If the project book you're talking about is the Melbourne Group link, that is a totally different project. I believe that would have been the plan for the hotel and office building that were proposed before, when they were fighting for the stimulus money, the first post in this forum is describing this project. I'm assuming that the township is still hoping for a project of similar scale to this proposal for that land along the freeway north of Champp's.
I know the the Melbourne Group link is of the project that failed to get off the ground, but the general site plan showing the surrounding development and planned development should match up, and it doesn't.
The site plan definitely doesn't match. I think they were pushed north by the cinema expansion. I guess the cinema owners get their pick. They do bring a lot of customers to Eastwood. Also, the scale of the project seems to have been taken down a notch- and probably rightly so. We've discussed before the greater need for hotels rooms in the city (downtown and/ or maybe at the Red Cedar GC redevelopment) than at Eastwood. I'm sure that there will be a hotel at the site, but I think it could be a combined hotel-office building (if they want a high rise), rather than a complex as shown in the Lansing-Melbourne document. Perhaps this is why they're trying to move on the residential construction instead of the hotel right now. There is simply more demand for it.
I was referencing the Lansing-Melbourne document to show what type of an atmosphere the Township is aiming for. The original township master plan shows "Showtime Drive" being a transitional "downtown," with both residential (because they plan to build more apartments, condos. and houses to the north) and commercial (Eastwood to the south). The current development is in line with that thinking. Both the master plan and the L-M document indicate that they want to build upward with a somewhat modern style. The proposed apartment building will be (approximately) as tall as the Fifth-Third building east of 127- and much more, uh, stark.
As it is, the parking garage is fairly unnecessary. Leads one to believe that they still desire the hotel and some fairly dense retail and office. It's a proven model; have customers coming and going all the time, for diverse purposes. I do hope they address the traffic issue on Lake Lansing road- and build a walkway before somebody gets hurt!
The township’s board last week unanimously approved the six-story, 128-room hotel that would be part of The Heights at Eastwood expansion at Eastwood Towne Center.
Other key notes and dates:
[ulist][li]82,000 square feet[/li][li]The developer would apply for a building permit by Sept. 1 and start laying the foundation by Sept. 15.[/li][li]Vertical construction would start Oct. 15 and Hyatt Place would open Sept. 15, 2013.[/li][/ulist]
It was just announced, today, that right next door to the Hyatt Place will rise a 120+ room Fairfield Inn. Haven't seen any renderings, but these are all highway side suburban hotels at the end of the day. It'd be nice to see a new hotel in downtown Lansing, too. Anyway, it looks like Journal is saying that the Hyatt Place is actually under construction. I'd just assumed it was still delayed.
Wondering if there is a market for two new hotels in the Eastwood vicinity (making 5 total)? Will this draw more visitors/conferences to town or will this only draw away from the existing downtown/Okemos/westside hotels?
Hyatt Place is a step above the others, I believe, so it won't directly compete with any others. And, I believe Hyatt is new to the metropolitan market. The Fairfield Inn, however, seems like it will definitely compete with the others in the immediate area in its class.
A couple hotels are in the process of being converted to apartments. The Marriott hotel at the corner of Hagadorn and Grand River in East Lansing as well as the former Clarion hotel near Dunckel and 127 are both in stages of being transitioned to student rentals, so this might have been the opening for the Fairfield Inn in this market.
Comments
I was referencing the Lansing-Melbourne document to show what type of an atmosphere the Township is aiming for. The original township master plan shows "Showtime Drive" being a transitional "downtown," with both residential (because they plan to build more apartments, condos. and houses to the north) and commercial (Eastwood to the south). The current development is in line with that thinking. Both the master plan and the L-M document indicate that they want to build upward with a somewhat modern style. The proposed apartment building will be (approximately) as tall as the Fifth-Third building east of 127- and much more, uh, stark.
As it is, the parking garage is fairly unnecessary. Leads one to believe that they still desire the hotel and some fairly dense retail and office. It's a proven model; have customers coming and going all the time, for diverse purposes. I do hope they address the traffic issue on Lake Lansing road- and build a walkway before somebody gets hurt!
[ulist][li]82,000 square feet[/li][li]The developer would apply for a building permit by Sept. 1 and start laying the foundation by Sept. 15.[/li][li]Vertical construction would start Oct. 15 and Hyatt Place would open Sept. 15, 2013.[/li][/ulist]