Ha!, yes! The EL Az building... Have we seen any renderings or heard any recent news about that? This block has the potential to be the coolest block in the metro area.
I can't find any renderings for the El Az building, I think it's still a year or more away from work beginning. While looking though, I found the following bit in the April 16th City Council minutes:
Held a public hearing and approved an application from Wolf River Development Company for Site Plan and Special Use Permit approval for the property at 504 Michigan Avenue to demolish existing gas station and construct a four story, mixed-use building. The property is zoned B-2, Retail Sales Business District.
This is the BP gas station that is between the many developments near Harrison and Michigan Ave. Nice to see how filled in that area is getting once the zoning changed.
This district is really starting to spring up with little fanfare. Michigan and Harrison around the Delta is the original neighborhood of East Lansing, so it's nice to see it taking back on some importance. I really love the narrow streets and hills of the area.
I found the plans for the 504 Michigan Avenue development.
This will be the front of the building. The metal gate you see in the middle is decorative and not designed to be an entrance for cars. Entrance to the first floor parking will be via Louis St.
I have to admit being thoroughly underwhelmed. I get why you have first-floor parking further east (flood plain), but there is no reason something this close to downtown should have anything at street level that doesn't hide its parking better, particularly on an avenue as central as Michigan. This really looks like that horrible thing down there on Clippert they put up.
The commercial part of the building will be 1200 sq ft, only about enough for a small Subway or convenience store. It would have been nice to see more commercial along the front of the building. I wonder what kind of requirements the city has for parking, in other words, is the city requiring a minimum number of spaces and that's why they can't add more retail?
You know, I'm not even so much worried about the number of spaces as much as I am that there is a much better way to hide it, even if its on the ground floor. Still, yeah, I'd like there to be some ordinance that you can't have parking - even if there are no exit or entrances - right off of Grand River and Michigan. You should be required to push it to the back of the prperty, and if you still need more spaces, change the requirements so that you can count street spaces or neighboring lots towards the "on site" parking requirement. Plus, if you're marketing this towards students, you should need even less parking than usual.
I guess I'll wait to see how it turns out in person, since the rendering is so rudimentary. It may turn out looking more like the student apartments down the street (on the other side of the Brody Complex) than that crap on Clippert. lol
The Barnes & Noble location on Grand River in downtown East Lansing now has some interior remodeling underway. I haven't seen anything posted in the news about it, but they have all the windows covered with construction paper and taped shut. Only a couple weeks ago all the windows were uncovered and the location was being used as a public meeting space.
I'm hoping a business has leased it out and is working on getting the location ready for occupancy before the school year starts in the Fall.
Gillespie Group has a link to a siteplan for the old Silver Dollar location on Michigan Avenue.
It looks like they are proposing a midlevel building (~4 floors) with a bank in the front. The building will have a narrow frontage but run deep along the property. It looks to have first floor parking with three floors of residential above it. There will be a limited size surface lot.
If they can pull it off, then I would expect that PNC Bank would move into the building and vacate their current building which is next door. It'd be nice if another building got built in place of the PNC Bank. It's my understanding that the building was designed to only be temporary, so it has long outlived its intentions.
Comments
This will be the front of the building. The metal gate you see in the middle is decorative and not designed to be an entrance for cars. Entrance to the first floor parking will be via Louis St.
The south and west elevations and the north and east elevations. More information can be seen on the full plans.
I guess I'll wait to see how it turns out in person, since the rendering is so rudimentary. It may turn out looking more like the student apartments down the street (on the other side of the Brody Complex) than that crap on Clippert. lol
I'm hoping a business has leased it out and is working on getting the location ready for occupancy before the school year starts in the Fall.
It looks like they are proposing a midlevel building (~4 floors) with a bank in the front. The building will have a narrow frontage but run deep along the property. It looks to have first floor parking with three floors of residential above it. There will be a limited size surface lot.
If they can pull it off, then I would expect that PNC Bank would move into the building and vacate their current building which is next door. It'd be nice if another building got built in place of the PNC Bank. It's my understanding that the building was designed to only be temporary, so it has long outlived its intentions.
Here's a link to the site plans, http://www.gillespie-group.com/docs/MidtownSitePlan.pdf