Yeah, as I'd said when we talked about this earlier, it's weird you put the building at the "back" of the lot, and what will the land fronting Michigan Avenue be used for? A semi-circle driveway or something?
A driveway is the assumption I'd make, but I don't know. It's also odd because the documents also mention that the buildings will be buffered from the neighborhood and that the office building will step down to two floors at the south end. Maybe this is an outdated site plan.
That is really interesting, and I actually think you can see that "step" in the site plan, too. It'll really help when we see some actual renderings. I also wonder what this means for the Sparrow Foundation currently on this block? My guess is that it'll find space in the building, or they'll just move it into the hospital. It's not a huge amount of space, but enough to take up what I'd imagine would be a least half a floor in this new building if that's where it's going. I'm also wondering what exactly goes into the space the cancer center at Sparrow's main hospital will leave? Currently, the cancer center is mostly on the east side of the hospital, I believe, with parts of it across the street in the professional building.
This whole things sets into motion a lot of musical chairs. With all of this expansion at their main campus, I still say there needs to be a hotel built on the old tire shop on the block directly east of the campus. Sparrow is already a regional hospital, but it's reaching a level where you'll have even more people coming in from out of town for longer-term care, and they' and their families will need somewhere closer to the hospital to stay than the often over-booked Radisson or the hotels up at Eastwood or Frandor.
The central city could use few hotels and one near Sparrow wouldn't be a bad idea at all. I know the subjects been beat to death, but I still can't understand for the life of me how downtown or even Michigan Ave hasn't got even a moderately sized hotel with or without tax breaks.
As for the space in front of the new building, I'm wondering if maybe they're planning another building for along Michigan Ave in the longer term. They still haven't built the administration building that I heard rumored a while ago and another professional building doesn't seem unlikely either. I imagine that the current cancer center will be the site of the next hospital expansion, which I'm guessing is 5-10 years out.
According to the LSJ, it will be called the Herbert-Herman Cancer Center. If I have any criticism it's that they may be underusing this site. They should consider constructing the building with the possibility of vertical expansion like they did at the main hospital. It's not as if they have unlimited room to work with, and Sparrow will be growing well into the future.
Wow that roundabout uses a ton of space and it's all car-focused. It would be nice if the renderings showed how CATA, pedestrians, and cyclists will interact with this. For example, the extra turning lane on Michigan Ave will make it harder for pedestrians to cross that driveway.
It would be nice if they put a stoplight here, since it's between the entrances of Sparrow on both sides of the street.
I mean, you put a full-fledged garage at the site, and it's going to make it harder for pedestrians, regardless. I think they did a fairly good job of mitigating the traffic impact. There isn't any other way to do this. They can't move the traffic to the back of the site as the neighbors in the residential areas are already feeling taxed. You've got the entrance to two full-scale parking garages, so all things considered the circle doesn't seem oversized, at all. It certainly will work better than that mess of driveways they have over at the main hospital.
Do you think a pedestrian crossing stoplight there could be useful? That would certainly make it easier for pedestrians to cross Michigan Ave without having to walk to either corner. It looks like they may be planning for one based on the pedestrian crossing markings in the renderings.
Yes, there are clearly pedestrian crossings in the rendeirng, so you won't have to walk to either end of the block - not that people do anyway, but there will actually be crosswalks, now. What's also pictured ais a new skybridge to the professional building, so you'll be able to navigate the entire complex above street level during working hours.
Comments
I'm not sure if this is just a concept or something actually in the works but it would make for a nice addition to the hospital.
A site plan of the new cancer center and parking ramp from the December 8th council packet:
I'm not sure what to think of the deep setback from Michigan, I can't imagine the neighborhood will be thrilled.
This whole things sets into motion a lot of musical chairs. With all of this expansion at their main campus, I still say there needs to be a hotel built on the old tire shop on the block directly east of the campus. Sparrow is already a regional hospital, but it's reaching a level where you'll have even more people coming in from out of town for longer-term care, and they' and their families will need somewhere closer to the hospital to stay than the often over-booked Radisson or the hotels up at Eastwood or Frandor.
As for the space in front of the new building, I'm wondering if maybe they're planning another building for along Michigan Ave in the longer term. They still haven't built the administration building that I heard rumored a while ago and another professional building doesn't seem unlikely either. I imagine that the current cancer center will be the site of the next hospital expansion, which I'm guessing is 5-10 years out.
According to the LSJ, it will be called the Herbert-Herman Cancer Center. If I have any criticism it's that they may be underusing this site. They should consider constructing the building with the possibility of vertical expansion like they did at the main hospital. It's not as if they have unlimited room to work with, and Sparrow will be growing well into the future.
Also, is the retail in the garage along Bingham?
It would be nice if they put a stoplight here, since it's between the entrances of Sparrow on both sides of the street.