Lansing-East Lansing, MI Development

[LMich]

Getting some more news on the Oliver Towers renovation from a recent council committee agenda. The number of units have been lowered slightly to 96, and the renovation is starting months earlier to beat the OPRA certificate deadline; it will now start in September instead of December with interior demolition already having occured. We also found out pricing. Units will go from $750-$910 which is crazy given it's literally two blocks north of the capitol. Units are going for over $1,000 in certain units in Gillespie's development in the stadium district neighborhood. Completion must be by the end of December of next year.


Oliver Towers by NewCityOne, on Flickr


Deluxe Apartment in the Sky by NewCityOne, on Flickr

Oliver Towers has a history. It was completed in 1971 as a senior citizens apartment building and included the headquarters of the Lansing Housing Commission on its expanded ground floor, probably as part of an "urban renewal" scheme. A deranged resident lit a fire in the building in February 2000 forcing all of the residents into other housing commission properties, and the building has been vacant since. Plenty of schemes have been proposed for it since since it was city owned and was part of a full block of city-owned land. Ultimately, a local developer bought it in 2015.

Oh, the facade will be completely changed, thank god, and the ground floor will included retail space as well as renovation of some of the existing office spaces for offices.

[LMich]

The brick is going up on Center City's south building - the one with the Target - and it's not brick veneer, thank god. Photos courtesy of Alice Dreger of EastLaningInfo.





Really nice, old-fashioned approach. I'm glad to see the quality on this.

[LMich]

This has been in the development stage for years, but it looks like the old hotel on the southeast corner of 496 and Dunckel will finally get redeveloped. This is being kick-started almost solely because of McLaren and Michigan State's newest hospital, which is scheduled to begin construction sometime this year a mile or so up Collins Road.

Nick King / Lansing State Journal

Florida developer plans $52 million apartment complex at Dunckel and Collins

By Haley Hansen, Lansing State Journal

July 16, 2018

LANSING — A four-building, $52 million apartment complex at the site of a former hotel near the intersection of Dunckel and Collins roads could start construction later this year.

The complex is designed meet the housing needs of new medical professionals who will come to Lansing for jobs at McLaren Greater Lansing's new hospital. The hospital announced in December plans to consolidate operations at its two south Lansing facilities into one $450 million facility near Michigan State University.

The proposed housing development will have four buildings holding 286 market-rate units. The project will include garage parking, an outdoor pool, courtyards, grilling stations, an enclosed outdoor dog park, a clubhouse and a leasing center.

I'll be interested to see how this differs from the last proposal for this site, which had underground parking and mixed usage. Anyway, they are hoping to start construction on this one by this fall, and have it completed by mid-2020.

[LMich]

Looks like we're getting a name for the Grand River building at Center City: Landmark on Grand River:



http://landmarkongrandriver.com/

North building is the senior apartments Newman Lofts:



http://www.newmanlofts.com/

[subterranean]

I'm really wondering why that needed help from MEDC. Also, that thing is way substantial compared to what was there.

EL needs to find a way to release the growth pressure valve without fucking up the residential neighborhood right behind. Hopefully they can continue down Grand River, slowly replacing the strip mall type developments and squat single story businesses instead of ripping into the historic single family fabric north of Ann and east of Bailey. I also think it would really behoove the city to start the long conversations with MSU about allowing some retail and residential growth ON campus in a smart growth fashion. The era in which MSU was granted the land was a much different time than what we are living in today. Huge suburban campuses can be beautiful, but the current situation is not conducive to how much the area has grown since the land was granted.

I don't know what the arrangement was with MSUFCU out on Farm Lane and Mt. Hope, but if they can do that there, I see no reason why they couldn't use some other university land in really smart ways. To me it's a no brainer given how goddamn huge that campus is while the pressure is put on the small historic areas adjacent to campus. And whoever is in charge of facilities needs to be replaced because it's clear whoever is managing facilities is of a suburban mindset as evidenced by all newly developed campus housing and the newish MSUFCU branch.

[subterranean]

Or maybe they are changing their ways? I didn't even know this went up.

[subterranean]

Building elevations from the Park District's entitlement package.



