I went to the meeting on Tuesday for the East Village plan, and looking back, I am surprised that I didn't put an update on here about that.
The concepts were still not that concrete, not knowing how tall or how dense buildings would be. The most information that could be had from the different designs were the street makeup and park/entertainment area design.
Yeah, they say that the plans aren't concrete (they submitted something like 5 different possible setups for the site, I hear), but it was the first time we got an actual preliminary proposal for the site. Everything before that had been simple masterplanning sponsored by the city.
Two of the four only used half of the site, and the other two used the whole site. One of them featured a lake that was larger than a football field, and others had small "rivers" flowing near the river that would have small pedestrian bridges over them. The "rivers" would be fake and only about 2 feet deep, and not connected to the actual Red Cedar river, due to regulations and laws that prohibit modifying a river's edge. The look would be that it actually did connect to the river, with the exception of the obvious cleaner water. There were large sections of stores near the river, and almost all of the buildings would have ground floor retail.
All of the designs did have a focus point near the river, and a couple of the designs showed mixed uses for the focus point, as a possible water fountain in which the fountain could be turned off and used as an amphitheater, and others like the large lake being used as an ice-skating rink.
If I can recall right, all of the designs had a cinema in them, but the movie theater would have housing above it to try and make the box-shaped building a little more appealing.
I would estimate that about half of the residences would be geared towards undergraduate students, another quarter to grad students, and another quarter to market-rate housing.
One of the concerns raised by Vic Loomis was the problem that the East Village may pull businesses out of downtown East Lansing and in to the East Village, in essence just relocating the downtown. The Pierce Company and 5+ Design didn't seem to be too worried about it, and just said that it should spill over development and just create more competition for companies.
I sure hope that if any company decides to relocate to the East Village, it will be leaving either the Meridian Mall area or the Eastwood Towne Center.
East Village is largely being developed as a residential district, and I suspect any businesses fronting Grand River would be an extension of downtown instead of pulling out businesses from downtown. I think that concern is kind of unfounded. That area could become downtown if it wanted to simply because of how its set up.
The Dublin Square Irish Pub is expected to open at the end of this week or next week. This is the project in the old East Lansing post office and the former location for the Evergreen Grill.
WILX just reported that Chartmen Construction has backed out of a plan to develop a 12-story high-rise on the city parking lot along Albert a block or east of Abbott. I think this was proposed sometime early last year or late 2005 if I remember right. Chartmen cited a soft condo market downtown for them backing out of the plan.
That said , WILX just did a big story of Virginia Avenue, and how it's moving foward. It's funny. I considering myself pretty knowledgeble of the area, but don't think I've ever been in this part of East Lansing, before.
Yeah, as much as I would have loved to see a 12 story condo high-rise in East Lansing, it doesn't fit that block that much. I would expect something about half the height, or maybe up to 8 stories at the maximum. I don't think there is enough infill nearby to warrant such a big project, and I think that is one of the reasons why it looks like City Center 2 has been stalled for so long.
But....... on the topic of City Center 2, Scene Metrospace will be moving very soon to the new location next to Geogio's to make way for demolition of the buildings and construction of City Center 2. I have a feeling that the design has changed from the previous renderings, but I haven't seen anything to confirm my suspicions.
The area of Virginia Ave is near Burcham and Hagadorn, between East Lansing High School and MacDonald Middle School.
Consideration of a Special Use Permit and Site Plan; An application from
Tass Mekani to construct a 3-story, 78-room hotel on the vacant 1.5 acre
property at the rear of 1100 Trowbridge Road. The building would include a
meeting room and an indoor pool. The entire site is approximately 3.2 acres
in size; the front part of the site is occupied by an existing two-story, 55-room
hotel and 4,500 square feet of leasable retail space. The property is zoned in
the B-2 Retail Sales Business District.
Consideration of a Special Use Permit and Site Plan; An application to
demolish the existing gas station/car wash building at 111 E. Saginaw and the
adjacent restaurant building at 135 E. Saginaw and construct a new onestory,
14,564 square ft. drugstore building (Rite-Aid) with two drive-through
pick-up windows. The site is 2.13 acres in size and is zoned in the B-2 Retail
Sales Business District.
Set for Public Hearing on April 3, 2007 Ordinance No. 1167; An application
from the CADA Investment Group, L.L.C., to rezone 16.96 acres of the former
Public Works property on Merritt Road from the RM-32 Multiple Family District
to the B-2 Retail Sales Business District.
It's about time they started back up a hotel on Trowbridge, there. Despite being an unconventional freeway exit, there is not reason that that property can't thrive.
I'm not sure how much I like the Rite Aid that is being proposed, I don't particularly like drive-thrus, but there isn't much pedestrian movement on that part of Saginaw. I think the city should require the developer to include sidewalks along the front of the property. Pedestrian mobility needs to start sometime on Saginaw.
Comments
The concepts were still not that concrete, not knowing how tall or how dense buildings would be. The most information that could be had from the different designs were the street makeup and park/entertainment area design.
Two of the four only used half of the site, and the other two used the whole site. One of them featured a lake that was larger than a football field, and others had small "rivers" flowing near the river that would have small pedestrian bridges over them. The "rivers" would be fake and only about 2 feet deep, and not connected to the actual Red Cedar river, due to regulations and laws that prohibit modifying a river's edge. The look would be that it actually did connect to the river, with the exception of the obvious cleaner water. There were large sections of stores near the river, and almost all of the buildings would have ground floor retail.
All of the designs did have a focus point near the river, and a couple of the designs showed mixed uses for the focus point, as a possible water fountain in which the fountain could be turned off and used as an amphitheater, and others like the large lake being used as an ice-skating rink.
If I can recall right, all of the designs had a cinema in them, but the movie theater would have housing above it to try and make the box-shaped building a little more appealing.
I would estimate that about half of the residences would be geared towards undergraduate students, another quarter to grad students, and another quarter to market-rate housing.
One of the concerns raised by Vic Loomis was the problem that the East Village may pull businesses out of downtown East Lansing and in to the East Village, in essence just relocating the downtown. The Pierce Company and 5+ Design didn't seem to be too worried about it, and just said that it should spill over development and just create more competition for companies.
I sure hope that if any company decides to relocate to the East Village, it will be leaving either the Meridian Mall area or the Eastwood Towne Center.
Here is a link to an article in the State News: http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=40031
That said , WILX just did a big story of Virginia Avenue, and how it's moving foward. It's funny. I considering myself pretty knowledgeble of the area, but don't think I've ever been in this part of East Lansing, before.
But....... on the topic of City Center 2, Scene Metrospace will be moving very soon to the new location next to Geogio's to make way for demolition of the buildings and construction of City Center 2. I have a feeling that the design has changed from the previous renderings, but I haven't seen anything to confirm my suspicions.
The area of Virginia Ave is near Burcham and Hagadorn, between East Lansing High School and MacDonald Middle School.