Central Lansing Construction and Development.

[RustTown]

A few small update...

1. Though, nothing to be excited about, the old auto shop at Michigan Avenue and 8th Street (right across from the MSHDA headquarters) is being turned into a Family Dollar. I guess it's better than what was there before, but not by much. But, considering the neighborhood, this is probably as good as you can expect on Michigan from the railroad tracks to Pennsylvania Avenue. It's kind of a dead-zone, retail-wise, and will be so until the neighborhoods on either side of it are gentrified.

2. There are quite a few committee recommendations for approvals of projects and tax credits on the agenda for Monday:

a. Mutual Building - Brownfield Plan and OPRA (Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act) recommended for approval

b. 1011 N. Washington - OPRA recommended for approval

c. SOS (furniture resaler) - Brownfiled and IDD (Industrial Development District) recommended for approval

d. Hollister Building - Neighborhood Enterprise Zone Certificate recommended for approval + support for public hearing on granting an OPRA and Brownfield Plan approval.

e. 7-Block Development - Extension of the Seven Block Development, L.C. Tolling Agreement until project Completion, or July 1, 2007

f. Prudden Place (Phase II) - support for public hearing for an NEZ (Neighborhood Enterprise Zone) District.

g. 1213 N. Turner Street - committee approves rezoning from Light Industrial to Business District.

Lots, and lots of things are making their rounds through the government, it seems. Doesn't look like anything is slowing down.

[hood]

The only thing I don't really support is the Seven Block thing. If it does go through the city should be extremely strict in what it allows Eyde to build. I like his rendering for those buildings on his website, but I doubt that he has any real intentions of building it. I still think the site is best suited to have Washtenaw re-opened and to be lotted off to different developers.

[RustTown]

I agree, but I'm not exactly sure what they are doing concerning the project tomorrow. Are they extending the toll for another month? This would be the what, millionth time they've given the Eyde's more time? I'm going to keep emailing council asking them to simply drop this deal and suffer the consequences and cut their losses, because the Eyde's don't deserve it, nor do they deserve to keep squatting on the Knapps Center. Trust me, if the Boji's or nearly anyone else owned that building, there would have, at least, been some more concepts and proposal put forth over the years, and maybe it would have even been in reuse by now.

Anyway, this would kind of skipped over, but the Lansing Center for the Arts selling its building on Grand is really a huge thing. This finally puts a tentative time table up for when Cooley has to decide if they are going to build their auditorium, or not, and how Boarshead and the Arts Council is going to contribute to this project.

[hood]

I'd als like to know what the prospective buyers plans are for the center. It seems like a buiding that should just be bulldozed and something new built. If Davenport ends up buying the building I wouldnt be at all suprised to see them build a new building on the site and close their old ones, I think they already built or took over a single building in GR, replacing wherever they were before.

Also I got a pic of the Resturaunt Associations site today, its been completely cleared. I think the new building will take up the small parking lots at the top and left of the picture, but I'm not sure.

[RustTown]

It definitely needs to be demolished, as it was originally constructed as an old car dealership, and it shows. It shows how much Lansing, for the longest, cared about its art scene. lol You can still see the old-time "modern" lightpoles in the parking lot.

BTW, there is a lot of business being played here. The Arts Council insists that there is more than one buyer (probably to keep Davenport on their toes), and Davenport is refusing to respond to this story. If they are the top bidder, though, I'm not so sure they will demolish it seeing the rest of their campus. They haven't expressed any interest in rebuilding their Lansing campus, and I'd actually bet they'd just end up reusing the old car dealership...again. lol

[RustTown]

Just some news...

I got some replies back from Pat Gillespie and Richard Karp, today, concerning their proposals:

1. Stadium District is moving very smoothly, and it will most definitely start construction next month (mid-July to be more percise).

2. Richard Karp is proceeding with his plan for his low-rise (4-5 floors) condominium project in Old Town at Turner and Grand River. He would give me no other details except that he hopes to break ground "within a few months."

[hood]

It's interesting that Mr Karp is so tight-lipped about his development. Being that he's only a few months away from breaking ground I would expect him to be advertising it and looking for any publicity he can get. I'm very suprised to hear that anything will be happening that soon, I wasn't really expecting to hear anything about Mr Karps development until this fall and maybe see him break ground in the spring at the extreme earliest.

[RustTown]

What he did tell me that I didn't post earler is that he's preparing to go to council to seek incentives.

[hood]

I sort of think its funny that it took Gillespie a couple years from when we first heard of his proposal to when there was a more solid proposal, then after that it still ended up being delayed about two months from the origionalt construction start date. Then you have projects like Mr. Fisher's and Mr Karp's that come from first conceptualization, through the cities red tape, and will likely begin construction all in less than a year. In any of your commmunication with Gillespie did you ever hear what has been holding him up for so long?

[RustTown]

I think we've addressed and discussed some of those things quite a few times, a few main ones being:

1. The Stadium District is a significantly larger project than the other two.

2. The land that the Stadium District sat on had legal questions, as the land had been given to the city by the Ranney family to use as parkland if the parking lot was ever brought up.

3. Most important thing to remember is that the Stadium District was actually just a concept until very recently. Gillespie had been concentrating on getting him Prudden Place development off the ground to help finance the development of the Stadium District.

