Should Downtown Grand Rapids Big Boy Be Replaced by Gas Station?

Are you familiar with the Big Boy restaurant in downtown Grand Rapids? I can't say that I am, but what we can tell you is that there's a gas station company that wants to tear it down and build a 24 hour gas station.

I'm not so sure about what's going on here, but why tear down a classic Big Boy restaurant and replace it with an unwanted gas station?

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Here's what mlive.com has to say:

Grand Rapids Planning Director Kristin Turkelson said the city received an email from Doug Lemons, senior real estate manager at Kum & Go, requesting that the proposal be pulled from the May 12 planning commission meeting after hearing “quite a bit of negative feedback.”

 

I guess there's a lot of negative feedback as to why this is not such a great idea.

I think it has something to do with how the whole project presents itself. There's also some kind of problem with the gas station selling wine and beer in that area.

Mlive.com tells us:

Grand Valley State University, whose downtown campus is also located near the proposed gas station, sent a letter to the planning commission urging its members to reject the idea. The university said the proposed 24-hour gas station could create “excessive” traffic and noise, and it also took issue with the gas station’s request to sell beer and wine.

What I'm getting out of this is that most likely it will never happen. Too many say it's not a good idea.

By the way, that Grand Rapids Big Boy restaurant has been around for many years and there are still quite a few residents in that area that would like to see the friendly face of "Big Boy" stay right where he's at.