Lansing-East Lansing, MI Development

[LMich]

Looks like CATA has developed its first significant exanpsion of service in years, and after one of the toughest years in the transit agency's history. I've been screaming about the downtown circulator for years, and, well, here it is.

Here are both minor and significant route improvements coming in August:

1. Increased frequency for Sunday service on Route 1 (Michigan Avenue/Grand River Avenue), where the wait for buses will decrease a minute-to-three during regular service (from 16 minutes to 13-15 mintues), and where the wait times will be reduced a whole five minute when MSU is in break (20 minutes to 15 minutes).

2. Wait times on Saturday service on Route 2 (South Washington-Pleasant Grove) will be reduced from 60 minutes to 30 minutes, and same on Sunday service. Shaving off half-an-hour is HUGE. Wait times on weekday service on Route 7 go from 60 minutes to 45-50 minutes.

3. Wait times on weekday Route 16 (Old Town) get cut from 60 to 30 minutes and same on weekend service.

4. The biggest change? The introduction of a downtown circulator! Route 17 will connect downtown and Old Town during the weekday with 15 minute wait times. I believe all these changes are some of the biggest improvements we've seen since CATA took over MSUs service years and years ago.

I'd like to see more improvements on the weekday routes, but this should make moving around on the weekends significantly easier in most cases.

[LMich]

A few little odds-and-end during June:

1. Lansing ends up saving another piece of its historic utility infrastructure in selling an old BWL substation up on Larch in north Lansing for conversion into office space. From the LSJ:

Haley Hansen, Lansing State Journal

LANSING — A rental property management company is hoping to move into a vacant Lansing Board of Water & Light substation near Old Town sometime next year.

Lansing-based Drew LLC has made a purchase offer on the Larch Substation at 1609 N. Larch, according to city documents. Owner Adam Brewer, who also owns Brewer Salvage, said he plans to move his rental business' offices into the space.

"A soon as we buy it, we’ll gut it out and clean it out and start right away," Brewer said. “It’s basically a shell."

2. To the west, the old Waverly Golf Course & Michigan Avenue Park in Lansing Township has finally been rezoned to allow its redevelopment into mixed-usage. From the LSJ:

Greg DeRutter, Lansing State Journal

Lansing Twp. — A $100 million redevelopment of the Waverly Golf Course is moving forward.

Lansing Township's Board of Trustees unanimously approved the rezoning of the golf course Tuesday evening.

The 121-acre site between Michigan Avenue and West Saginaw Highway is in Lansing Township but is owned by the city of Lansing.

Under a purchase agreement from October, Grand Rapids-based Northern Capital Investments LLC would buy the nine-hole golf course and an adjacent park from the city for about $2.2 million.

Lansing Township needed to rezone the property for mixed-use purposes for the sale to move forward.

The development would consist of 204 apartments, 52 multi-family duplexes, 76 townhomes and 101 single-family homes. Plans for the site also include 120 units of senior housing and 145,000 square-feet of commercial and office space.

[LMich]

East Lansing Buzz is saying that the facade on the Grand Avenue building in Center City will begin application starting Monday. It looks like they are up to floor three on the Albert Avenue building and floor four on the Grand River Avenue building. The next elevated deck poor is on the Grand River side for next Friday.



Over at The Hub will finally make its way above ground next week with the framing for the first flood deck, and they'll also be pouring the grade slab. Apparently, there were some issues found when pouring the foundation that slowed things down.

[LMich]

Wow, the revised plans for Park District down the street from The Hub and Center City District in East Lansing have been released and it's quite a surprise. The expectation was that the developer was going to downsize it after the finances for the last plan for this prominent corner didn't work out. In fact, they've kept it at 12-stories (about the max for East Lansing) and split off the hotel into a seperate 10-story building. This could be four high-rises in downtown East Lansing under construction all at the same time.

Building A would have ground floor retail, a level of parking above that hidden from view, and then 10 floors of 213 market-rate apartments. Building D would be a 10-story hotel with ground floor retail, second floor ballroom and meetings rooms, and the 8 floors of 194 rooms with a rooftop restaurant and bar. This building will have no parking. Then finally, Building C which will have ground floor auto and bicycle parking, and then five floors of 71 affordable market-rate units.

New Plans Revealed for Vacant Corner Downtown

By Alice Dreger, ELi

June 15, 2018

New plans have now been submitted for the vacant properties along Grand River Avenue on a key corner in East Lansing’s downtown. This is the project area most recently known as the Park District.

If this proposal manages to come to fruition where at least a half-dozen previous proposals over the last decade have not, East Lansing will see three new major structures, including a 12-story mixed-use building at the Grand River Avenue/Abbot Road corner and, just west of that, a new 9-story hotel. North of there would be a new five-story residential structure with “affordable, moderate-income” apartments.

Looking north from Grand River along Evergeen:



Looking south along Evergreen back towards Grand River:



Looking east along Grand River:



The architecture on the hotel I'd like to be better, but so long as it's not the centerpiece, I can deal.

