Will there still be easy pedestrian access from the south-east side of the lot in to the Brody Complex? Allowing good east-west travel without having to go to Michigan Ave will be crucial for non-motorized transportation.
I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised if they put up a wall around the complex, to be honest. Just seems the way development is going in this area. Same thing happened at East Village on Lansing's eastside, which I was surprised to find when they were first constructing it blocked the entire complex off with a walls and fences from Eastern High School and the little neighborhood along Saginaw.
The lack of a connection to Brody is my only major complaint with this site plan, I'd like to see that east-west road continued through to the east. There's obviously a lot of room for expansion with this plan, hopefully the development proves successful and those parking lots are eventually replaced with new buildings and parking garages.
It does look like there may be sidewalks connecting to Brody and that they have left the plans wide enough to connect the roadway to Brody but probably don't have permission from MSU for it. I doubt the university will allow them to connect but as long as they have wide, accessible non-motorized pathways connecting the complex with Brody I'll be happy.
The Lansing City Pulse is reporting that the developers will be using Lansing-based Clark Construction as the builders, and Ann Arbor-based Hobbs & Black as the architects. They have an office here in downtown Lansing on Allegan, I believe, and have tons of work for the State of Michigan.
These are two really competent firms, so I'm actually now expecting some at least decent designs. I'm just glad they didn't go with Studio Intrigue. Hobbs & Black are a bit more upscale and classy.
The PDFs from the charret are now available at Pure Lansing. Ferguson's is by far the most interesting, it includes slightly more detailed site plans along with details on the parking. It looks like the area that appears to be a large parking lot will be a two floor underground garage with areas of green space on the top floor, the design is definately worth checking out, I just hope they stick with it.
Very cool to see the parking laid out like that. The Louvre Museum in Paris has similar underground parking underneath the Gardens Toureilles, but I think theirs is 3 levels deep.
It'd be awesome if that's what they ultimately come out with, though, I'm not putting much hope into that, as it'd be insanely expensive. It also seems to clash with the graphic right above it showing the five dilenated flood plain cross sections that I'm still not exactly sure how to read. lol It looks like we're looking west, but the gist of it to show that the land is barely above the level of the river as it is. There are going to do a helluva lot of ground infill to get this up to street level. Even then, most of the stuff built in recent decades along or near Michigan has parking at the ground level because of the flood threat. I think it was the 70's when the area saw the last major flood, and the waters were up to the top of the street signs.
After looking at it further the graphic above that one looks like a diagram showing simplified elevations of basic structure types that will be part of the project. The images of the parking deck I referenced also looks like it may be just an example. What does seem certain is that a large portion of the site will be a parking plinth, whether it will be one or two floors underground is the question. The underground parking would obviously be in the flood plain, but it would allow them to avoid infill while creating the parking they need.
And as a side note, if they stick to a site plan similar to the one seen throughout Ferguson's packet, this will be an amazing project. It will fill the site well, include a large amount of underground parking, great park space and water features along with an overall sensible layout. I'm anxious to see the final product.
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It appears this new conceptual site plan assumes they get control of the old Pontiac dealership.
These are two really competent firms, so I'm actually now expecting some at least decent designs. I'm just glad they didn't go with Studio Intrigue. Hobbs & Black are a bit more upscale and classy.
And as a side note, if they stick to a site plan similar to the one seen throughout Ferguson's packet, this will be an amazing project. It will fill the site well, include a large amount of underground parking, great park space and water features along with an overall sensible layout. I'm anxious to see the final product.