The rain gardens in and around Frandor are starting to take shape as the concrete is poured to define their edges. There is a particularly large swale they've formed on the northside of Vine Street between Homer & Clippert. They took some of the parking lot, here, I think. Then in Frandor proper you can see the edges of the new swales/rain gardens in the middle of the parking lot. The wildflowers at the north end of Ranney Park are also looking nice.
I was happy to see the rain gardens being installed along streets outside of Frandor. What a nice change this is all going to be. There is also a "fancy" new pot shop open just across from Sears. They were having a festival out back with vendors music and food, and deals on MJ and all the rest inside! It was far too hot for me on the blacktop but it was nice to see this area full of people and reinventing itself. The view down the street is taking shape and kind of impressive with all the new buildings now lining the street to the north. The students were also moving in at the other side of the project, into the University Edge buildings. When things calm down a bit I will take a drive through the open area to see the new lake!
I was over this way yesterday during the localized downpour, and I was just really glad to see the new rain gardens in the various parking areas. The region is getting wetter with climate change, so I was glad to see that something being built to clean the Red Cedar River will also be able to absord some of the increased precipitation we've getting and will get.
The structure that wraps the northwest corner of Clippert and Vine is really nice, in particular. Whenever the Sears site gets redeveloped, I imagine the current zoning code will force some kind of water mitigation projects somewhere in the expansive parking lot, too. There's just way more parking than is needed, these days.
I took a drive through the University Edge side of the development, and found that the building's apartments seem to be fully leased. At least that would seem to be the reason there were so many cars parked there. It could be that these are "free" spaces for now and others are parking there but it looked like every space in the lots and along the road behind had cars parked. The large lake in the middle has not been topped off with water and looks to be still under construction, there are two "holding ponds"[?]near the river that had a lot of wild life in them, ducks, herons and white egrets, and of course geese, even a couple of deer were back there. Still a lot of landscaping to finish back there. I wondered about what look like elevator lobbies that they were finishing off, it did not seem like the hotels have started to be built except for these "lobbies". Over all it is a big place looks pretty good and I think it is going to be successful.
It is interesting to see the drain project progressing along Michigan Avenue. The rain garden pools are extending into East Lansing. It would be nice if there were a path down the median from Harrison to 127 it is very wide there. You could bike or walk to the new project and Frandor past all this nice new landscaping.
While at Frandor after a heavy rain I noticed the "rain gardens" are already draining the parking lots. I don't know if they are hooked up the new system. Many of them had a high water mark on the new grass which was dirty with parking lot run off. I hope one thing they pay attention to is litter in the drain gardens. There was already litter in them and it seems like a few plastic bags could stop up the drain. They are laying out a path behind the ball park stands to the new renovated area. There is also a paved path on the east side of the University Edge buildings, I have not followed it but it may be going to connect with the River Trail back there.
Last time I looked it seemed like the final landscaping might come next year for a lot of the drain project stuff, at least I hope there's more to the rain gardens and Ranney Park ponds than what I see now. All in all it's shaping up well, I was particularly happy to see some greenspace breaking up some of the parking lots between Clippert and Homer, I wasn't expecting that.
Comments
The structure that wraps the northwest corner of Clippert and Vine is really nice, in particular. Whenever the Sears site gets redeveloped, I imagine the current zoning code will force some kind of water mitigation projects somewhere in the expansive parking lot, too. There's just way more parking than is needed, these days.