[subterranean]

That looks appropriate for that corner. Of all the designs we’ve seen over the decades, I think I like this layout and format the best.

[Ex-Ithacan]

^^ Nice renderings, impressive density.

[deja vu]

The weakest part of the proposal (to me) is the new five-story residential structure to the north. I think it's mostly because of all of that parking surrounding it. The rest looks good.

[LMich]

The more I've looked at the hotel portion, the more concerned I've become of the architecture and poor massing. I hope to god that's not rough concrete they are using for the facade. And all of the blank walls are concerning. It'd be better to have a central elevator core so you could have windows all all faces of the building. But given that this was in danger of being majorly downgraded in scale, I won't complain too much. I just hope that the downgrade isn't going to result in sub-par facade materials.

BTW, every plan for this site that has included that north parcel has been unimpressive, but I guess they feel that the apartment buildings there currently aren't impressive. Developers routinely give their affordable housing portions short-shrift. Anyway, the parking you see around it already exists. In fact, the building actually takes up a bit of the surface parking to the immediate west of the existing building, so you're going to end up with slightly fewer open-air/uncovered parking spaces. The parking immediately west of that across the street (Valley Court) is actually for Valley Court Park. The parking immediately to the south is what I guess is for the existing apartment buildings and thus will be used for the new larger apartment building.

[LMich]

Saw the Notice of Public Hearing for July 11 by the Planning Commission on this one in the paper, and we get a few more technical details on this one.

100 West Grand River: 11 stories and 140 feet tall (East Lansing's height limit).

120-140 West Grand River: 10 stories and 119.5 feet tall.

314-345 Evergreen: 5 stories and 52 feet tall.

It looks like they will lay out the site plan for approval and request a special land use permit, which I believe is because the downtown zoning doesn't allow for by-right multi-family residential usages.

[LMich]

Originally Posted by LMich

The more I've looked at the hotel portion, the more concerned I've become of the architecture and poor massing. I hope to god that's not rough concrete they are using for the facade. And all of the blank walls are concerning. It'd be better to have a central elevator core so you could have windows all all faces of the building. But given that this was in danger of being majorly downgraded in scale, I won't complain too much. I just hope that the downgrade isn't going to result in sub-par facade materials.

Planning commission put out a packet with elevations and such. Fortunately, the facade of the hotel is just light-colored brick, and not concrete, thank god.

In other news, now that it's been under construction for months, it seems the developer finally added this project to their website. We also have a name: Center City is now Newman Lofts. Not sure if that name is just for one component of the block or the whole thing. In any case, they've also released a new rendering. This is the Albert Avenue (back) side:



http://www.newmanlofts.com/

Beautiful rendering. Target is on the Grand River side; the two buildings are split by an alley.

[LMich]

Another brewery is coming, this one to REO Town south of downtown. After a fire damaged it last year, East Lansing-based Ellison Brewery purchased the building late last year and unbeknownst to much of us began the renovation to turn this into a brewery and beer hall in January.

Photos courtesy City of Lansing.

[deja vu]

^ Very cool looking space for that brewery.

[LMich]

You'd never know from the outside. It's about as generic and old building as you'll find, and they've had the windows openings covered in wood for years. I hadn't even realized until it caught fire that Quality Dairy was actually using the building. So then imagine my surprised after the fire to find out they'd been in there renovating it since January. Everyone was wondering why they've taken the mural down and just assumed it was because of the fire.

From about a year ago:

Robert Killips | Lansing State Journal

Quality Dairy hopes to save REO Town building damaged in fire

By RJ Wolcott, Lansing State Journal

July 17, 2017

LANSING - Quality Dairy officials are optimistic that a 100-year-old building damaged by a fire Saturday night can be restored.

The front portion of the building located at 1314 S. Washington Avenue was engulfed in flames around 11 p.m. Saturday. Officials with the Lansing Fire Department were on site until early Sunday morning extinguishing the blaze.

Kevin W. Fowler | Lansing State Journal


Kevin W. Fowler | Lansing State Journal


Kevin W. Fowler | Lansing State Journal

[subterranean]

Great for REOTown. Such an underappreciated asset in the Lansing area that has struggled to become relevant even in the face of much revitalization. I wish someone would do something cool with a couple of the corner buildings, namely the old bank at 1200 S Washington and the building at the southeast corner of Washington and Elm (but maybe something has been done to this one since I left). What I think the area desperately needs, too, is some high density residential and not the type like Fountain Place.

[LMich]

1200 South Washington has been occupied for years by Prosthetic Center, Inc., and as the name implies a local retailer of prosthetics. I believe a new restaurant is moving in next door where the biker club was. A taco joint is moving into the old art deco gas station at the southwest corner of Washington and Elm. An antique jewelry store just moved into 1136 South Washington Avenue. Off the beaten path, the old laboratory in the old Moores Elementary school building is being replaced by an internet company.

I believe I've heard 1101-1103 South Washington (southeast corner with Elm) is currently being renovated.

