Quote:
Originally Posted by shivtim
WHAT is that skywalk? That's going to destroy the look of the facade of the Rose street market building. Is it connecting to a parking garage? Why on earth would they allow that? Can people not walk on the sidewalk for 30 seconds?
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Yes, there was a deal a while back wherein the city transferred the ownership of the Arcadia Parking Ramp on the east side of Rose St to the developer for $3 million so that they could use it for hotel parking. The ramp was reportedly under-utilized. It was a
sweet deal for the city.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DetroitSky
deja vu, do you have any recent update photos on the downtown projects?
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It has been a while since a comprehensive update. That's mostly due to COVID-19 and protests (which have subsided) locking things down. The urge has been growing though. Construction is still progressing on the major projects - Catalyst / 180 E Water St, The Hilton Hotels, The Creamery, Advia Credit Union... There has been a good amount of smaller projects too, both downtown and in the surrounding areas. I'll go out soon and get some shots...it's supposed to get slightly cooler this weekend.
Of particular note, there is now a construction fence and job trailer along with some heavy equipment stationed on the site of the future county court house downtown. That is scheduled to begin construction this month, and it seems like despite everything, it will in fact hit that milestone.
In the meantime, I did at least get a fairly recent shot of the new WMU student housing project - Arcadia Flats. Hopefully they will have students to fill it with, come fall semester
This is from a July 2 drive-by. The exterior of the building is nearly complete.
In sadder news, four historic residential structures in Kalamazoo's Northside neighborhood were destroyed by fire in June, when the city was under curfew and the protests were happening. While the cause of the fire is officially "undetermined with human involvement" it is pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain that it was arson.
The fire started at
912 / 914 W North St., an abandoned, 3-story building. It quickly spread to the houses immediately to the east (902 W North St) and west (918 / 920 W North St), as well as a 2-story masonry structure behind it, to the north. Three of the four structures were uninhabited, and one was in the process of being converted into affordable housing. A long-term resident in 918 / 920 was able to escape only with her life.
A city official told me that these structures shared a central heating system via underground tunnels at one time. This may or may not have been a contributing factor as to why all of the properties were consumed so quickly.
These aerial images of the aftermath were provided by Kalamazoo public safety. You can see the total destruction of the central structure - it looks as if a bomb was dropped on it.
More info / images source:
Quote:
Report: Cause of large Kzoo fire undetermined
July 1, 2020
Nick Ponton | WoodTV8
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — The cause of a fire that destroyed several homes in Kalamazoo’s Northside neighborhood in June may never be known.
News 8 obtained the incident report Wednesday morning via a Freedom of Information Act request.
In that report, Kalamazoo Fire Marshal Scott Brooks wrote in that the house was “completely consumed and was in the final stages of the building falling down” when he arrived on the scene...
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I drove by a few days ago and took some quick photos. The remains of all four structures were demolished into the ground with 24 hours of the fire being put out. Now there are just some large debris piles and a perimeter fence.
Fortunately, these historic homes were at least well-documented by the city and many others, since they were located in a historic district. I took some photos myself, on a walk in December.
Here's 912 / 914 W North St - the center structure where the fire reportedly started:
This is 902 W North St, located to the east of the the previous. You can also glimpse the structure behind 912 / 914, a 2-story masonry building that appears to have been multi-family housing at one point. Both of these were too damaged by fire to be saved:
Here's 918 / 920, which was the only structure that was occupied. It was also significantly damaged by fire and then demolished:
If there is one piece of good news about all of this, it is that 836 W North St survived unscathed. This Victorian beauty is one of my favorites in the city. It also sits vacant at the moment. The fact that it was separated by a street might have been it's saving grace.
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