Lansing-East Lansing, MI Development

[LMich]

Yeah, I could work with porcelain, but my greatest fear is that they slap some paint onto some gussied up concrete and call it a day. They've already knocked the cost of the renovation down by taking out the basement-level underground parking.

Either way, glad to see this formally started. 190,000 square feet is a significant development for the city. This is actually slightly larger than the 185,000 square-foot Ottawa Street Station renovation (minus the 100,000 square-foot annex).

[LMich]

I really hope this comes to fruition. That LCC even forced this issue to begin with is a crime:

This house on Capitol and Saginaw owned by LCC is one of three houses a group of Lansing residents want to buy and have moved to the Ottawa and Butler street areas. / Rod Sanford | Lansing State Journal

Relocating LCC-owned homes not an easy task, group finds

By Lindsay VanHulle | Lansing State Journal

December 17, 2012

Residents of Lansing’s Genesee neighborhood say they’re still short the hundreds of thousands of dollars they believe they’ll need to save three historic houses owned by Lansing Community College from demolition.

The group wants to buy the houses from LCC, move them to a vacant lot near the Michigan Hall of Justice and rehab them so others can buy them. But the plan hinges on the residents raising the necessary capital to fund the venture and purchase the 5.3 acres near Ottawa Street and Butler Boulevard now owned by a bank.

LCC, for its part, is giving the neighbors time to test their proposal. The group, 8 Families LLC, also is working with the city’s planning department and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority to fund a larger part of the effort — to rehabilitate other houses on the withered block into an owner-occupied community.

“We’ve been seeing these just continue to fall apart,” said Tony Beyers, who lives on West Ottawa near the vacant land. “Most people, I think, would probably tear them down at this point, but if we can save them, I think that helps to build the neighborhood back up again.”

...

In its proposal, obtained by the Lansing State Journal under the state’s Freedom of Information Act, 8 Families estimated a $215,000 budget for the costs of removing and relocating the houses. Another $800,000 in government funds would be used to buy five other properties, renovate the three LCC-owned homes and repair two homes already on Ottawa Street.

Beyers recently told the State Journal that estimated costs to move the three LCC houses are roughly $300,000, with another $400,000 expected in renovation once they’re set in place. He would not disclose the total amount already in hand, but said securing public grants is one of the still-outstanding pieces of the financing package.

“It, unfortunately, is not a profitable proposition,” he said.

...


A house at Capitol Avenue and Saginaw Street owned by Lansing Community College features oak woodwork and is one of three home a group of residents want to buy and move to the area of Ottawa and Butler streets rather than see them demolished. Rod Sanford | Lansing State Journal

[LMich]

Knapp's renovation - December 27


Construction Workers by JSmirks, on Flickr

REO Town Cogeneration Plant - December


Robert Killips | Lansing State Journal

[LMich]

I think this building looks very cheap, but it's downtown East Lansing's tallest in a city that's tried to keep a lid on downtown high-rises forever, so I guess it's worth a mention:

Greg DeRuiter | Lansing State Journal

Opening of The Residences in East Lansing on target for fall

Lindsay VanHulle | Lansing State Journal

January 9, 2012

EAST LANSING — Downtown East Lansing’s landscape is taking a new shape with work on what will end up as the city’s tallest building.

By late summer, the eight-story apartment building, The Residences, should be finished on the corner of Albert Avenue and Grove Street, with 42 one-, two- and three-bedroom units ready in time for Michigan State University’s fall move-in. Commercial space will be available on the first floor.

The $8.5 million Residences project is being developed by A&G Partnership LLC, a joint venture of Douglas Cron and David Krause of East Lansing-based Cron Management LLC.

Neither returned messages seeking comment on their progress. But their company’s website describes the project as decidedly upscale, with connected parking to the city’s Grove Street ramp, secured entrances, modern furniture and appliances and 9-foot ceilings. Rent will range from $1,750 per month for a two-bedroom apartment to $2,925 per month for a three-bedroom apartment, depending on the floor plan.

Rent for a one-bedroom was not available.

