10 IONIA NW PROJECT INTRODUCTION

Transcription

1 10 IONIA NW PROJECT INTRODUCTION The Hinman Company ( Hinman ) owns the 11,040 square-foot, triangle-shaped property commonly known as 10 Ionia Avenue NW, Grand Rapids, Michigan (the 10 Ionia property or property ) and currently in use as a parking lot within the Heartside Historic District. Hinman is seeking a certificate of appropriateness in order to develop a triangular-shaped, forty-story mixed-use residential and hotel development on the 10 Ionia property (the Project ). A certificate of appropriateness for the development of 10 Ionia Project should be granted by the Grand Rapids Historic Commission ( Commission ) because (i) the property does not associate with or connect to the history, aesthetics, or architecture of the Heartside District, (ii) because the property is uniquely situated in a portion of the district that is North of Fulton, (iii) does not contribute to the heritage or story of the district, and (iv) is more compatible with the character of the downtown business district North of Fulton Street, and as such, the Project meets the local guidelines and Secretary of Interior Standards for new construction in-fill. Additionally, the 10 Ionia Project meets the criteria of Chapter 68, Section of the Grand Rapids City Code for the purposes of the Historic Commission s existence because it will: (i). Stabilize and improve property values by injecting approximately ninety million dollars in project value into the downtown; (ii). Strengthen the local economy by bringing hundreds of residents and thousands of hotel guests and visitors each year, and create job growth in the downtown market at the Project s 100,000 square-foot hotel space; (iii). Foster civic beauty by bringing a uniquely-shaped development that will have an iconic look and feel, with unmatched residential views of downtown and the surrounding area; and (iv). The Project will not detract from the cultural, social, political or architectural history of the Heartside District because it has physically and historically always been associated with the main plat of the City on the North side of Fulton and separate from Heartside District. HISTORY The pie-shaped wedge known as the 10 Ionia property, was created as part of the platting done by Louis Campau, one of the founders of the village of Grand Rapids in the early 1830 s. Campau was known to lay out his road patterns based on old Indian trail and French design. Areas plotted by Campau are clearly characterized and easily recognized by their non-regular layouts and angular Northwesterly street patterns. Monroe became his primary street as it was originally an Indian trail that conveniently ended at his trading post. 10 Ionia is part of this historically irregular laid out pattern of streets and site configurations that connects it to Monroe Center and the history and development of downtown rather than the Heartside District. Service and commercial uses appeared on the 10 Ionia site as early as the 1830 s. The 10 Ionia property is shown below in an 1895 map:

2 The Heartside District came about almost 100 years after the village was originally established and was platted by a competing founder of the village, Lucius Lyon. Those areas platted by Lyon, a surveyor, were designed in the accepted grid pattern with streets running according to the compass. One can clearly see that 10 Ionia is part of the Campau design North of Fulton while the later developed Heartside District followed the more accepted grid pattern to the South of Fulton. 10 Ionia is now surrounded by Fulton to the South, Ionia to the West and Louis to the North. The Heartside District is described in its national register nomination as a distinctive warehouse/wholesaling and industrial district, and called the center for the city s wholesale trade located south

3 of Fulton. Prior to the development of Heartside as a warehouse district, it was home to a few mills and small temporary housing for immigrants. The oldest existing sections of Heartside are along Ionia SW with the wholesale Gunn Building, Hawkins Building, and Gardello s etc. dating to the 1870s. The character of the present Heartside District did not appear until the late 1800s and early 1900s when the area began to experience a boom in the construction of the manufacturing, warehouse and wholesale structures. Sanborn Map of Heartside from 1895: 1930 Map showing increased density:

4 It is this combination of manufacturing, warehouse and wholesale, and social uses that led to this districts successful listing on the National Register. In the late 1920 s, an 11-story parking structure (and later an auto service station) was the main use of the 10 Ionia property until it was demolished in 1979, before designation of the Heartside District. At the time the Heartside District was studied and created the 10 Ionia NW property consisted of a vacant lot/parking lot. It is unclear why the district boundary was drawn to include 10 Ionia, a non-contributing parking lot. The only possible explanation was to create a better flow of the Northern district boundary line to afford the inclusion of 50 Louis. The 50 Louis owner may have been desirous of obtaining historic tax credits to redevelop the building located thereon. If the line were drawn South of 10 Ionia to avoid the lot, the district line would have to have been drawn up Ionia, around 50 Louis and back down Ionia, akin to a balloon on a string. Something that most likely would have created concern for any reviewer at the National Park Service. 10 Ionia NW and 50 Louis NW are the only properties within the Heartside District that are located on the north side of Fulton Street.

