River House Condominiums

[RustTown]

Yeah, but comparing downtown Detroit to downtown Grand Rapids is apples to oranges. One is a downtown for a city of 200,000 and the other originally built for one of nearly 2 million.

BTW, does anyone know who the owner and architects of the original Bridgewater Place are?

[joeDowntown]

Apples and Oranges I would agree. No offense to the Detroit forumers, but I read the Detroit board and it is depressing. I like having Grand Rapids being considered the Apple to Detroit's orange. And Detroit MAY have been built for 2 million people, but it is now under a million. When will Detroit and Grand Rapids meet as far as core city populations (Detroit falling, Grand Rapids rising)? It won't be anytime soon, but it could easily see it happen unless the leaders of detroit stop the bleeding (and I don't think knocking down all of their beautiful architecture for parking lots is the answer).

Yeah, but comparing downtown Detroit to downtown Grand Rapids is apples to oranges.  One is a downtown for a city of 200,000 and the other originally built for one of nearly 2 million.

Brian Winkelmann, principal of DTS & Winkelmann Architects designed the first tower and has been retained on this project. They also are working with Lucien Lagrange of Chicago for their expertise in high-rise residential.

BTW, does anyone know who the owner and architects of the original Bridgewater Place are?

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[Freddy C]

Apples and Oranges I would agree. No offense to the Detroit forumers, but I read the Detroit board and it is depressing. I like having Grand Rapids being considered the Apple to Detroit's orange. And Detroit MAY have been built for 2 million people, but it is now under a million. When will Detroit and Grand Rapids meet as far as core city populations (Detroit falling, Grand Rapids rising)? It won't be anytime soon, but it could easily see it happen unless the leaders of detroit stop the bleeding (and I don't think knocking down all of their beautiful architecture for parking lots is the answer).

Brian Winkelmann, principal of DTS & Winkelmann Architects designed the first tower and has been retained on this project. They also are working with Lucien Lagrange of Chicago for their expertise in high-rise residential.

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Whoooooaaaa....what leaders of Detroit? Detroits decline is the decline of Industrial America.....not local leadership unless you are referring to the Auto Industry. Also, let us be Honest....after the riots of the 60's and the election of a Black mayor in 1973...many people wanted the city to FAIL. People divested from the city in boots and dollars and Detroit became a code word for BLack. Lets be honest about AMericas history. We have made great progress....but we are yet to be the nation and people that we portray ourselves to be. Detroit proper has many neigborhoods that would put GR's Best to Shame. Detroit is far from DEAD...but it is peoples perception of Detroit that helps to create a self fullfilling prophecy....so that they can then say....."see I told yah".

[RustTown]

I really don't want to divert from subject more than we already have but at downtown Detroit's lowest point many would argue that it was better than Grand Rapids' downtown. Grand Rapids has a great little downtown, but it's much more comparable to Omaha's or Dayton's or some other similarly sized metro and/or city, not Detroit. Not to mention that though downtown Detroit still has a long way to go before it will be anywhere near where it once was it has had a HUGE amount of reinvestment with more coming every month. Don't cry for Detroit, please. lol

[metrogrkid]

I really don't want to divert from subject more than we already have but at downtown Detroit's lowest point many would argue that it was better than Grand Rapids' downtown.

[Freddy C]

I really don't want to divert from subject more than we already have but at downtown Detroit's lowest point many would argue that it was better than Grand Rapids' downtown.  Grand Rapids has a great little downtown, but it's much more comparable to Omaha's or Dayton's or some other similarly sized metro and/or city, not Detroit.  Not to mention that though downtown Detroit still has a long way to go before it will be anywhere near where it once was it has had a HUGE amount of reinvestment with more coming every month.  Don't cry for Detroit, please.  lol

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I think suburban Detroits Southfield is in GR's Leage.

[Allan]

I don't know about that. Southfield has height, but I'd take GR over Southfield's skyline any day. Of course I am biased against Southfield, since I live a stone's throw away from the Southfield Towne Center. I get sick of looking at some of those bland buildings everytime I go outside. Haha. Here are some photos of Southfield that I took last week.

