I guess this is in REOtown! There has been some activity at the warehouse building/The Wing on Hazel Street. For a couple of days now I have seen people in hard hats going into the building, with a lot of cars parked alongside the building. I could not say what they are doing but perhaps it it the beginning of the renovation. If they are still planning an interior courtyard of ship-container apartments it will be interesting to see if this is successful.
Well, it's been almost a year, but it looks like the rezoning of old Deluxe Inn site is set for passage next Monday according to next week's city council agenda. Still no news on what's been holding this up in recent months, and there is still no sell shown for the larger parcel.
The only change I have noticed on this corner is they recently put "Jersey barriers" in front of the drive off S. Washington to prevent parking. The fireworks and Silver Bells are about the only times I see this lot used for parking, perhaps they want to start work here and want to show folks that this lot is closed. That will be a fun one for me to watch just up the street. It will great to have two more hotels right next to downtown. When I have visitors it's the Raddison or head-out to one of the hotels ringing the city. Everyone likes the Raddison but their rates are high and it is not a deluxe hotel, maybe some competition will mean lower room rates!
I was by the "The Wing" building again today and there is definitely demolition work going on inside. The overhead doors were open and there were several dumpsters filled with debris inside.
On Hazel Street, the "Wing" building has been cleared out to the joust throughout the whole building. Four or five large propane tanks have been installed outside I guess to assist with the demolition process. I believe that all the former tenants have vacated. It is a very large building. I think the [Tesla?]parts manufacturing company is going to be the first new tenant. This is one building I would have never thought would be repurposed, I think developers must have a lot of faith in Lansing as a growing community.
Well, it's been almost a year, but it looks like the rezoning of old Deluxe Inn site is set for passage next Monday according to next week's city council agenda. Still no news on what's been holding this up in recent months, and there is still no sell shown for the larger parcel.
This must have been delayed a week or two, because it's back up for passage, Monday. I'm really curious what kind of problem they've been having with what should have been a very routine rezoning request. I'm also curious if the plans are still the same all this time later.
I have not been in yet, but the Sleep Walker Spirits and Ale House looks really nice and the menu also looks interesting. They put up a nice new facade and awning next door at the Wheel House pottery, and there is a nice new "gateway" in front of the Robin Theater that includes the gear-shaped REOtown emblem. It would be great to see the '50s [?] style awing on the building down the street be restored to it's vintage, it is kind of unique and is falling apart in places. Work seems to have stopped again at the Elison Brewery. Maybe the brewery part is difficult and expensive to build.
There is a bit of an ode to the three smokestacks written in the LSJ online. As a person who grew up "under the stacks," it is kind of amusing to me that today's Lansing folks have such a fondness for them. They are smokestacks after all. While in college I lived in a house right across from Moores Park School at the time the new stacks were being constructed, and I would have to say it would be quite a project to take them down. I guess they would have to do it ring, by ring like they went up. Now that I returned to my hometown I do use them as a landmark more than I did in the old days. I am often surprised by how far away you can see them. They are a "placemaking sign" that is for sure.
Honestly, I love the stacks and I hope that the building can be repurposed and the stacks retained. I grew up knowing where I was in town based on where the stacks were on the horizon, I remember staring at them through tired eyes in first period math decades ago, and I was thrilled when they became iconic and embraced by others.
Kind of a silly thought- but I wonder what the rules are for counting building height. Theoretically, if apartments were built into the lower portion of each stack- would that mean Lansing has three 600+ feet tall buildings?
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This must have been delayed a week or two, because it's back up for passage, Monday. I'm really curious what kind of problem they've been having with what should have been a very routine rezoning request. I'm also curious if the plans are still the same all this time later.
Kind of a silly thought- but I wonder what the rules are for counting building height. Theoretically, if apartments were built into the lower portion of each stack- would that mean Lansing has three 600+ feet tall buildings?