Together, they should hold a maximum of 84 residents, said Tim Dempsey, East Lansing’s planning, building and development director.

City leaders say the project’s developers are on schedule. When completed, it should edge out the seven-story Marriott at University Place hotel farther east on Albert Avenue as downtown’s tallest building. East Lansing zoning law allows construction of buildings up to 10 stories in a portion of downtown with special permits, Dempsey said.

...

[subterranean]

Typical Studio Intrigue & Cron and Krause.

I wish Mark Sellers would have chosen better buildings for HopCat. These buildings he's chosen have no character at all.

[Rizzo]

I've been to just about every traditional big 10 city and all their taller 'luxury' student housing buildings look pretty crappy. Not a fan of Ann Arbor's or even Madison's. And there's not really an excuse, I mean they charge practically the same rent as a place here in Chicago...and the architecture in our case is way better. With lower taxes and easier approvals, a design improvement is really warranted. In 30 years, they'll be the U-Towers of ann arbor

[LMich]

It really is little more than about bilking naive students to get a quicker return on investment. They know that your likely group of roommates aren't going to care nearly as much about what this thing looks like so long as they get to say they live in a high-rise in downtown East Lansing.

Cron really doesen't care much about the product short of Albert Place, the only thing they've ever really seemed to try on. They know that there has always been a demand (captive market is probably more appropriate) for housing in inner-city East Lansing, and all they care about is exploiting it.

BTW, I think the same story says that the neighboring, four-story St. Anne Lofts are completely sold off after getting it's residential occupancy certificate sometime in October of something. Apparently, the ground floor retail/restaurant space still isn't ready, though.

[LMich]

I think this is the largest wind project in the metro. Clinton County sits probably at the far south-southwestern edge of where all the farms have gone up in the past five or so years.

Clinton County wind project advances

By Steven R. Reed | Lansing State Journal

January 11, 2013

A special-use-permit for a $123 million wind-turbine project advanced on a 4-1 vote by members of the Clinton County Planning Commission.

Approval or denial of the permit request could take place as soon as the Jan. 29 meeting of the seven-member Board of Commissioners.

Chicago-based Forest Hill Energy-Fowler Farms LLC proposes erecting 40 towers, each 427 feet tall, on lands leased across Dallas, Essex and Bengal townships. Each of those townships has passed local ordinances that are more restrictive than the county’s, setting up a possible legal battle if the county board OK’s the permit.

...

The county will get its way, but the townships are going to be really picky.

[LMich]

I think this is the largest wind project in the metro. Clinton County sits probably at the far south-southwestern edge of where all the farms have gone up in the past five or so years.

Clinton County wind project advances

By Steven R. Reed | Lansing State Journal

January 11, 2013

A special-use-permit for a $123 million wind-turbine project advanced on a 4-1 vote by members of the Clinton County Planning Commission.

Approval or denial of the permit request could take place as soon as the Jan. 29 meeting of the seven-member Board of Commissioners.

Chicago-based Forest Hill Energy-Fowler Farms LLC proposes erecting 40 towers, each 427 feet tall, on lands leased across Dallas, Essex and Bengal townships. Each of those townships has passed local ordinances that are more restrictive than the county’s, setting up a possible legal battle if the county board OK’s the permit.

...

The county will get its way, but the townships are going to be really picky.

[LMich]

The Lansing Mall's finally getting an on-site multiplex. This replace the old AMC directly to the east of the Mall, and add to the 6-screens directly west of mall at the Goodrich.

Matthew Dae Smith | Lansing State Journal

Lansing Mall to get new 12-screen cinema

By Lindsay VanHulle | Lansing State Journal

January 18, 2013

DELTA TWP. — A new, stadium-style multiplex is coming to the region, this time on the west side of the Lansing area.

Regal Entertainment Group plans to open a 50,0000-square-foot theater at the Lansing Mall, mall owner Rouse Properties Inc. said. With 12 screens, the Knoxville, Tenn.-based chain’s new theater will double the number of screens currently available to moviegoers at an adjacent mall-owned site.

...

