  Nellonfury Member Username: Nellonfury Post Number: 209 Registered: 03-2005 |
I haven't been at downtown for a while.Earlier today, I was driving around and going down 3rd Street where the new MGM Grand/Hotel is at and I notice that people were driving out of the new parking garage.Man it's huge...not only that, I did seen a little bit of the drive way to the entrance of the new casino and hopefully we'll might see a brand new streetescape.From the looks of it,MGM is around %50% complete!!! | ||
Docmo Member Username: Docmo Post Number: 196 Registered: 10-2005 |
Hopefully, they add some facade work to the garage. | ||
Broken_main Member Username: Broken_main Post Number: 1182 Registered: 06-2005 |
The traffic that you saw was probably from DTE workers. | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 426 Registered: 06-2006 |
The parking garage is definitely big, but I've noticed that many people are mistaking the main building that houses the casino floors as part of the parking structure when it's not, even though it's attached, so it's not really as big as people think... | ||
Motownman Member Username: Motownman Post Number: 51 Registered: 09-2006 |
Any pictures? | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 647 Registered: 04-2006 |
If you notice, the garage appears to be on two sides of the casino. I would assume that there would be direct access from the garage to the Casino itself. I would agree that it would probably be quite a walk for Hotel guests unless there is some sort of interior corridor being planned. | ||
Bibs Member Username: Bibs Post Number: 626 Registered: 10-2003 |
I drove by a week ago and all of the windows appeared to have been installed in the hotel. Does this shape of the hotel maximize the best views of the Detroit skyline, Ambassador bridge etc? Or is it just for aesthetics? | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3371 Registered: 08-2004 |
The shape of the hotel is just like that of most Las Vegas strip casino hotels... a 3 pointed star. Only in this instance only 2 points have been built to date, with a 3rd point likely for future expansion, if necessary. | ||
A_franklins_son Member Username: A_franklins_son Post Number: 67 Registered: 11-2003 |
http://img82.imageshack.us/img 82/543/p1020252ju2.jpg http://img82.imageshack.us/img 82/1861/p1020255vh3.jpg http://img143.imageshack.us/im g143/8243/p1020253qb4.jpg http://img226.imageshack.us/im g226/783/p1020254rp0.jpg | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3375 Registered: 08-2004 |
I'm dying to see the inside of their completed casino. We've only seen renderings of the outside so far. I wonder what surprises the inside will have in store. Of all the casinos, I always thought that the waterfall atrium (now gone) in Casino Windsor was the fanciest, but that's because the Detroit Casinos were temporary sites. So I would imagine that with a 3/4 billion dollar budget, there's bound to be some lavish interior splendor awaiting future visitors... | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3376 Registered: 08-2004 |
I also wanted to say how well timed the casino construction is for downtown. With the metro area undergoing such distressing financial times, it's good to see thousands of construction workers kept busy on these 3 massive projects. | ||
Emu_steve Member Username: Emu_steve Post Number: 64 Registered: 11-2006 |
I'm a big, big believer in building roads and bridges and buildings for the employment aspect as well as what roads, bridges, and buildings might otherwise offer. I don't want to sound cynical, but construction jobs can't be outsourced to India or elsewhere. With manufacturing in a funk construction provides another employment opportunity for our blue collar work force. | ||
Emu_steve Member Username: Emu_steve Post Number: 65 Registered: 11-2006 |
I thought of some benefits (including employment) of a building project like building homes on the river: 1). It provides employment for those who build, sell, etc. those homes. 2). It beautifies the area. 3). It increases the tax base for the city. 4). It frees up the buyer's former residence for someone else who is probably 'trading up'. 5). It stimulates the local retail economy as the residents will spend money in the downtown area. 6). Residents of new pricey projects are likely to demand better government. 7). In a small way, help reduce urban sprawl as those new residences are built close-in and not far out. 8). Encourage development in areas tangent to the new development. Development begits other development. 9). Reduces the 'donut effect' - I see metropolitan areas as like a donut - with the central cities and downtowns as usually being the hole in the middle. (Message edited by emu_steve on December 30, 2006) | ||
Docmo Member Username: Docmo Post Number: 197 Registered: 10-2005 |
It's pretty amazing how big MGM is on the updated mapdetroit site http://www.detroit2005.com/map o/main_area.html | ||
Detroitstar Member Username: Detroitstar Post Number: 398 Registered: 01-2006 |
I know it's a little off-topic, but I dont think it deserves another thread... any ideas for what to do with the MGM temp site? With the great condition and ideal location is there any legitimate retail possibility? With that much square footage and connected parking it seems ideal for retail. | ||
French777 Member Username: French777 Post Number: 43 Registered: 10-2006 |
will the MGM MotorCity casino's be done earlier than late 07' due to this unseasonal warm weather | ||
Bibs Member Username: Bibs Post Number: 627 Registered: 10-2003 |
I have also been wondering what will happen to the temporary MGM grand building? Will a fourth casino license be issued? New HQ for the Detroit PD? Seriously though, I hope the building is put to good use. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3392 Registered: 08-2004 |
I've mentioned this before many times, but I would like the temporary be turned into something like a Magic Johnson Theatre Complex with stadium seating. The exterior of the building is perfectly suited for such an entertainment possibility. And the interior can be partitioned off into separate theatres. With a parking structure next door, and easy freeway access, it would be ideal. And I would hope that they take a page from the Fox Theatre.... everyone coming into the building would have to pass thru a metal detector. This will keep weapons out of the building. | ||