Screenshot_2018-07-17 East Lansing Entitlements Package - 2018-0627_24x36 pdf - MetaViewer php by NewCityOne, on Flickr





Screenshot_2018-07-17 East Lansing Entitlements Package - 2018-0627_24x36 pdf - MetaViewer php(1) by NewCityOne, on Flickr




The surfaces look really bland. The brick building actually reminds me of my first dorm experience at MSU - Hubbard Hall. I promptly transferred to West Circle at my first opportunity.

[LMich]

Originally Posted by LMich

It seems 1855 Place - the mixed-use complex across from the arena - was mostly complete as of the last time I posted; however, the official opening of the complex is tomorrow. The university office, retail and residential building facing Harrison Road is still having internal build-out on some floors. Anyway, here's the residential building on Harrison next to the office building:


MSU Infrastructure Planning and Facilities

I usually find that kind of siding as the bane of modern architecture, but they color and texture seems to work on this one, so I'm not too mad about it. Also, there is enough applied masonry that it ends up looking really nice regardless.

Oh, and the plaza between the other residential buildings and the office/retail building is really something:


David Shane | Develop Metro Lansing

We actually talked about 1855 Place back in October; you remarked on the architecture.

I see also that you found my Flickr page. I was gearing up to post those. In any case, those elevations don't look any worse than what Center City put up when they submitted their plans, and they seem to be turning out decent. I suspect this is another one that's going to look better in person.

[LMich]

In some other major news, CATA and MSU agreed upon a new scheme in which MSU would pay for bus service on campus allowing for free service on campus for students and faculty.

Free on-campus bus service for students starts fall semester

Emily Guerrant, MSU Today

July 18 2018

Michigan State University and CATA have amended their contract for the 2018-19 academic year to make on-campus bus service free to all students, staff and faculty. Free service will go into effect Aug. 27, when fall semester classes commence, and will run on a trial basis for one year.

“This agreement will reduce the out-of-pocket costs to students and parents and be an incentive for more students to use CATA while on campus to get to class and back safely,” MSU Interim President John Engler said. “This fall, Spartans will just need to board and take a seat."

The agreement amends the current contract between Michigan State and CATA, which factors in expenses, federal and state support, and rider usage. The change will be funded through the university’s general fund. Last year, there were 3 million rides taken on campus routes.

First time in the history of the partnership (1999) that this has happened. With MSU providing CATA with a quarter to a third of its annual ridership, expect these numbers to climb.

Kind of random post, but MLive.com has a piece on arcade bars this morning, and it features some great photos of The Grid in Old Town Lansing. I love what they did with the place. Photos are MLive.com file photos.

[subterranean]

Oh, cool. I didn't realize that was your Flickr page, I just saw them pop up in my feed and thought I'd share them. Sorry to jump the gun on you. As for the buildings across from Breslin - I lose track sometimes. My memory isn't what it used to be.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by LMich

Kind of random post, but MLive.com has a piece on arcade bars this morning, and it features some great photos of The Grid in Old Town Lansing. I love what they did with the place. Photos are MLive.com file photos.

This looks awesome!

[LMich]

After literal years of negotiations, the city council finally approved of the amended development and purchase agreement with the developers of the proposed Red Cedar Renaissance project on the far eastside of Lansing.

$242 million project at former Red Cedar Golf Course approved by City Council

By Haley Hasen, Lansing State Journal

July 23, 2018

LANSING — The Red Cedar project has cleared another hurdle.

The Lansing City Council unanimously approved a purchase and development agreement with the developers of the proposed $242 million project on the former Red Cedar Golf Course bordering East Lansing.

The city first approved a development and purchase agreement with developers Joel Ferguson and Frank Kass in late 2014. The developers submitted an amended purchase agreement for a scaled-back project proposal earlier this year.

The development includes:

The project would include at least 200 apartments, more than 1,200 beds of student housing as well as an assisted living and memory-care facility. Plans also call for two hotels, a public park, restaurants, retail space and a public amphitheater.

The project still needs approval from the Lansing Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Michigan Economic Development Corp in order to move forward.

Construction on the site could start as early as spring 2019.

