That it was a 4-4 split on the planning commission makes it hard for me to see the full council rejecting this. Then again, we are talking about the East Lansing City Council.
As for downtown, realistically, Burcham should have been made the northern boundary of a greater downtown area from the beginning (and either Bailey or Collingwood to the east). I'm not talking towers all the way up to Burcham or anything, but there should have been a "fringe" downtown kind of nothing zoning for the area immediately north of the core that would have allowed for more dense housing (duplexes, apartment buildings), small office buildings, and neighborhood retail. There is already this kind of zoning along Abbot in this part area immediately north of downtown, but it should have extended to everything east of that.
Since that didn't happen, it's going to take decades for this to ever happen. That would mean a masterplan for the area, gaining parcels by attrition and rezoning them as they become available, etc.
I lived in a very small town for a long time, they had a town meeting every year and anyone from town could speak, offer ideas, and criticisms [a lot of the latter] and I swear even with all those voices they got big things done. They agreed on and built a new sewer system, rebuilt and repaved the main street, rebuilt the town wharf,installed all new LED street lighting, and reorganized and rebuilt the town's school system among other projects . This was all in the last 5 or 6 years and they are now about to build a new police station. Why can't just few people come to a common view in East Lansing, and agree on a vision for the the kind of downtown they want have. I think people with too much individual power keep putting their own personal taste ahead of what would be best for the city as a whole. What do they have to point to, as evidence that the city "could not support" two large developments downtown?
Looks like NIMBYs were successful in getting this one chopped down. There looks to now only be one building which is now only 10 stories. I do have to say I like the architecture of this one better, though. Also, Park District has apparently been lowered from 140 feet to about 132 feet.
Because of the changes, the developers will not be asking the City Council to approve the site plan or the $52-million brownfield plan during Tuesday night's meeting. A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, but there will likely be no vote since the developers need to submit revised plans.
A new site plan and brownfield plan could go before council on May 23 or June 6, said Mark Bell, CEO of Harbor Bay, during a community forum he hosted on the project at Lotsa Pizza in downtown East Lansing on Monday.
It was not clear when exactly those plans would be resubmitted to the city.
The $132-million cost of the project might also change as well, said Brad Ballein, of Ballein Management.
I do like the look of this design, I think this is the Albert Street side, it looks more like the brick faced buildings in the area.They have described it as a two ten story buildings on the radio news, and there looks to be another building next to the apartment"?"building. It looks like it fits in there better than the last depiction. I know some people in E.L. will never be happy with anything other a two story building so I hope they will just get on with this project.
I can't really tell. If it's two buildings, still, then they've reoriented them with them being right across from each other, in which case, the inward-facing apartments would have horrible views. Seems to me that if it were still two seperate buildings, they'd have kept the original orientations (one further east-west than the other.)
Depending on how they build it there may not be any inward facing apartments. They could put the hallways along the alley and each apartment could run the length of the building.
They certainly could. I was just looking at the other "building" peeking out from behind the other one in that rendering, and it looks to be the same window set-up as the one we see in front, which would imply it's inward-facing apartments. Then again, the perspective could just be deceiving and maybe the gap between the two buildings/wings is wider than it appears.
Really would love to see East Lansing update their website on this one.
Comments
That it was a 4-4 split on the planning commission makes it hard for me to see the full council rejecting this. Then again, we are talking about the East Lansing City Council.
As for downtown, realistically, Burcham should have been made the northern boundary of a greater downtown area from the beginning (and either Bailey or Collingwood to the east). I'm not talking towers all the way up to Burcham or anything, but there should have been a "fringe" downtown kind of nothing zoning for the area immediately north of the core that would have allowed for more dense housing (duplexes, apartment buildings), small office buildings, and neighborhood retail. There is already this kind of zoning along Abbot in this part area immediately north of downtown, but it should have extended to everything east of that.
Since that didn't happen, it's going to take decades for this to ever happen. That would mean a masterplan for the area, gaining parcels by attrition and rezoning them as they become available, etc.
So this is still on despite the most recent vote?
I lived in a very small town for a long time, they had a town meeting every year and anyone from town could speak, offer ideas, and criticisms [a lot of the latter] and I swear even with all those voices they got big things done. They agreed on and built a new sewer system, rebuilt and repaved the main street, rebuilt the town wharf,installed all new LED street lighting, and reorganized and rebuilt the town's school system among other projects . This was all in the last 5 or 6 years and they are now about to build a new police station. Why can't just few people come to a common view in East Lansing, and agree on a vision for the the kind of downtown they want have. I think people with too much individual power keep putting their own personal taste ahead of what would be best for the city as a whole. What do they have to point to, as evidence that the city "could not support" two large developments downtown?
Looks like NIMBYs were successful in getting this one chopped down. There looks to now only be one building which is now only 10 stories. I do have to say I like the architecture of this one better, though. Also, Park District has apparently been lowered from 140 feet to about 132 feet.
I do like the look of this design, I think this is the Albert Street side, it looks more like the brick faced buildings in the area.They have described it as a two ten story buildings on the radio news, and there looks to be another building next to the apartment"?"building. It looks like it fits in there better than the last depiction. I know some people in E.L. will never be happy with anything other a two story building so I hope they will just get on with this project.
I can't really tell. If it's two buildings, still, then they've reoriented them with them being right across from each other, in which case, the inward-facing apartments would have horrible views. Seems to me that if it were still two seperate buildings, they'd have kept the original orientations (one further east-west than the other.)
They certainly could. I was just looking at the other "building" peeking out from behind the other one in that rendering, and it looks to be the same window set-up as the one we see in front, which would imply it's inward-facing apartments. Then again, the perspective could just be deceiving and maybe the gap between the two buildings/wings is wider than it appears.
Really would love to see East Lansing update their website on this one.
Greater Lansing Business Monthly has an article on this project along with a rendering showing it in relation to Park District: Center City District development- Ushering in a new era for East Lansing
