Very nice! Hope you don't mind if I share a few pics I took on a visit last week.
Copa and the neighboring building are both being demolished due to "structural issues." Originally they were supposed to be renovated. They will be replaced by a grass lot that will immediately become "build to suit" space. Yeah I know, Flint has been on a roll in terms of downtown development, but I'd sure like to see a building go up there fast. I hate large empty lots on Main Streets. You're not Saginaw for crying out loud. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/...cf585442_b.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3052/...24e161a7_b.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/...0ab74213_b.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3276/...9edc585a_b.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3127/...4336e03d_b.jpg |
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BTW, what does Wade Trim do, or is that the name of the building? |
Wade Trim is a large engineering firm. They have over 21 offices across the nation, but their headquarters is based in Detroit and they operate quite a few offices throughout Michigan.
The fortunate thing about the new WTB is that side wall is really nice, so it won't look so awkward with that grass lot there. I'm actually confident it will be built upon. I realize Genesee Towers is an ugly reminder of vacant office space, but no responsible tenant would ever move into that place until it receives some proper structural work. |
All Gone
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Ugh, now the Rowe disaster is within better sight. Build faster.
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Wade Trim Building almost ready to open
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/bu..._downtown.html
Wade Trim Building in downtown Flint almost ready for business by Melissa Burden | The Flint Journal Monday July 28, 2008, 4:48 PM FLINT, Michigan -- The moving truck for Wade Trim Inc. won't be traveling far Friday, but workers at the civil engineering firm are anxious to set up shop in a newly built downtown building. Office furniture and supplies should be moved Friday from the current office at 601 N. Saginaw St. down the street to it's new building in the 500 block of South Saginaw Street, said Jason Kenyon, a vice president and office manager for Wade Trim's Flint office. The office's staff of about 25 is expected to start work at the new building on Monday. "This is something we're looking forward to," he said. Wade Trim is leasing the $5 million building's entire second floor, which totals about 8,500 square feet. The new brick building is owned by real estate development group Uptown Developments and sits next to the recently razed Copa Building. Also, WNEM (Channel 5) is hoping to move into its first floor space by mid-September, said Al Blinke, WNEM's general manager. Three of the four loft apartments in that building have been leased and Uptown Developments is getting close to leasing at least one, if not all three remaining retail spots on the first floor, said Phil Shaltz, a managing partner in Uptown Developments. Next door to the Wade Trim Building at Saginaw and Second streets, a pile of bricks and rubble is all that remains of the former Copa Building, where women shopped for fashions for decades in the old Vogue store and more recently where people danced the night away at The Copa nightclub. Uptown Reinvestment Corp., a nonprofit spearheading downtown Flint revitalization and owned the Copa Building, had planned to market the building to a restaurant or nightclub, but found that part of the project not viable because of the building's age and deterioration, said Ridgway White, a project manager with Uptown Reinvestment. Crews will continue working at the site, which will be created into a grassy park area. Uptown Reinvestment will try to market the space to a developer to use as an office space, White said. Across the street at the Rowe Building, which suffered a partial collapse in August 2007, foundations are being put in to support steel structures, Shaltz said. Rowe will occupy two of the floors in the $13 million building, which is combining three historic structures into one. The first floor could be home to a restaurant and loft apartments are slated for the top floor. If all goes well, the building could be completed by the end of the year or shortly thereafter, Shaltz said. Other projects downtown include the recently completed Community Foundation of Greater Flint Building and First Street Lofts. Shaltz said Uptown Developments is meeting with people interested in locating restaurants in the new downtown buildings. "There's a lot of activity with a lot of potential restaurants and bars," he said. |
Flint to get new downtown parking structure
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?se...cal&id=6305496
Ground will be broken this week By Joel Feick FLINT (WJRT) -- (08/04/08)--Ground will be broken later this week on a new $10 million parking structure for downtown Flint. It will be built at the corner of Kearsley and Beach on land that had been owned by Citizens Bank. The Downtown Development Authority will own the new parking deck, and will sell bonds to pay for it. Some of the money will also be used to repair an existing parking deck adjacent to the Character Inn. No city money will be used for the project The head of the DDA says it's a good news, bad news story. The bad news? With all that's going on downtown, parking has become a problem at times. The good news? The structure will be four floors and will house 388 new parking spaces. It won't be for people who are stopping into the nearby Secretary of States offices, for instance. They'll be directed to the surface lot across the street. IThe new