Much of the cost for this is the result of three massive unground parking garages to raise the area out of the floodplain. Aside from the private development, the whole southern two-thirds of the site will be used to mitigate pollution from the Montgomery Drain, which runs through Frandor and enters the Red Cedar River at the project site. So, it will have lots and lots of water elements (boardwalks, expanded wetlands, rain gardens in Michigan Avenue, etc...).

[LMich]

From East Lansing Buzz:

July 20

Center City



The Hub



The Hub has had so many problems. I'll be glad when they update that it'll finally show the first floor deck.

[deja vu]

Originally Posted by LMich

After literal years of negotiations, the city council finally approved of the amended development and purchase agreement with the developers of the proposed Red Cedar Renaissance project on the far eastside of Lansing.

Heard this on the radio this morning - great news, and good luck!

Originally Posted by LMich

The Hub has had so many problems. I'll be glad when they update that it'll finally show the first floor deck.

What problems have occurred with The Hub? I'm surprised it's not further along.

[LMich]

Issues with the soil that prevented them for concrete pours on part of the basement level for weeks at a time.

[LMich]

Park District has been slightly revised. The one big change is adding black brick along the front section of the apartment building. I'm not a big fan of the change.







Usually a fan of black brick, but it seems out of place as a front-of-building exterior in downtown East Lansing. It's like they are going for "edgy," but that's not what downtown East Lansing is; should have just kept it light. The funny thing is that the hotel uses light-colored brick, but the massing and the articulation is all wrong.

Aside from that, everything else looks about the same. I think this one comes before the city council early next month.

[subterranean]

Another change. Suprise.

[deja vu]

Yeah, what is that black brick all about? Doesn't seem like it would be good for solar heat gain coefficients either - that's kinda the south-facing facade, is it not? I agree - stick with the earlier version.

[LMich]

Weekly EastLansingBuzz update:

It appears that the Target at Landmark on Grand River is framed; they will next install the glass. And they are saying the company will be able to do internal build-out in the coming weeks. This seems to be way ahead schedule?



Over at The Hub on Campus, they've finally gotten above ground. They've had a lot of problems with the soil at the site, which has slowed down construction by many weeks. They are nearly complete with the first floor columns for the second floor.

[LMich]

A few things coming up in this week's council committee and board agendas...

- In our first official movement on the new McLaren Greater Lansing campus, McLaren is requesting a total vacation of Alliance Drive - and partial vacation of Technology Boulevard - in the University Corporate Research Park. This will be between the MSU Foundation building to the north and the Granger Building to the south.



- Speaking of the new McLaren Greater Lansing, 3600 Dunckel - a residential project consisting of four, 4-story buildings to include 286 units - is the first direct spin-off of McLaren's announcement. The committee on development and planning review the project this week and likely send their recommendation to the full council at the meeting barring some hold-up. The city's brownfield authority already approved the brownfield plan.

- On that same development, because the developers are seeking to develop this under a "planned residential development" overlay, the developers have simultaneously requested a special land use permit to go before the Planning Board this week. A "planned residential development" PRD overlay allows for flexibility in developing residential projects on large parcels of land and includes things like bonus density, a mix of housing types in a district that would usually restrict for a single housing type, etc. In this case, the developer isn't seeking bonus density. It appears the only reason they are requesting a special land use permit is because they are developing multiple buildings on one parcel. Anyway, if this gets recommended for approval this week, then it goes through the council committee structure and then finally to the full council. The developer is moving fast and wants to get this thing started this fall.

- Lastly on 3600 Dunckell we find out in the planning board agenda that they requested a lot split back in May for some reason, and want to develop commercial uses (including a hotel) on the Duncekl Road frontage. To give you guys some orientation on this site, it will be down Collins Road from the new hospital in the southeast quadrant of the intersection with 496 on the site of an old hotel that operated there for decades. It's literally squeezed in on east by some of MSU's experimental farms which stretch for miles up the Collins Road frontage and 496 on the west. Directly south is Lansing main post-office. You really feel out in the middle of nowhere out here, so this isn't going to be an urban development by any stretch. But it'll provide nearby housing for McLaren employees and MSU students in training working at the hospital.