5 Actual North Line Location: Hypothetical North Line without 10 Ionia: In 1979 historic preservation as a whole was a new concept and requirements for submittals and justifications were fairly minimal which is a plausible reason why the small expansion North of Fulton was permitted without a strong nexus for including a vacant parking lot (10 Ionia). It is clear that the goal was to protect 50 Louis Street and it is a fair assumption that at the time it made more sense to include 10 Ionia as a means to include that iconic building in the Heartside District, rather than to create additional work and public meetings to designate 50 Louis by itself. 50 Louis associates more strongly with the furniture show rooms and the social life of the downtown portion of the city. There does not appear to have been any reasoning or desire to preserve, or protect the heritage of the island property located at 10 Ionia itself because it contained no contributing elements or history that would have connected it to Heartside nor any features worthy of protection. 10 IONIA IS PHYSICALLY DEFINED AS A PART OF DOWNTOWN BUSINESS DISTRICT, NOT THE HEARTSIDE DISTRICT

6 10 Ionia s physical and visual isolation within the district make it a uniquely qualified area to absorb this type of in-fill project. 10 Ionia NW is separated from the Heartside District by a five lane artery known as Fulton Street, the North/South dividing point for the entire City. Further exacerbating the physical separation between the Heartside District and traditional downtown business district is the island affect the parcel has by being so small and cut off on all three sides by streets. There have been a variety of in-fill projects in the Heartside District all of which were reviewed based upon their contextual compatibility within the district, i.e., how a new project will mesh with its immediate surroundings. In a district as large as Heartside, there can be multiple contexts that are different from each other, even though these areas are within the same district. Each site is unique and will have potentially varying levels of impact which relates directly to its connection or, lack thereof, to any portion of the district. What is appropriate in one area of the district (such as Commerce) might not be appropriate for another (such as Division). This same analysis needs to be applied to the 10 Ionia Project and its surroundings. In the case of 10 Ionia, it is likely the only location in the district where a building of this shape and size could work because it is North of Fulton and does not physically, visually or historically associate with the district. The below photo illustrates an example of the difference in context, size, shape and surroundings of the 10 Ionia property (background left) and a vacant parking lot further South along Oakes and Commerce, in the heart of the Heartside District (foreground, pinned).

7 The area surrounding this vacant parking lot has an established physical rhythm and consistent massing, scale, and design characteristics. 10 Ionia does not have these elements. There are no spacial relationships between buildings, no established rhythms, massing, scale, and design, nor is there a historical era of construction along this portion of Fulton. While the Heartside District spans Fulton s South side from Division to the east side of the arena, there really is only a small one block node located between Commerce and Ionia that contains any historic presence and it only relates to the South side of Fulton. But even within this block there is no consistency in the viewsheds, scale, massing, design or character as it contains a historic four story structure from the late 1800s next to a Modern-era one story, which is adjacent to a new construction 2 story addition.

8 These pictures demonstrate the distinct visual change in the character of the area s architectural styles and view sheds surrounding the 10 Ionia property. Again, this area is characterized by its lack of historical context, massing, scale or design.

9 There are only two other historic structures that have frontage on Fulton and that s the Hawkins building at Ionia/Fulton and the JA Building at Division, but neither front the street. The 10 Ionia Project can stand alone as a product of its time and fit into its surroundings because the property has physically and historically always been associated with the main plat of the City on the North side of Fulton and separate from Heartside District. A certificate of appropriateness should be approved by the Commission because the Project will not detract from the cultural, social, political or architectural history of the Heartside District and more importantly, because the project meets the local historic district guidelines and Secretary of Interior Standards for in-fill.