Metrogrkid,

I wouldn't call Grand Rapids a big city. It is still very much a medium-sized city. In size GR pales in comparison to Detroit. Yes, Detroit did loose one million people. But it still has 900,000 people living in the city. GR has 200,000 people living in the city. And metro Detroit is somewhere around 5 million in population. Metro GR is only around 1.3 million. Detroit & GR are on completely different levels.

[Freddy C]

I don't know about that.  Southfield has height, but I'd take GR over Southfield's skyline any day.  Of course I am biased against Southfield, since I live a stone's throw away from the Southfield Towne Center.  I get sick of looking at some of those bland buildings everytime I go outside.  Haha.  Here are some photos of Southfield that I took last week.

Metrogrkid,

I wouldn't call Grand Rapids a big city.  It is still very much a medium-sized city.  In size GR pales in comparison to Detroit.  Yes, Detroit did loose one million people.  But it still has 900,000 people living in the city.  GR has 200,000 people living in the city.  And metro Detroit is somewhere around 5 million in population.  Metro GR is only around 1.3 million.  Detroit & GR are on completely different levels.

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I was just poking fun at the idea of the comparison of Detroit and GR. However, if you placed those Southfield building in DTGR....it would radically improve the skyline.

I used to LOVE the view of downtown Detroit driving north on I75....all of a sudden BAM....the Detroit skyline hits you along with the Ambassador bridge.

Detroit is not just a big city. Detroit is a MAJOR city. To me the concept of "City" is played out. It is the Metropolitan area measure that is of more importance in the modern times. For purpose of marketing....people do not care what the size of the central city is....its all about the Metro. When Detroit City had nearly 2 million people...there was likely only about 3 million people living in the metropolitan area. Even though Detroit has declined since its 2 million, the metro has grown by 2 million.

GR has its place and rank....but it does not compare with Detroit. Its a nice up and coming city....but if I were to move back to Michigan...it would likely be Detroit.

[baronium]

Tell all my friends from Detroit to close their mouths and stop gaping while saying, "DAMN, downtown GR looks MUCH better than downtown Detroit" as we're wending our way into the city on the Ford X-Way from the west coming from the Paul Henry X-Way. DON'T HATE, CONGRATULATE. DON'T HATE, PARTICIPATE. DON'T HATE, UNIFICATE.

I wish everyone in GR had the kind of enthusiasm and pride in GR that Metrogrkid has. The greatness of a city has a lot to do with what its residents think of it. Part of GR's recent success has to do with the fact that we simply love our city.

[RustTown]

It's one thing to have civic pride and believe you live in a great city. It's quite another thing to let that pride spill over into arrogance truly believing your city is better than a city many times it's population in both city in metro. Grand Rapids is a great, progressive MID-SIZED city. I've been to all these cities and Grand Rapids feels much like a larger downtown Lansing, not a smaller Detroit. Detroit was built on a grand scale, Grand Rapids was not. That's not a bad thing, that's just how things are. There are only a few major metropoli in this country and Grand Rapids is not one of them, despite being an amazing little city.

[joeDowntown]

I don't think anyone is trying to make a side-by-side comparison - Detroit to Grand Rapids. That would be silly.

I do however have a lot of pride for what Grand Rapids is, and if you live outside of Detroit you do actually get a little sick of the "outstate" references and the "if it isn't Detroit..." mentality. I can't even imagine how the U.P. feels.

No one here pretends that Detroit is bigger than Grand Rapids. We can however take pride in the revitalization of our city and the excellent coorperation between business, philanthropy and government.

If the city of Detroit can turn the corner and revitalize itself, it will be good for the state of Michigan. Whether we like it or not, the perception of Detroit is usually the perception of Michigan.

With that being said, let's not discuss Detroit vs. Grand Rapids in this forum. It's such a non-issue and us Grand Rapidian's love our city enough that it might turn into a grudge match.

