This is actually going to share the rest of the empty retail space in the eastern half of the first floor next to the Bigby drive-thru. They are still planning to turn the rest of the retail on the west side of the building into three-or-four effeciency apartments. I wouldn't want to live right off the sidewalk like that, but I guess they are going to remodel the space to give some kind of privacy, and when you're a student looking for a nice and cheap place to live, you probably don't care, anyway. lol
Oh okay, I guess I had forgotten that had been approved. The units on the ground floor are also nice as barrier free units. Even though the building has elevators, not having to ride one would be a lot nicer for someone who has reduced mobility.
I don't understand the rush here. It seems to coincide with MSU classes but Covid hasn't gone away. It would be nice if they could leave half of the road closed until Thanksgiving. The sidewalk in front of Harper's is notoriously narrow and doesn't allow for safe passing between pedestrians without stepping into the road. This was a problem even before Covid and now it's even worse.
Jared - My guess would be that they don't want students congregating in large numbers anywhere in the downtown area. My hope in the long run is for EL to convert Albert to busses, bikes and emergency/delivery vehicles only at some point in the future. That would make it a lot easier to push temporary outdoor dining onto sections of the road in the summer, and make the whole downtown area more pedestrian friendly, IMO.
@ratchetwrench yeah that is probably why they removed them, maybe with some nudging from the county health department. Ideally we could put in smaller standup tables as a way to help support the downtown restaurants with takeout business.
Looks like the council unanimously approved the MSUFCU project downtown. They are shooting for a January start of construction. BTW, we say yesterday the angle of the building from the north which shocked some people. But be assured it's only being built like this because they eventually expect a high-rise on the Dublin Square site. I think until then, it'd be nice if they'd cover it with a mural.
It's not surprising but I'm glad to see this moving forward, it's a nice looking building and adding office workers to downtown EL is no small deal. It'll certainly give that block of Albert an interesting feel, the street is quite narrow there and all the buildings will be right up to the sidewalk.
East Lansing Planning Commission on Wednesday held these public hearings:
The reintroduction of the plan to turn the western retail space in 300 West Grand River Avenue into 6 efficiency units. This was originally proposed back in 2018, but they ran into some trouble, had to get variances, then pulled the project earlier this year, etc. The only issue I see this time is that all of the uses require 63 parking spaces (technically 62.5 spaces, but you round up), and 'only' 62 are being provided. The report notes that they plan to use a nearby site for parking.
This is an unresolved site plan and special use permit from last Sept for a 4-story hotel and marijuana dispensary at 3225 West Road. This one didn't meet distance requirements for the dispensary and the developer never formally withdrew the plan and the planning commission never took it back up, which they are required to do. There is also an unresolved lot split and a rezoning that were never withdrawn. The project works if they drop the dispensary on the proposed back-lot, but they haven't.
MSUFCU has lowered the height of their building downtown by 1 story (from 8 to 7) due to the work-from-home movement. This was a floor that they were planning to lease out to other businesses but many employers are now looking to shrink their office space as it may be a few years before offices are back to full capacity. This was mentioned in one of the notes on https://eastlansinginfo.news/explore-vacant-commercial-properties-in-downtown-east-lansing/
Comments
https://www.wlns.com/news/local-news/east-lansing-closes-outdoor-dining-area/
I don't understand the rush here. It seems to coincide with MSU classes but Covid hasn't gone away. It would be nice if they could leave half of the road closed until Thanksgiving. The sidewalk in front of Harper's is notoriously narrow and doesn't allow for safe passing between pedestrians without stepping into the road. This was a problem even before Covid and now it's even worse.
In other news, David Krause has passed away. He was one of the main developers over the years in downtown East Lansing. ELi did a lengthy write-up on him and his contributions, https://eastlansinginfo.news/east-lansing-loses-a-giant-of-redevelopment-david-krause/