GRAND RAPIDS | Development Thread

[-GR2NY-]

Grand Rapids, MI

Geographically speaking, Grand Rapids sits between Detroit and Chicago and surprisingly,
little architectural influence is present from either of the two major cities. Instead, Grand
Rapids has proven to be a city all of its own. The city has experienced a tremendous
metro growth rate of more than 16% over the past 10 years. Consequently the need for
more office and residential space is on the rise and as figures show; our city currently
has a need for over 50,000 residences downtown alone. We have over 2 billion dollars in
new development at this current time. A figure such as this rivals cities around the globe
with exponentially higher populations. We here in Grand Rapids are very excited about the
cranes looming over downtown in this generally conservative city and I would like to share
with you a listing of current high-rises in the works. Thank you for visiting!







--Under Construction--

*River House Condominiums (Bridgewater Place 2) - 384ft - 34floors


*Marriott Hotel - 292ft - 26floors


*Icon on Bond




--Approved--

*Childrens Hospital


Listing not yet totally complete.

[DetroitKalamazoo]

I look forward to seeing those new towers downtown in a couple of years

[Breezyfingers]

As a Grand Rapidian living in Chicago, I hope to see some of the building boom we've seen here replicated up in Michigan. Thanks for the rundown on upcoming construction. Where is the Children's Hospital being built? And has there been any talk of highrise construction west of the river/expressway?

[dtsd]

Originally Posted by Breezyfingers

As a Grand Rapidian living in Chicago, I hope to see some of the building boom we've seen here replicated up in Michigan. Thanks for the rundown on upcoming construction. Where is the Children's Hospital being built? And has there been any talk of highrise construction west of the river/expressway?

Unfortunately I don't foresee much further development along the west. I remember when Bridgewater Place first went up, Robert Grooters, the developer, was disparaged by the local development community for putting up a high rise on, OMG, "the other side". It shows how small city / small minded the local developers are - which is a shame because downtown GR has so much potential.

[GVSUguy]

Its good to see Grand Rapids has its own thread now.

What I know about the UC buildings:
River House-hasn't really started construction yet, but it should soon.
JW Marriot-UC and you can check out its awesome webcam at http://www.alticorhotel.com/index.html
Icon on Bond-first tower UC, but still in the beginning stages
Children's Hospital-I think this is just a proposal right now

Grand Rapids has a ton of develoment going on right now, but most of it is lowrise or renovations. There are three buildings of about 10 stories that are proposed too.

[KevinFromTexas]

Nice, I've always been intrigued by Grand Rapids.

And yeah, it seems to have a style all it's own. That's been one of the things that have made it interesting to me.

I've seen it before, but do you have any pics of the skyline? Any skyline photo threads coming up about it in City Photos?

[Surrealplaces]

I had no idea Grand Rapids had 1.4 million people in the metro area. Interesting stuff you learn on this site!

[LMich]

Just for reference purposes, here are some photos of the skyline:







Some from grdadof3 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/62831350@N00/):















Good skyline shots are hard to come by.

Also, Metro Grand Rapids is physically very large. It is a very spread out metropolitan area that reaches to shore of Lake Michigan. The urbanized area population is between 500,000 and 600,000 in population. The skyline isn't that impressive for an area this large, but the density at street level would give most equally sized cities a run for their money. The architecture is also very impressive at street level.

[420x]

There is approximately $2 billion worth of construction at the moment and a single $1 - 2 billion dollar development that should be announced soon. The large development is strictly under wraps and has pretty much everyone guessing. So, for a metro of 1.3 million - $4 billion of ongoing constrction is pretty damn insane.

[DerekfrmSA]

Great news Grand Rapids!

Looks good.

Question, I know very little about Grand Rapids except for what state its in, lol, but why does it say the MSA for GR is at 771,185 in the TOP 100 MSA's thread in City Discussions?

[dtsd]

Originally Posted by DerekfrmSA

Question, I know very little about Grand Rapids except for what state its in, lol, but why does it say the MSA for GR is at 771,185 in the TOP 100 MSA's thread in City Discussions?

The 771k is GR's Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes GR and its contiguous suburbs such as Wyoming. When you see numbers in excess of 1 million, they include outlying cities such as Allegan, Grand Haven, Muskegon and Holland, which most people (including the Census Bureau) do not consider GR suburbs. The 1.4 million is the Combined Statistical Area (CSA) and applies to the larger region, which includes several distinct cities and their own respective MSAs.

