I noticed two nice additions to this building. On the hotel side near the tracks, a nice wall of glass is being installed. Also on the big grey wall facing S.Cedar, they have installed a three-story tall electric billboard that was displaying some nice artistic looking landscapes and still life pictures which I hope they plan to continue and not use it for ads. You can easily see the billboard from Kalamazoo. It looks good and is what I thought the BWL was going to put up at the substation.
It's an Adams Advertisement billboard; it will most certainly be used for ads, at the very least for their store. It's why I'm mixed on it. The pictures I saw today were very nice, but I'm imaging when they are pushing sells on milk and such and how I'll feel. lol There is already more signage on the building than I'd like (they had to get a variance for it); I just hope this isn't too busy.
I'd be very surprised if the hotel didn't have its own entrance. I am curious how they'll do it though, will you just immediately go to an elevators/stairs and up to a second floor lobby or will the lobby and check in be on the first floor?
I am not sure but I think there will be an entrance to the hotel near the tracks on the east side. There is a yet to be finished area there which may be the hotel lobby. I saw that they have planted some nice sized trees on Michigan Avenue, I love that!
Hood, in this earlier rendering, it appears the first floor on the hotel side is, indeed, part of the hotel.
It doesn't appear the market stretches the entire site unless they changed the design further. In that case, I imagine there is en elevator and stairwell lobby in between the store and hotel lobby for access. I also imagine that the main entrance to the hotel is right off the parking lot on the back like for the store.
Couldn't really tell from this rendering, but while driving by this evening they've put up a nice long metal awning over the ground floor of the hotel section, which would help pedestrians out of the elements. Also, the vertical lighting you can see on the small eastern face in this rendering is WAY brighter than it appears. It's a beautiful little touch. They've also put up the black framing around the hotel which really sets off the white. I still think the white and off-white panels on the hotel part are kind of cheap looking, but the framing definitely helps.
Also, gb mentioned the trees on the Michigan Avenue frontage. Well, the Larch Street frontage has some beautiful mums planted in the curb strip/planting strip/treelawn.
My only real criticism as this has all come together is that they REALLY should have found a way - developer, city, and utilities - to bury the overhead wires along Larch. I really thought they were going to find a way to do this; it's always been one of the visually unpleasing things about the whole Stadium District.
I agree that the building is looking good, the best so far built by Gillespie. They have also planted a nice row of cedar trees along the back of the parking lot on the little street back there with many more other types of trees and shrubs. Also, there is a new fence behind the auto shop blocking off the view of the parking lot. I don't know if the auto shop did it but the front of their building has been nicely landscaped too.
It would be appropriate to put all utilities underground downtown. It would be kind of a bummer to have to look at those wires just outside your fancy new apartment window. The BWL does not really care too much about the aesthetics of their overhead grid, witness the huge ugly steel line poles that now line 496. I think they could also bury the lines in forested neighborhoods to save the trees from the bad utility cuts and save the lines from the trees coming down on them. As the BWL produces steam I think it would be great if while burying the lines downtown they install a mesh of small steam lines that could keep the street and sidewalks clear of snow and ice. I have seen this in a few places in Northern Europe and it works. Just dreaming!
Comments
@OliverScram
Kind of curious if they have one for the hotel guests?
It doesn't appear the market stretches the entire site unless they changed the design further. In that case, I imagine there is en elevator and stairwell lobby in between the store and hotel lobby for access. I also imagine that the main entrance to the hotel is right off the parking lot on the back like for the store.
Also, gb mentioned the trees on the Michigan Avenue frontage. Well, the Larch Street frontage has some beautiful mums planted in the curb strip/planting strip/treelawn.
My only real criticism as this has all come together is that they REALLY should have found a way - developer, city, and utilities - to bury the overhead wires along Larch. I really thought they were going to find a way to do this; it's always been one of the visually unpleasing things about the whole Stadium District.
It would be appropriate to put all utilities underground downtown. It would be kind of a bummer to have to look at those wires just outside your fancy new apartment window. The BWL does not really care too much about the aesthetics of their overhead grid, witness the huge ugly steel line poles that now line 496. I think they could also bury the lines in forested neighborhoods to save the trees from the bad utility cuts and save the lines from the trees coming down on them. As the BWL produces steam I think it would be great if while burying the lines downtown they install a mesh of small steam lines that could keep the street and sidewalks clear of snow and ice. I have seen this in a few places in Northern Europe and it works. Just dreaming!