KALAMAZOO / PORTAGE / BATTLE CREEK | Development Thread

[deja vu]

The proposed Hard Rock Hotel still has a pulse, apparently (and a new price tag) -

$65M Hard Rock Hotel project rolls forward in Kalamazoo, but behind schedule
Brad Devereaux and Audrey Whitaker | MLive
August 29, 2024

[jkazoo]

I just cannot see this as ever happening and being successful. What cultural or societal wave am I missing? I would LOVE for this to work in Kalamazoo but the location is not a draw except for distant history-- Gibson left decades ago. I do understand a current guitar maker is there, yes. The demand for more hotels isn't apparent, and it's too far from the arena to be the first choice for visitors. Please make this make sense. Is it a generational change sweeping us up that I can't see because I'm 60? God bless ya developers, I hope I'm very wrong.

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by jkazoo

I just cannot see this as ever happening and being successful. What cultural or societal wave am I missing? I would LOVE for this to work in Kalamazoo but the location is not a draw except for distant history-- Gibson left decades ago. I do understand a current guitar maker is there, yes. The demand for more hotels isn't apparent, and it's too far from the arena to be the first choice for visitors. Please make this make sense. Is it a generational change sweeping us up that I can't see because I'm 60? God bless ya developers, I hope I'm very wrong.

I'm 35 and I don't get it either. I understand that hotel demand will increase with the event center. But no matter how iconic the location is, it is a 20+ minute walk from the event center and downtown, through one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city. Meanwhile, you've got the Home2 Suites, the Hilton Garden Inn, and the Radisson all within 2-3 blocks. It's encouraging that PlazaCorp enlisted the W.E. Upjohn Institute to evaluate the economic impact. But they've owned the property for ten years now, and based on this latest article, it doesn't sound to me like the developer is very bullish on this proposal. It would make a LOT more sense to me if they were to propose a Hard Rock Hotel directly adjacent / connected to the event center (and the rest of downtown), and then maybe just offer tours of the old Gibson Factory (with shuttle service to & from), for the few tourists that would really travel just to see that.

[jkazoo]

Really, put it into the old courthouse at rose and Michigan. They own that too, don't they? I'm really hoping for an out-of-the box proposal for the old courthouse, preserving most of the exterior, building a 20-30 story hotel + residences out the top—closer to the arena than the gibson site.

If you thought the bike lanes were controversial, wait for anything to happen next to Bronson Park, unless it's a bulldozed building for a low-density playground.