Watching Downtown bloom

My first idea for naming this blog post was, "Watching Downtown Come Back to Life," but that's not really correct, since it never really died, per se.  When I was in high school in the late 1980s, the Monroe Mall area, as well as most of S. Division, was pretty derelict and desolate, though.  Not Soviet derelict, but no one went there for fun, and you weren't tempted to stroll down S. Division unless you were on a mission to find drugs or illicit sex.  When Herpolsheimers closed in 1987, there was a misguided attempt to make it into a mall, but that soon failed.  Downtown was not the place to be.  Many, if not most Grand Rapidians were resigned to seeing their city turn into another waning Rust Belt casualty.  Having lived for awhile in Detroit, it's almost miraculous to see it bloom again today and to watch people stroll about, eat things, and be genuinely excited to be there and witness what is happening.

Who would have thought that cool Art Moderne building Junior Achievement abandoned would get a makeover and a chance to shine again?  It sat there empty so long, still beautiful, still interesting under layers of grime and broken glass block.  And there is TowerPinkster today, occupying it with pride.

Devos Place turns ten this month.  Having a safe location was no doubt as asset for the owners, but there wasn't nearly as much to see and do downtown a decade ago.  Van Andel was there, the Gerald R. Ford Museum was there, but ArtPrize wasn't even dreamed of, the brewery culture hadn't taken off, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum was still over on Division in the Federal Building that was purchased and renovated by Kendell College of Art and Design.  It was rededicated in June of this year and looks fantastic.

Turn and look the other way down Division, and it's all new as well.  Van Andel Institute, Betty DeVos Children's Hospital, and a completely re-terraced Hillside park have banished any rundown feel on the right side.  Michigan St. has been transformed as well.  What was a local scene of gas stations, houses, and stores, is now a wall of glass containing a series of state-of-the-art medical buildings.  It's hard to remember what the old Butterworth Hospital looked like or that Calvary Undenominational Church once took up nearly a whole block on Michigan.

Travel the S-Curve and you'll see cranes looming over the city and buildings being wrapped like Christmas presents.  The new Grand Valley Seidman Center has taken the place of an old warehouse, but that whole Pew Campus is brand new, not to mention the shiny YMCA building.  Follow the S-Curve and the Custer building salutes you, and the renovated Founders Brewing Company peeks out over her shoulder. Drive a little way further and you can peek into the greenhouses of the new Downtown Market.

It's almost like a brand new city!  What are your memories of the Grand Rapids that used to be?

New L. William Seidman Center, a complex creation

If you've driven the S-curve in the last 5 years, you've seen some change in the first bend of that S - an old building was demolished a few years ago, and the new $40M GVSU Seidman Center, has arisen from that rubble.  The newly finished Seidman Center now houses the entire Seidman College of Business and is a very attractive building inside and out.  According to the Grand Rapids Business Journal:

"The $40 million, 127,643-square-foot center is GVSU’s 16th LEED-certified building, said Bob Brown, project manager. Brown is expecting a silver rating, attributed to the building’s cost efficient and energy saving highlights, such as LED screens and a green roof.

"The four-story center will house the Small Business and Technology Development Center, as well as the Van Andel Global Trade Center, the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Center for Leadership and Innovation.

"The 3,000-plus business students in GVSU’s program will enjoy a state-of-the-art financial marketing trade room and cluster classrooms designed for team building. The new building is named after the founding chair of GVSU’s Board of Trustees and former FDIC chair."

Custer did the interior furnishing, which is stunning.

The Seidman Center did not come about without some controversy, however.  The building it replaced, the old A&P warehouse, was owned by Michael DeVries, President of development firm, Ed DeVries Properties Inc., and he was resistant to GVSU's offer to buy it.  GVSU made some rumblings about using eminent domain to acquire it - which raised some hackles - but eventually a deal was struck without resorting to it. (Don't read the comments on these articles if you don't want to process people's anger over eminent domain, GVSU's expanded presence in downtown, property tax revenues and Dick DeVos.)

Sadly, I could not find a good shot of the A&P building in its heyday, but given the utilitarian nature of its architecture, I think it could be said the Seidman Center is the most attractive building to stand at this location.  Apparently A&P was the Wal-Mart of its time, an American grocery icon, but it navigated the changes of the 1950s and 1960s rather poorly and closed stores left and right in the succeeding four decades.  Only about 300 stores remain open, down from 4,500 in 1950.  For some evocative pictures of the down-on-its-luck building before the wrecking ball encountered it, click here.