That was well said. I agree that GM in particular has in the past "encouraged" Lansing to pull up the street car tracks. I think and hope the day will pass when we don't have to think "what about the cars" and give some of our city back to humans. One way to get people on mass transit might be to offer a tax savings or rebate for using mass transit. This would not go over too well but perhaps they could raise the the parking rates or somehow charge a surcharge for the people who "have to park downtown" everyday. Use that money for mass transit, and make it cheaper and easier to use transit.
I'd say this is quite impressive, now don't mess with it! I really like the street level retail space, and the plan for wide sidewalks. That will help lessen the dark canyon feeling that you find to the east on Albert St.. This all seems to be happening so painlessly, it is so unlike East Lansing.
I assume the local people in that group are prepared regarding possible criticism. People are going to complain about height, traffic, density, parking, festivals and every other thing. Its all right for people to give input, but some EL residents want things done their way or not at all (CATA BRT, for example) when it doesn't work that way.
This is a good project with many benefits for EL. In addition to the improvement downtown, I think that neighborhoods will improve as less students move to those areas generating less complaints from residents.
The festival questions are valid. Lot 1 gets heavily used by festivals, as well as Abbot and Albert Ave. Presumably those roads wouldn't be able to completely shut down since access to the parking ramp will be blocked (or they could be blocked and people will deal with it, the same way they dealt with Lot 1 being closed during festivals).
However, more festivals should move to Valley Court Park anyways. The park is large enough, and is arguably a better venue since it can allow for a more concentrated location instead of being spread out over multiple city blocks.
Having the festivals in the dirty old parking lot and on the broken streets does not really look so great and often feels too hot and sunny out in the street. I hope this will not be a reason they stop this development. I really like the idea of moving the festivals to the park, and they should move them there even if they do not build this project. I think that if they do build the wide sidewalks there will be room for street fairs.
Exactly. Lot 1 is a good downtown location but not an appealing setting for those festivals. Move those festivals to the park. If you want to keep it downtown, then find space for a few days.
EAST LANSING - The developers behind the $132-million Center City District project proposed in downtown East Lansing say they would make $27 million worth of public infrastructure improvements in the area.
Chicago-based Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors plans to ask the city's Brownfield Redevelopment Authority to issue a bond to finance the improvements it makes, said company CEO Mark Bell, during a planning commission meeting Wednesday night. A non-recourse bond prevents the city or brownfield authority from assuming any financial liability.
I hope the city - if it's being asked to issue bonds - does it due diligence to make sure this makes sense for them. Quite frankly, I'd like to see developers doing projects in places that won't require municipalities to have to always get directly involved. But, that's precisely why they do these projects.
Comments
That was well said. I agree that GM in particular has in the past "encouraged" Lansing to pull up the street car tracks. I think and hope the day will pass when we don't have to think "what about the cars" and give some of our city back to humans. One way to get people on mass transit might be to offer a tax savings or rebate for using mass transit. This would not go over too well but perhaps they could raise the the parking rates or somehow charge a surcharge for the people who "have to park downtown" everyday. Use that money for mass transit, and make it cheaper and easier to use transit.
Specs for the development are now posted on EastLansingInfo: http://eastlansinginfo.org/content/public-hearing-center-city-redevelopment-proposal-set-wednesday
Building along Grand River
Building along Albert Ave
I'd say this is quite impressive, now don't mess with it! I really like the street level retail space, and the plan for wide sidewalks. That will help lessen the dark canyon feeling that you find to the east on Albert St.. This all seems to be happening so painlessly, it is so unlike East Lansing.
I assume the local people in that group are prepared regarding possible criticism. People are going to complain about height, traffic, density, parking, festivals and every other thing. Its all right for people to give input, but some EL residents want things done their way or not at all (CATA BRT, for example) when it doesn't work that way.
This is a good project with many benefits for EL. In addition to the improvement downtown, I think that neighborhoods will improve as less students move to those areas generating less complaints from residents.
The festival questions are valid. Lot 1 gets heavily used by festivals, as well as Abbot and Albert Ave. Presumably those roads wouldn't be able to completely shut down since access to the parking ramp will be blocked (or they could be blocked and people will deal with it, the same way they dealt with Lot 1 being closed during festivals).
However, more festivals should move to Valley Court Park anyways. The park is large enough, and is arguably a better venue since it can allow for a more concentrated location instead of being spread out over multiple city blocks.
Having the festivals in the dirty old parking lot and on the broken streets does not really look so great and often feels too hot and sunny out in the street. I hope this will not be a reason they stop this development. I really like the idea of moving the festivals to the park, and they should move them there even if they do not build this project. I think that if they do build the wide sidewalks there will be room for street fairs.
Exactly. Lot 1 is a good downtown location but not an appealing setting for those festivals. Move those festivals to the park. If you want to keep it downtown, then find space for a few days.
What they are asking from the city, as usual:
I hope they do what is required to get this project built.
I hope the city - if it's being asked to issue bonds - does it due diligence to make sure this makes sense for them. Quite frankly, I'd like to see developers doing projects in places that won't require municipalities to have to always get directly involved. But, that's precisely why they do these projects.