Joe

[RustTown]

I'll stop, too, but nowhere have I put down Grand Rapids or bad-mouthed it. The city is great, but some actually are trying to make a side-by-side comparison which isn't fair to either city.

I can't wait to see River House and the rest grace the skyline. It will definitely make Grand Rapids the most modern-looking skyline in Michigan with all of the glass if you're in to that kind of thing.

I also hope that the Ottawa @ Lyons Tower is eventually built, too.

[joeDowntown]

I got some new information on Riverhouse. Here are a couple of interesting drawings (you need acrobat to view). The first shows a floor by floor plan of the building (and what I find most interesting, where tower I ends).

Riverhouse Cross-section (78kb PDF)

Typical Floorplan - as seen previously (55kb PDF)

Joe

[joeDowntown]

River House in all its glory. For more information about reserving space contact Lisa Spaugh at 616-813-8131 or via email at [email protected]. Hey, I had to give her a plug since she provided me with great information. Reservation are now at 60+!

[RustTown]

Beautiful!

[snoogit]

the symbol of GR.

on big giant phallic grooters symbol (not that theres anything wrong with that)

[bobliocatt]

I'll stop, too, but nowhere have I put down Grand Rapids or bad-mouthed it.

[vdogg]

River House in all its glory. For more information about reserving space contact Lisa Spaugh at 616-813-8131 or via email at [email protected]. Hey, I had to give her a plug since she provided me with great information. Reservation are now at 60+!

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This is an absolutely stunning rendering and i can't believe this is being put in Grand Rapids. I left Michigan about 8 years ago, maybe it's time to make a visit.

[vdogg]

I don't know about that.  Southfield has height, but I'd take GR over Southfield's skyline any day.  Of course I am biased against Southfield, since I live a stone's throw away from the Southfield Towne Center.  I get sick of looking at some of those bland buildings everytime I go outside.  Haha.  Here are some photos of Southfield that I took last week.

Metrogrkid,

I wouldn't call Grand Rapids a big city.  It is still very much a medium-sized city.  In size GR pales in comparison to Detroit.  Yes, Detroit did loose one million people.  But it still has 900,000 people living in the city.  GR has 200,000 people living in the city.  And metro Detroit is somewhere around 5 million in population.  Metro GR is only around 1.3 million.  Detroit & GR are on completely different levels.

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I think that Southfield has a good skyline for a city its size. Grand Rapids isn't a big city but i definately got that big city feel every time i went there. At either rate, i'm originally from Kalamazoo and while i was living there just about everywhere else looked better to me. . Strangely, every now and then i find myself missing it

[joeDowntown]

As if we didn't already have the scoop on this (we are way ahead of the curve :

A sneak preview of Robert Grooters Co.

[superNOVA]

Jsut saw some fliers at a 5/3 bank here in town. Looks like the official push is on. Good news for downtown - I am pegging the odds at about 90% for this development. However, we have seen similar odds go down in flames here - Grooters is far enough from the establishment to not care if he pisses the normal developers off.

Hell, they shut him out after he built the first Bridgewater. He has been shunned by the downtown development crowd ever since.

[joeDowntown]

Supernova,

Can you scan it in?

Also, is anyone going to the open house tomorrow? Be sure to bombard them with questions and deliver a report.

Joe

[Veloise]

Allan wrote:

<Here are some photos of Southfield that I took last week.

Taken from the US-10 service drive just west of Lahser! I grew up not far away...and now I live in GR (an improvement in my life that's as dramatic as the restoration of the nouveau old bulding across from the AGP).

--Veloise

[Allan]

Yep. Although they've renamed US-10 as M-10. Not that it makes any difference, lol. My mom grew up in Southfield (12 Mile & Evergreen) before moving to GR, and now I am living & going to school there (10 Mile & Northwestern).

BTW, welcome to urbanplanet, Veloise!

[granada10]

this is so cool, i really hope that river house goes up. do they still have to be approved for building or just have a certain percent of investers before starting construction? i have learned so much from this site since i have been away from GR.