Disaster Movie Potential
After our tour of The Castle last summer, my cousin and I grabbed some food at a diner down the street and went for a walk by the Grand River to talk things over. It made sense for both of us. He had let me know a few months earlier that he was interested in […]
The Library
Most of the amenities at The Castle are typical for modern apartment complexes. Stone European castles may not have a pool, a bike storage room, a dog park, exercise rooms with cardio and weight machines, or a coffee shop, but this concrete American castle does. The pandemic has limited some things: rather than running on […]
Driving / Walking
Part of The Castle’s core pitch to potential residents is how quickly people can drive to Grand Rapids from there. It’s tucked in just off of I-196, and two right turns brings you from the property onto the fastest route to GR. There are only a couple exits before you reach downtown and the US-131 […]
The Eighth Floor
The vision that animated The Castle clearly had its flaws. It’s much bigger than it should be. The sheer size of the building made it virtually impossible for the developers to avoid using cheap materials at scale. Had The Castle been built half as big, they could have finished the exterior instead of leaving exposed […]
Introducing The Castle
The story of The Grand Castle starts in Bavaria. In 1868, King Ludwig II cleared the ruins of two castles in the foothills of the Alps to build a castle of his own. Young King Ludwig’s authority was diminished after a military defeat, and he spent most of his reign pursuing elaborate vanity projects. Those […]