The mall’s new theater brings a cineplex to the west side of the Lansing area, which now only offers a six-screen theater operated by Grand Rapids chain Goodrich Quality Theaters Inc.

...

It's been embarrassing that the only theater option on the westside has been the Goodrich, which has limited options with only 6-screens.

[subterranean]

I'm still amazed that a city of Lansing's size can support three malls, so I guess a third multiplex will be gobbled up as well.

I wish I had the capital to open a theater in downtown Lansing. We can see The Hobbit in 3D, IMAX or regular, but still can't see an indie film or a decent music show at a mid-sized theater without driving to Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids.

[LMich]

Originally Posted by subterranean

I wish I had the capital to open a theater in downtown Lansing. We can see The Hobbit in 3D, IMAX or regular, but still can't see an indie film or a decent music show at a mid-sized theater without driving to Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids.

I absolutely hate not having an option of a small theater anywhere within the urban area. You literally have to travel to one of the small cities and villages out in the country to catch anything, and most of those are second-run. I think the closet you get to something like this is Wells Hall at MSU, but I've never been there.

I had to go all the way to the State in Ann Arbor a few months back to see a first-run, independent film. It's embarrassing a metro of this size doesn't have a small theater in the urban area.

BTW, I was surprised that we didn't have more multiplexes considering all the ones that used to be here. I made mention of the AMC east of the Lansing mall, but there was also theaters both out and inside the Meridian Mall years ago (two small theaters inside the mall, and one outside). So, all of the ones being added back I just see as replacements of what used to be. So, Regal (in Delta Township) and Studio C (in Meridian Township) are really just replacing screens lost. The theaters' geography is also conducive to their future success in that you have them far enough apart and serving the four directions: Celebration in the South, NCG in the North, Stuido C in the east and now Regal in the West.

[LMich]

Not urban news, but anything to fill out the industrial district in Lansing's 425 Agreement areas around Lansing-Delta Township Assembly is good news, especially these Tier One suppliers building high-tech plants:

Major auto supplier to build new plant in Delta Township, create 400 jobs

By Laura Misjak | Lansing State Journal

January 24, 2013

DELTA TWP. — A Canadian auto supplier plans to build a 350,000-square-foot plant in Delta Township, bringing 400 new jobs and an investment of $75 million to the area.

Norplas Industries, an Ohio company owned by Canada’s Magna International Inc., plans to build what is billed as a state-of-the-art robotic paint line and injection molding factory in a Delta Township industrial tract that includes General Motors Co.’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant. Magna officials said Wednesday they have not settled on an exact site and that pay ranges for employees and a timetable for opening the plant have not been set.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by LMich

I absolutely hate not having an option of a small theater anywhere within the urban area. You literally have to travel to one of the small cities and villages out in the country to catch anything, and most of those are second-run. I think the closet you get to something like this is Wells Hall at MSU, but I've never been there.

I had to go all the way to the State in Ann Arbor a few months back to see a first-run, independent film. It's embarrassing a metro of this size doesn't have a small theater in the urban area.

BTW, I was surprised that we didn't have more multiplexes considering all the ones that used to be here. I made mention of the AMC east of the Lansing mall, but there was also theaters both out and inside the Meridian Mall years ago (two small theaters inside the mall, and one outside). So, all of the ones being added back I just see as replacements of what used to be. So, Regal (in Delta Township) and Studio C (in Meridian Township) are really just replacing screens lost. The theaters' geography is also conducive to their future success in that you have them far enough apart and serving the four directions: Celebration in the South, NCG in the North, Stuido C in the east and now Regal in the West.

That is surprising. And I was about to say. Many small town theaters have been successful showing independent films and get sell out crowds. I actually made a thread on that awhile back. "The return of small town and neighborhood theaters." You think something like that would be a tremendous success in dt Lansing or EL. I always think

[LMich]

Originally Posted by Hayward

That is surprising.

What's surprising? That downtown Lansing doesn't have a small downtown theater? Yeah, the small town theaters are doing pretty well, but Lansing lost all of their's, and I guess it just hasn't been a priority. It's really odd considering the urban area has a film festival - the East Lansing Film Festival.