Wert's Super Fancy Too LLC is renovating the other end of the block to move in Sleepwalker Spirits & Ale, and Daniel Nunez is rehabbing the building next door to open Wheel House Studio, where he will teach ceramic classes. The total investment between the two projects is roughly $500,000.

https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/...ent/548153001/

Lots going on in REO Town.

[LMich]

MSU is building its STEM Teaching, Learning and Interdisciplinary Research Facilities. The big thing here is that it'll resue the old Shaw Lane Power Plant as part of the campus.

- The STEM Facility will include new construction of approximately 117,000 gross square feet that comprises an addition on the north and south sides of the former Shaw Lane Power Plant.

- The existing approximate 40,000 gross square foot at the former Shaw Lane Power Plant will be renovated to provide adaptive re-use of an existing facility.

- The STEM Facility will house undergraduate teaching laboratories; project laboratories; and breakout space that will support gateway courses for biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, physics and engineering in a central campus location.

- The former Shaw Lane Power Plant will house a vibrant and active student commons and gallery that seamlessly connects the STEM Facility addition and gallery. It will also include student studio space, an idea accelerator for faculty and students, the HUB for Innovation in Learning and Technology, student help center, the Biological Sciences Program offices and the Undergraduate Research office. Collectively, this campus hub leverages programming, space utilization and sharing of physical infrastructure and operational resources.

- The new construction and resulting pedestrian circulation, necessitate closing lot 79E, losing approximately 75 parking spaces. There is available parking in lot 79 to accommodate the lost parking.

Apparently, construction started this month, though the design above is tentative, so it's probably just site prep. work for the time being. This is scheduled for occupancy in September of 2020.


Shaw Lane Power Plant by rexp2, on Flickr

[LMich]

Update from East Lansing Buzz:

Center City/Newman Lofts: Underground utility work is almost done on Albert Avenue along the back of the project. It included all kinds of electrical and water upgrades. Underground utility work now shifts to the south side of the development, which will close two of the three westbound lanes of busy Grand River Avenue (M-43).



The Hub: Work continues on the foundation. They've encountered way more problems with soils than they anticipated. Though, they begin this weak pouring the first floor.

[Rizzo]

The Newman lofts look great. Amazing what a well designed base can do to conceal parking

[LMich]

Well, the new mayor and city council have pulled the plug and are finally giving up the ghost on the Lansing City Market. It cease being a farmers market years ago, so now the mayor wants to sell the building and the land for some unspecified project.

Protesters call on officials to save Lansing City Market

By Sarah Lehr, Lansing State Journal

July 9, 2018

LANSING — About 20 protesters gathered outside Lansing City Hall Monday evening, calling on officials to save the City Market.

The future of the market is up in the air.

City Council voted in May to slash Lansing's annual subsidy to the market from $80,000 to $40,000. The reduced subsidy will allow the market to stay open through the summer, its busiest season.

Council members say the market, which has operated at its current location along the Grand River since 2010, has strayed from its original purpose. Farm vendors left the market in 2016, and the market no longer accepts food assistance after losing a federal farmer's market designation.

City Council scheduled a public hearing as part of Monday night's meeting to discuss changing the designated location for market operations. Mayor Andy Schor also has asked City Council to let voters decide on whether to let the city sell land on which the market building sits.

I won't miss the building if they decide to demolish it; it was truly a joke and one of many factors that hastened the market's demise. But it's sad to see how former Mayor Bernero treated this facility as an after-thought, since all he ever really wanted was the private development of the area.

To be clear, this doesn't necessarily mean the end of the Lansing City Market, though it likely does. What it does mean is that this is the end of the market at this particular site, downtown. The area has plenty of other farmers markets; in fact, the proliferation of farmers markets in the area after the recession is yet another factor for the waning downtown market. The whole thing is a mess, and only the mayor seems to know what he wants to see on the land.



old market

[LMich]

The LSJ picked up the story on MSU building it's STEM Teaching and Learning Facility. They also have an additional rendering we hadn't seen.

MSU gets nearly $30M to turn dormant power plant into classrooms

By RJ Wolcott, Lansing State Journal

July 10, 2018

EAST LANSING - Michigan State University is getting nearly $30 million from the state to transform a long-shuttered power plant into a classroom building.

The Shaw Lane Power Plant, built in 1948, will undergo extensive renovations and additions to create the new STEM Teaching and Learning Facility. MSU expects to spend $97.5 million adding a combined 117,000 square feet to the north and south ends of the power plant. The 40,000 square foot existing building will also be renovated.

MSU hadn't used the building as a power plant since 1975, and they demolished the old chimney in 2011 and folks feared the building would be next. Anyway construction begins this summer and will wrap up in 2020.

Speaking of MSU, lots of other major construction courtesy the Infrastructure and Planning and Facilities Department:

Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building: This one began construction last year, and will be completed next August. Since the building's interior is highly technincal laboratories, some interior spaces won't be built out totally until 2020. But, the exterior is largely done, already.



Business College Pavilion



Solar carports - covers 5,000 spots on campus producing a peak of 10.5 megawatts