paint brick now. I can count a handful of loft conversions in downtown Lansing that have either been painted black or are being painted black. It's really nice.

[VeeFan]

But the cafe was never painted, the bricks were that dark brown to begin with. But I have to say the red does make the building have a more updated look.

Now if something could just be done with that monstrosity of a frontage J. London's has. lol

[dnast]

I honestly don't like the brick. It's been like that for a long time. I'd probably like it a lot more with a fresh coat of black paint. In person, it looks like a really dark brown.

Not that I don't like the building. The paint is my only problem, although I'd love it if J-London's (next door) eventually got a matching or a nice, contrasting facade improvement.

I'm not a big fan of coffee, but I can't wait to be able to check the place out when it opens. I wouldn't mind living there, either. The huge windows on the upper floors are a plus. I bet that the size of those windows somewhat make up for how low the floors are.

Edit: Just so my above comments don't sound redundant, note that I can be a very slow poster and typed that before I saw VeeFan's reply

Edited June 29, 2005 by dnast

[VeeFan]

The mysterious scaffolding has returned on the State Building.

[dnast]

LOL. What can they possibly be doing?