A pretty significant piece of infill on the southwest edge of Old Town. This is directly south of the recently renovated historic Walker Building, which this developer also did:
Quote:
Mayor Virg Bernero (left) and Sam Saboury announce a new $3 million redevelopment project in Old Town. Lawrence Cosentino/City Pulse.
Taking a bite out of blight
August 21, 2013
by Lawrence Cosentino | Lansing City Pulse
Wednesday, Aug. 21 — Slowly but surely, Old Town is engulfing its environs like a giant amoeba with seven hair salons. By this time next year, another chunk of neighboring blight will get the now-familiar mixed-use rehab treatment.
The former Heeb Building property, at 1113-1119 N. Washington Ave., empty since the mid-1990s, will be turned into 24 units of low-income housing, with retail and office space on the first floor, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and property owner Sam Saboury announced today.
The $3 million project is slated to break ground in four to six weeks and be completed by next summer.
The project is a partnership among several private and public parties, including Saboury, the Greater Lansing Housing Coalition, Dart Bank, the state of Michigan and the city of Lansing.
When it’s done, the newly christened Saboury Building will crown a recent surge in rehabbed buildings on Old Town’s southwestern fringe.
“We’re going back to our roots,” city planning director Bob Johnson said. “In the 1800s, Old Town was a center of commerce.”
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Earlier this year, a vacant building across the street from the Heeb, 1122 N. Washington, was rehabbed and occupied by Head Room Salon. The Walker Building, a century-old hulk on the southwest corner of Washington Avenue and Turner Street, was converted into office and housing units two years ago.
The Heeb Building property will be the last large parcel on that stretch of North Washington to be renovated. “This is the piece that was missing,” Saboury said.
Bernero and Johnson both said Old Town is expanding southward, creating a potential link to downtown.
“Old Town is beyond the immediate area of Turner,” Bernero said.
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There are two buildings on the site now. Architect Kim deStigter said the southernmost building, the Heeb, will be renovated and expanded. An addition to the north will rise to four stories, an anomaly in Old Town, to accommodate the 24 housing units. The smaller of the two existing buildings will be razed to make room for the addition.
DeStigter said the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, or MSHDA, required 24 housing units to fund the project. The only way to fit them all on the site, he said, was to build up to four stories.
Before starting work on the design, DeStigter walked around Old Town to see “what it likes.” He decided to set the Saboury project’s fourth story back from street level and paint it in a darker color, to harmonize it with Old Town’s predominant three-story buildings.
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BTW, speaking of the sprawl up in Bath Township we were talking about, I came across this Buzzfeed piece, yesterday, that addresses it in a single sentence: 23 Signs You Went To Michigan State University
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12. The worst thing to happen on a Friday night was learning the party is all the way at Chandler freaking Crossings.
“If we leave in the next five minutes, we can catch the 26!”
No, no, NO.
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And, then one addressing the sprawled nature of the campus, itself:
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5. You wanted to scream when friends from small schools complained about long walks to class.
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Lastly, The Residences - the tallest building in downtown East Lansing, though, not the tallest building in the city - is nearly complete:
Studio Intrigue Architects | Facebook
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Where the trees are the right height
Last edited by LMich; Aug 22, 2013 at 11:27 AM.
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Always good to read about new things happening in my hometown.
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