structure will largely be for people who work downtown. They'll pay $60 a month to park here. "You get Rowe Engineering down here with 100-plus employees. Wade Trim coming in. Your competitor, Channel 5, is in. We now have the Community Foundation here on the Main Street rather than in their own lot. All of those folks need extra parking," said DDA's Larry Ford. Larry Ford, from the DDA, expects the new facility will be open by June of next year. Then as we hopefully get some successes with regard to the hotel, I'm hoping that the Crim will be able to make those numbers work. But then we gotta accommodate that hotel. Right now we're not, and right now my ramp at the hotel is full," Ford said. Ford feels it will set the standard for future development downtown. "It's gonna set the standard for other things that are gonna happen in this community. We're pleased about some other potential development down here." The new parking center will be called the "James Rutherford Parking Structure," named for Flint's former mayor and longtime booster of downtown Flint. The plan is to have the structure open by next June. |
Intermodal hub under construction
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?se...cal&id=6308346
Construction under way next to Bishop International Airport By Gabe Gutierrez FLINT (WJRT) -- (08/05/08)--One of Flint's two planned intermodal transportation hubs is taking off. Construction is under way next to Bishop International Airport. You may have seen it if you've driven down Bristol Road. You might have also seen the TV ads. It will be the site for FedEx's new sorting facility. The company plans to move in by February of next year. It's been in the works for years. "It takes time," said Bishop Airport Director Jim Rice. Rice says the biggest challenge is behind him. "Just the coordination of the contractors, getting one thing done before another part of the project could start," he said. But it's started. FedEx's new sorting facility is just one phase of a $33 million project. The planned freight center is expected to bring hundreds of jobs. "Most times people want to hear about the jobs but what we really need to put our attention on is the infrastructure," said Stan Blood with the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce. "If we put the right pieces in place, I believe the jobs will follow." An intermodal hub moves cargo from one form of transportation to another. "When we opened this airport, there was only about 60,000 pounds of freight a year being hauled," Rice said. "Last year, we were close to 60 million pounds of freight." Rice says he hopes more will follow FedEx and take advantage of Bishop's location either by land, rail or air. This isn't the only so-called intermodal project in the works. About a year ago, local officials announced plans for another hub on the former Buick City property in Flint. |
Rowe now costing $20million
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/in...skyrocket.html
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Ugghhh....:gaah: |
Pre-leasing begins at the Berridge
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?se...cal&id=6332502
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http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?se...cal&id=6335338
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First I've heard of a possible medical school. Given the demand for on-campus housing at UM-Flint (evidenced by the new dorm being filled), I see there being a large market for student oriented, "off-campus" , apartments in downtown - a role that the hotel could easily fill. Heck, if it doesn't work out with the Crim Foundation, UM-Flint should just buy it and turn it into another dorm. |
HealthPlus could move from Flint Township to downtown Flint
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/in...ve_to_dow.html
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http://blog.mlive.com/newsnow_impact...LUSMOVEweb.jpg |
I said it at Urbanplanet, but 380 new office jobs in downtown Flint would be huge, and the site that they are looking at would make quite a statement if they do decide to move down and do it right.
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They should move into Genesee Towers!! :yuck: :D
J/k |
The news just keeps on coming
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/bu...t_eyesore.html
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The development going on in downtown is great, I just wish there was a way to preserve some of these buildings (Copa, Metropolis, even Genesee Towers). It's a shame that they're all in such a state of disrepair that the only feasible option is to tear them down.
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I agree. They better have a rock solid project if they are going to go ahead and tear down a building like that. Knowing the track record of dt development, they'll probably eff up the buildings on each side causing another block of buildings to be leveled similar to the Wade Trim project issues which led to the demolition of COPA. And then of course there's the Rowe project . . . .
The Metropolis Club is a great building, and I believe it's likely faux historical replacement won't compare. Why don't they build where Copa was. It's a better corner. Sorry community foundation, you don't have my support on this one. |
Pictures, people; pictures! Help a brutha' out.
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I would post it, but that would require searching effort.
.....i might be motivated tomorrow. If I would have known, I might have brought my camera on my visit up to Flint today.....er I mean Genesee Valley Mall. Architecturally, this is definitely a structure worth saving |
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