4. I really am not too sure about Karp's timeline or if he really is pursuing this as actively as you may think as he told me months back that this thing was moving forward quickly.

5. The Stadium District sits in the capitol loop which placed a lot more restrictions of site plans and building design that had to be manuevered.

To me, the delays aren't something unexpected for a development of this size, and it really hasn't been oppresively delayed.

[hood]

The main thing I was talking about was that it sat in limbo for so long, since the time it became an official proposal it has moved at a decent pace, but it was just in some grey area for a long time before that. I guess the attention he gave to Prudden Place and Beaumont explains that.

[RustTown]

Some photos of the Old Central demolition revealing some of the old school that was hidden beneath the modern expansions and recladdings. It was harder than I thought to get the pictures as the fence is higher than I expected. I'll see if I can get some from the North Capitol Avenue Parking Structure, soon.

Capitol makes a guest apperance.

[hood]

The building hasn't really changed any since I was down there last, they have just cleared away the debris.

[RustTown]

It's really quite a site, as the old campus on that site was really more inward-looking, and didn't incorporate the street into its design, at all. It really felt foreign from the rest of the campus. The University Center will really be more outward-looking and incorprate the street better into the design making it feel more about of campus. It's just a huge change, a bigger change than I'd really imagined feeling when they announced they were going to bring it down.

[hood]

I would like to know what LCC will end up building here, because the University Center only takes up a sliver of the site, and the planned parking ramp should take up no more than around a third of it, I can only assume that they will leave plenty of space to expand the University Center. I really cannot wait to see what this will look like, it will be the first thing out what is likely to be many getting built around that area.

[RustTown]

Yeah, I recently went on LCC's site and saw the campus overview map, and the University Center looks tiny in comparison to the whole site. In fact, the UC will only take up a tiny piece of the actual Old Central site, so the demolition seems more in anticipation to expand the campus in the future than to make way for the UC as keeps being reported by Lansing media. I guess they do that because if people knew that Old Central wasn't necessarily being torn down for the UC there would have been a MUCH larger NIMBY reaction then there has been.

BTW, I wasn't aware that LCC was using part of the site as a parking garage, as well. When is that supposed to start construction and what will it look like?

[hood]

They aren't giving any real dates, but they say it has to be built well before they tear down their current parking garage, in 5-10 years, I think they pretty much plan on building the new ramp within 5 years, they will also replace their old ramp too.

[RustTown]

Yeah, the old ramp really needs to be expanded. They've tried to remedy the problem, a little, by making the access easier at the entrance, but there is only so much you can do without expanding it. Even with all of the students that take the bus or walk to school, parking still stretches up and down Grand for quite a ways in the morning.

[hood]

I found this model of a rehabbed Grand Trunk Station in the google Sketch-Up library with a link to the Reotown website. The question is, is it a serious design that someone has come up with or is it just someones great idea? If anyone has the intiative to email someone over at Reotown that would be good.

[hood]

I was just by BioPort today and all of the stell for their expansion is up, it's actually a pretty tall building. I had my camera with me but I didn't want to take a picture since I don't know what the security is like around there.

[RustTown]

Looks like Niowave did what you thought it would, Hood. I'm estatic to say the least because this is the type of developments Lansing needs to diversify its economy:

High-tech firm will buy Walnut: Scientists from MSU's cyclotron lab happy with chance at 2nd city school

June 28, 2006

By Tom Lambert

Lansing State Journal

A high-tech firm that makes equipment for atomic research has made good on a second chance to purchase a vacant school in Lansing.

Niowave - a startup company run by scientists from Michigan State University's cyclotron lab - is expected to announce at a news conference today it will purchase the old Walnut Elementary School for $300,000 from the Lansing School District.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...364/1004/news03

[hood]

I just wish that one of these hgih-tech companies grows enough to justify moving into a high-profile new building. Like one of those buildings when you just look at the architecture you can tell they are doing some serious research in it. It may sound kind of shallow but I think that Lansing could really use a high profile company like that rather than all the tech companies being hidden or low-profile as they are now.

[RustTown]

There will be a day, for that, but first we must concentrate on filling up everything that has gone empty over the past 15 or so years. I love these high-tech companies are going into these old building's. It's just a cool contrast, and you'd never expect it. What NeoGen, Niowave, and the rest are doing is great.

I would like to see some of the older, already-industrial corridors in the city turned into tech parks like TechTown in Detroit which features high tech companies being attracted to old buildings and modern-styled new constructions.

TechTown is becoming a huge success in Detroit's New Center. Since its creation in 2004, the 12-block area, which is a high tech incubator, has attracted 40 new companies representing 1,000 employees.

Here's an article from Model D:

http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/techbell51.aspx

And the website for TechTown:

http://www.techtownwsu.org/

I could envision something like this where the old GM plants are coming down, or even the REOTown industrial park, which still has plenty of room to grow.

[hood]

I could defiantely see something like that going in on the old GM site, I would assume that somthing like that may be a possibility since the tracks discourage traditional office or residential use, and the city, or anyone else, probably wouldn't really want to see traditional industrial go in, so high tech would be a great option.

[RustTown]

Perhaps, I'll pass this example through email to the council and mayor. As an industrial state, these types of developments are just up Michigan's alley as the infastructure is already there. These are great replacement industries for the heavy manufacturing that's being shipped to the South and West and out of the country altogether.