[LMich]

Apartments possible at Walter French site

By Lindsay VanHulle | Lansing State Journal

February 4, 2013

The company renovating a former downtown Lansing department store into a collection of retail locations and housing has a second historic preservation project in mind.

This time, Eyde Co. wants to turn a vacant school on the city’s south side into apartments.

Eyde, based in Meridian Township, is in the early stages of discussing what to do with the former Walter French school it owns near the intersection of Mt. Hope Avenue and Cedar Street. A former Lansing School District junior high school, the building last was home to the Walter French Academy charter school until it closed in 2004.

Details, such as cost, number of units or rent that would be part of any new residential structure are premature, said Mark Clouse, Eyde Co.’s general counsel. But he said plans could be ready for consideration this year.

...

“We’re thinking residential is probably a good use for the space,” Clouse said.

“There hasn’t been anything new or different in the kind of mid-south, or almost downtown or just south-of-downtown (area). It’s an area that I think needs a little shot in the arm.”

...

Walter H. French Junior High School by Norm Powell (napowell30d), on Flickr

Kind of surprised they aren't considering demolition, but I've been impressed with how well they've kept it up. I was a little pissed to see them cut down the trees on the Cedar Street side, but other than that, they did a good job of not letting it fall into ruin. I'd always thought this would make an awesome renovation project given that it's built on a prominent corner.

[subterranean]

Huh. Well, that would certainly fit in with the ideals of the master plan, i.e. establishing density along Cedar.

[LMich]

Speaking of Design Lansing, I was kind of disappointed to see that they didn't mark Cedar as a BRT corridor. I don't think there are many corridors that would justify the cost, but I think it would do wonders for Cedar Street. Besides Michigan Avenue, I'd always thought you could do a mode upgrade along both Cedar and MLK. It'd have to be modified/BRT-lite to make more stops than a full-on BRT, but I think the corridors are long enough to support something above the current service.

Anyway, just a dream. I'm surprised with how seemingly uninterested the Michigan/Grand River Avenue BRT project has been off the radar of local politicians despite it moving along behind the scenes.

[subterranean]

Completely agree about Cedar. I think it's a good candidate, being just about halfway between Penn and MLK. You could always plug into Holt and Mason, too, if the demand was ever there.

I like the upper part of south Cedar because there are still remnants of its zero lot line days. With the right investment, sections of it have a lot of potential to be vibrant again.

I was wondering the same thing about the BRT, but I always assumed that it's because it contains the word "bus" so people just don't care as much. I don't think they understand that it would take an incredible investment and major physical improvements to put in BRT. When it was first proposed, I was really disappointed because I thought it was a cop out. But now I sort of think of it as a Trojan horse. We get the infrastructure built for BRT and maybe in 20 years its refitted for streetcar. Then again, maybe I'm dreaming.

[LMich]

It's going to be funny when the federal money is announced for it, and everyone's going to be shocked. This has been so under the radar I don't even know if people will remember there was even a study followed by a federal application for funds to begin with.

That said, I wonder how CATA is going to cover it's operation? I've been a little disappointed in CATA because the system has obviously been growing just about year-on-end, but they aren't expanding capacity. It's gotten to the point where ridership is just creeping up because there hasn't been any new capacity added to the system in years. I'd like to see the local politicians more involved with big ideas for the system. It works very well, but it's kind of stalled.

We should be looking across county lines to expand the system. For as effective a system CATA is for the existing area it covers, it's embarrassing that it's not truly a regional system. I understand Eaton and Clinton counties are just trying to protect their systems, but there are mostly just dial-a-rides with EATRAN. You'd think Eaton County would want to unload the cost of EATRAN on CATA. Maybe they do. I wouldn't be surprised if CATA hasn't ever simply asked them the question. They need to be more forward-thinking and proactive than they've been. We've been settling for too long. You've got 30,000 people in Delta Township...and one CATA line, and that CATA line has to go along Willow so as not to compete with EATRAN along Saginaw, so it's self-sabotaged line from the get-go.

I'm ranting, again. lol