The building at E Barnes and S Washington is going to be a retail tile store according to the permits posted in the window. Not real exciting but it is good to see that building is going to be occupied. Farther down Washington the Reach Art Center has put in an overhead door and more new windows. At Mt Hope they are almost done painting and the building looks almost beautiful! I am not sure if the windows are new, they may have just repaired and cleaned the ones there already. They look great and are an example of early-mid 20th century factory buildings that included large banks of windows for light and fresh air. They even wanted the buildings to look nice, not like today's big white boxes.
An article about the development of the former Lansing Uniform building was posted in our building. They plan to put in loft apartments, office, retail space and a restaurant. All that plus the coffee shop next door are being renovated by the same developers. I'm not sure if they are also renovating the build down on the next block, I have not been by to see the building permit posting so I still don't know what's going in there. Now we just need a corner store/deli maybe an ATM and REOtown would be all set.
The building at 1208 S. Washington Ave. is being rehabilitated at a good pace. They have rebuilt the facade installing steel cased floor the ceiling windows. they maybe overhead door type that could be open during warm weather, I have to take a closer look. it looks really good right now, and wonder what is going there.
It sounds like Sleepwalker Spirits & Ale is going to open up a brick and mortar location on Washington in REO Town. It's good to see some of the vacant storefronts actually be turned into usable space that will draw additional foot-traffic.
I heard that the majority of commercial property in REO was bought up in the last couple years and is owned by 2-3 different developers who are just sitting on it as demand rises. Anyone else have more or different information on this?
Every time I look out my window I can see this building, and have thought what a great place for a pub or restaurant it would be there on the corner. The rear of the building has nice old fashion exposed stairways and landings, they could put some nice apartments up there.
I noticed people hauling junk out of the former pool hall at S. Washington and W. Barnes. Also a new large for sale sign. I guess that means they are trying to market this spot. It really is one of the last unoccupied buildings on S.Washington, so there seems to be a growing market. The tile store across the street is still being slowly renovated.
That sounds really great. The new windows look really good, they seem to fit the building which is very simple. I did not know that place has such a history. It must have been kind of wild and crazy on S. Washington for a while there. I hope they soundproof the apartments, the train horns will be very load there. I think parking may soon become difficult to find at times. I have often wondered about the overnight on street parking that is allowed on the 900 block of S Washington. It seems to be the only place in the city where you can park overnight on the street. I like it but I wonder why. The clean up of the former pool hall is continuing, they really seem to be gutting the building.
It's great to hear that there's a plan for the space and it's nice that it's the longtime owner that will be the one reviving the property.
@gbinlansing I could see parking becoming an issue in REO Town in the coming years, it may be about time to install meters for the street spaces. There's no City lots in this area that I'm aware of and while it'd be nice if there were, I don't see any good place for one. If the district is ever going to see larger scale developments something will have to be done about parking. It'll be interesting to see how REO Town fills out over the long term, I'd love to see Grand Ave cross the river again and encourage the redevelopment of the River Point neighborhood into a denser mixed use district. That may be dreaming too big though.
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I heard that the majority of commercial property in REO was bought up in the last couple years and is owned by 2-3 different developers who are just sitting on it as demand rises. Anyone else have more or different information on this?
@gbinlansing I could see parking becoming an issue in REO Town in the coming years, it may be about time to install meters for the street spaces. There's no City lots in this area that I'm aware of and while it'd be nice if there were, I don't see any good place for one. If the district is ever going to see larger scale developments something will have to be done about parking. It'll be interesting to see how REO Town fills out over the long term, I'd love to see Grand Ave cross the river again and encourage the redevelopment of the River Point neighborhood into a denser mixed use district. That may be dreaming too big though.