It is a disappointment to see that Market Place and Ballpark North will be further delayed but I understand why. Museum Drive being moved is going to eat into Marketplace's land to the point that some of the proposed buildings wouldn't fit anymore. Also, Gillespie may opt to build a hotel or focus more on retail and entertainment venues if the casino actually happens.
I think that one of the best things you pointed out is the new street north of the ballpark. That should do a lot to make the area feel more urban, I'd really like to see that new road extended to Pere Marquette at some point though.
While 2500 is a lot of parking spaces, it's a necessary evil of a casino. If we're lucky we'll see some ground floor retail in the other garages.
Got a Notice of Public Hearing from the city, today, probably because I live on one of the affected streets. It's a public hearing for the massive garage we were talking about, above. They are seeking rezone, already, the area north of the stadium bound by Larch, Cedar and Shiawassee from H Light Industrial to G-1 Business District with a SPU (Special Land Use) permit to construct the parking garage. But, right after that it says tthat the rezoning is to permit a mixed use development to be built, so I really don't know what exactly they are planning to build.
There is a story at MLive (I'll try to find the link, later), which kind of confirms that Gillespie has dropped Ballpark North in favor of this garage. I'm beginning to think that the long-shot casino plan may be kind of a ploy to get this parking garage north of the stadium. In the current plan, Gillespie apparently gets to own the ground floor of this garage, which will be 20,000 square feet of retail, and Lansing Future will building develop the garage. What's more confusing is that they ask him about a possible hotel, and he kind of says that he's open to it which gets me thinking that maybe they are building something atop the garage, or perhaps the garage won't cover the entire parcel? Nothing seems too clear.
EDIT: Speak of the devil, but I accidentially came across the bid requst to tear up the existing asphalt lot so that Marketplace can begin to start construction. It is a bid package on Lansing LEAP's website. The deadline was February 20, so we'll be hearing about this soon, I assume.
A siteplan of the demolition works shows that the west-end of the site will be developed first closest to the river, and there are actually two pahses. The part nearest Cedar - the actual site of the former market - isn't even yet really planned. The first building will be built in two phases/wings if the second wing is needed, apparently. The first wing of the first building will actually be built on the part of the site nearest/bordering the new City Market; the second wing would turn the whole into a "V".
A small victory for those that want the casino, but it appears a federal appeals court has lifted and injunction to allow the plans to proceed forward. This still has a very long way to go, and the judges made very clear that the problem was that the opponents filed this too early in the process and could file the same injunction request further down the road, but the more victories the plans gets, the harder it's going to be to turn it back.
I actually thinks this makes a new casino in Lansing very, very likely. I want to believe that Schuette will give up on the delay tactics at this point, but I don't have much hope.
EDIT: I see now that this particular case wasn't the one against the downtown Lansing casino, though, the implications kind of make it about the downtown Lansing casino, too. It'll be interesting to see how this all turns out.
States have other options to stop casinos from operating off tribal lands, including denying gaming licenses and filing criminal charges against individual tribal or casino employees if they went ahead with one, the court ruled.
Comments
I think that one of the best things you pointed out is the new street north of the ballpark. That should do a lot to make the area feel more urban, I'd really like to see that new road extended to Pere Marquette at some point though.
While 2500 is a lot of parking spaces, it's a necessary evil of a casino. If we're lucky we'll see some ground floor retail in the other garages.
A siteplan of the demolition works shows that the west-end of the site will be developed first closest to the river, and there are actually two pahses. The part nearest Cedar - the actual site of the former market - isn't even yet really planned. The first building will be built in two phases/wings if the second wing is needed, apparently. The first wing of the first building will actually be built on the part of the site nearest/bordering the new City Market; the second wing would turn the whole into a "V".
I actually thinks this makes a new casino in Lansing very, very likely. I want to believe that Schuette will give up on the delay tactics at this point, but I don't have much hope.
LSJ: Attorney General withdraws Supreme Court petition against proposed Lansing casino
It makes me wonder if this will happen:
from Freep
from DetNews
That probably wasn't too surprising, given the Supreme Court's ruling on the casino up north (Vanderbilt) and the Attorney General's response.
Definitely agree, it will be interesting to see the next steps for the State.