Toog05 Member Username: Toog05 Post Number: 88 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yea a movie theatre sounds good, maybe mixed with an arcade for all ages like a gameworks or something, that would be perfect | ||
Bibs Member Username: Bibs Post Number: 628 Registered: 10-2003 |
An establishment that will provide an outlet for conventioneers and corporate outings a la Dave and Busters would be great! A facility with a rock climbing wall, cutting edge arcade etc would be great! | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1492 Registered: 11-2003 |
I've been wondering about this. Is the massive structure up against I-75 a parking garage? (A_franklin's 4th pic shows a bit of it, but it's just the tip of the iceberg.) It looks kind of like a parking garage, but it doesn't have any visible sloped ramps, so perhaps it's not. There's a different, shorter, structure up against the lodge which clearly is a parking garage and has sloped ramps. | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1493 Registered: 11-2003 |
This is an old pic, but this shows the structure I'm asking about. The thing pointed to by the blue arrow is definitely a parking structure, but is the thing pointed to by the red arrow also a parking structure? The green arrow points to the hotel. [EDIT - Photo removed by request of the Copyright Holder - Please Observe the use of Copyrighted Materials on this site] | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4977 Registered: 10-2003 |
That ENTIRE thing that looks like a parking garage is the parking garage. It is huge, and you can't mistake it for anything else. I'd put those photos up on flickr. It's really hard to mistake a casino for a parking garage, when casino buildings are rarely over two or three stories for some very obvious reasons. (Message edited by lmichigan on January 02, 2007) | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1497 Registered: 11-2003 |
On the plus side, you really only see the enormity of the parking garage if you're on the freeway. From the hotel side, or if you're a pedestrian in the CBD, you'd really only see the edges of the garage. But yeah, I'd have to guess that this is the largest parking garage in the city. | ||
Reetz12 Member Username: Reetz12 Post Number: 115 Registered: 09-2005 |
Enough parking spaces for all of DTE employees and MGM employees, hotel guests and valet. Yes indeed we need all of those parking spaces. Red and Blue are Parking! The area between Green and Red is the gaming/convention area. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 670 Registered: 04-2006 |
Remember part of this whole scheme is to green up the front of DTE. Also recall that the structure between first and second; as well as bagley and plaza drive was knocked down (it was in real bad shape). something needed to replace all of this lost parking. DTE isn't going to wait for the Grand River BRT or the Ann Arbor Train! | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3395 Registered: 08-2004 |
Yep.... and that catwalk to the left of the red arrow is the one that goes from DTE to the parking structure. Didn't someone on this forum state that there were something like 10,000 parking spots in the MGM garage? I think that the sharing of the parking decks by DTE & the casino was a smart move. Most (but not all) DTE employees work the day shift during the week, and the casino gets busier at night and on the weekends. A win/win situation for both. | ||
Bibs Member Username: Bibs Post Number: 629 Registered: 10-2003 |
It's pretty clear from that photo that the parking garages are all positioned along the freeway? Why? Noise? Aesthetic reasons? Why not the reverse? You drive into the parking garage and then walk into the Casino? Plus, the windowless casino would front the freeway and lure people into the city. Set me straight if I'm wrong! | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 4979 Registered: 10-2003 |
Come again? The parking shouldn't be anywhere but where it is. It's good they at least tried to tuck the monster away from the street. That's really the least they could have done. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3397 Registered: 08-2004 |
I have to agree with Lmichigan... why on earth would we want the pretty side of the casino facing the freeway?? Folks know its there already. It would further isolate the fortress that it will become. At least you can walk over to it and enter the casino from the street side facing downtown. It would be less inviting if you were walking towards a monster parking structure with a casino behind it. And besides, I think it would totally isolate itself from the DTE complex, rather than complement it, as one large business and entertainment campus. | ||
Bibs Member Username: Bibs Post Number: 638 Registered: 10-2003 |
Good points! I agree that there are advantages to having the parking garages face the freeways. I'm just thinking of the tens of thousand of people that drive through Detroit via I-75 everyday and judge the city based on the way it looks from a vehicle traveling at 70 mph! Having an attractive facade facing the freeway could due wonders for image of the city. A cement fortress is forboding | ||
Lmichigan Member Username: Lmichigan Post Number: 5000 Registered: 10-2003 |
We're talking the benefits of some drive thru motorist to actually making the thing as attractive from street level as it can be. The latter is far more important than what people view from a freeway. Worrying about what something looks like from a freeway is what sprawled suburbs worry about, not urban cities. Cities are supposed to be for urbanity, not with concerns to what something will look like on a few second drive-by of a freeway. | ||
Dougw Member Username: Dougw Post Number: 1506 Registered: 11-2003 |
Apologies for posting the earlier pic not owned by me... it's tough to find one that shows most of the structure. Here is a pic that I took myself a few months ago which shows the part of the structure I was asking about. (Note that this is only about half of the total MGM parking structure.)  | ||
Rbdetsport Member Username: Rbdetsport Post Number: 205 Registered: 11-2005 |
Looks like a parking garage to me? |