[-GR2NY-]

Anyone mind giving me more detials on whats under construction right now. I dont even have a rendering of the medical hill stairstep buildings.

BTW, whens the towers building coming down? Anyone know?

[-GR2NY-]

More coming next week!

[420x]

which most people (including the Census Bureau) do not consider GR suburbs.

Two counties that missed only one single requirement by less than one percent still count as suburbs. After all, 1/3 of Ottawa county lives directly on the border of Kent County and it is not part of the MSA... Lets get real here.

[dtsd]

Originally Posted by 420x

Two counties that missed only one single requirement by less than one percent still count as suburbs. After all, 1/3 of Ottawa county lives directly on the border of Kent County and it is not part of the MSA... Lets get real here.

So you’re saying that cities such as Allegan, Grand Haven, Muskegon and Holland, a couple of which even have their own defined MSAs, are not distinct cities, but are just suburbs of GR?

I think it’s fair to say these cities do have a strong relationship (economic and otherwise) being in close proximity, and thus it makes sense to combine them into a Combined Statistical Area, but to say it’s one continuous metropolitan area is a bit of a stretch.

I can’t speak to the criteria, just to what I know from living there. For example, go to the hybrid-satellite view on Google maps, and look at the urbanized (gray) areas of each of those cities. You’ll notice they’re bordered with very large rural areas (green) that separate them from Grand Rapids and its suburbs. Contrast that against Detroit or Chicago where the urban areas are uninterrupted.

[gvpeto]

Yes, it's quite interesting in that 3 of GR's suburbs (Wyoming, Kentwood and Jension) are each over 40,000, and Wyoming is about 70K! That's pretty large as far as 'burbs are considered.

[Exodus]

Originally Posted by dtsd

So you’re saying that cities such as Allegan, Grand Haven, Muskegon and Holland, a couple of which even have their own defined MSAs, are not distinct cities, but are just suburbs of GR?

I think it’s fair to say these cities do have a strong relationship (economic and otherwise) being in close proximity, and thus it makes sense to combine them into a Combined Statistical Area, but to say it’s one continuous metropolitan area is a bit of a stretch.

I can’t speak to the criteria, just to what I know from living there. For example, go to the hybrid-satellite view on Google maps, and look at the urbanized (gray) areas of each of those cities. You’ll notice they’re bordered with very large rural areas (green) that separate them from Grand Rapids and its suburbs. Contrast that against Detroit or Chicago where the urban areas are uninterrupted.

Monroe is considered part of Detroits csa for example. So why couldn't Grand Haven for example be part of the Grand Rapids csa ?

[robk1982]

[metrogrkid]

Originally Posted by Exodus

Monroe is considered part of Detroits csa for example. So why couldn't Grand Haven for example be part of the Grand Rapids csa ?

Exodus, you are exactly right. The triangular shaped CSA Grand Rapids is literally between the three points of Lowell to the east, Whitehall to the northwest and Saugatuck to the southwest (Grand Haven is midway between Saugatuck and Whitehall). The general points of the CSA triangle are, of course, Grand Rapids to the east, Muskegon to the northwest and Holland to the southwest.

[JonathanGRR]

Downtown Development Authority announces new color scheme for iconic 'Blue Bridge'
Jim Harger | jharger@mlive.com | January 22, 2013

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Downtown’s beloved “Blue Bridge” will remain blue.

Except on Valentine’s Day, when it may be red. Or on Christmas Eve, when it may be red and green.

Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Director Kris Larson announced today that the iconic bridge will get a fresh coat of blue paint that will resemble its current color, which has faded over the years.

As for the other colors, they will come from a battery of LED bulbs that will be mounted on the bridge and enable the DDA to change the bridge’s hues in the evening, Larson said.

The new lights will reflect a blue light on the bridge most evenings. But the LED bulbs also will be able to change colors for special occasions, such as Valentine's Day or Christmas, Larson said.

“When we complete the restoration, the bridge will be blue – but better,” said Larson.

The new lighting will be part of a $1.3 million makeover of the former railroad bridge that was converted to pedestrian use in 1987. Besides the new paint job and lights, the restoration project also will include replacing part of the walkways and an expansion joint.

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-m...l#incart_river