I took a long drive on Sunday to check out various construction progress around Kalamazoo and Portage. Presented here in the order I came across them, starting with Kalamazoo (photos are greatly compressed, for ease of uploading) -
At WMU, the new parking deck and pedestrian bridge are taking shape -
Lot 89 is all torn up. Not sure if this is just for repaving project, or if there is something bigger in the works -
Demolition has begun on both the
Bernhard Center (old student union building) and
Valley 3 dormitories -
Moving downtown, all that remains of
these three homes on Allen Blvd. that were
destroyed by fire last month -
And right behind here, all that remains of
Michikal Ave. -
And near all of this, all that remains of Eleanor St,
and Water St.,
and Cooley St.,
and Park St. etc. etc. (sensing a theme?)...
...as they push hard with infrastructure work for the future event center, the inner streets have been vacated and mostly demolished -
Much of the downtown construction these days is heavily concentrated in the developing Arcadia West area. One thing I thought they were long done with was the new courthouse, but I noticed that they are now installing finished column wraps over the structural columns. Interesting, because I've heard more than one person comment that they seem too skinny and disproportionate with the scale of the building. It turns out, they just weren't finished with them! No doubt a supply-chain delay -
But enough about buildings. Back to roads! Ransom St. is also all torn up, causing distress for many local small businesses -
Depending on who you talk to, you'd think that streets are becoming an endangered species downtown -
ISK (
the older building, not the new one) is getting an ADA ramp and new stairs -
Tiny Houses of HOPE (I love the concept, but I still think the location, at the
SE corner of Westnedge & North St., is terrible, and much better suited to some denser mixed-use) -
The new,
temporary location for the Alma Powell Branch Library (but honestly, it might make sense that this ends up becoming the permanent home, with some remodeling & site improvement work... we'll see) -
There's really not a lot to see from the street, but the Arcadia Lofts conversion is definitely underway -
Further south, 530 S Rose (
Google satellite view is fairly new and already shows the building dwarfing the houses around it) -
Heading to the east side now,
1601 E Main (not the most flattering angle, but it was just a quick drive-by) -
Consumers Concrete's sexy new concrete masonry block factory, made out of (you guessed it!) concrete masonry block (
corner of Sprinkle & E Michigan Ave) -
KRESA Career Tech Center, which I'm hoping to tour soon, to get some better photos -
The new, dual-branded Hilton Hotel (Tru by Hilton & Home2 Suites by Hilton), at
5185 E Cork St. -
For the prophecies sayeth, where once there grew corn, now there shalt be a great gathering of generic-boxy hotels, as far as thine eye can see, and it shall be good...
On to Portage, just a few things to share. First, Pfizer's MAP facility -
Second, the new Portage Central Elementary, one of several currently being built around the city -
Last, a look at Tall Timbers -
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