It looks like the Roy E. Peffley Chilled Water Plant was officially dedicated, today. I knew it was basically finished, but had no idea today was the dedication. I guess we'll see the chiller plant on the Ottawa Street Station coming down relatively soon, then. Apparently, this new chiller is 60% more efficient than the one on the OSS.
Yeah, there were 2 subsidiaries of Irwin Financial Corporation that were closed Friday. They were bought by First Financial Bank. Here's another link with more information, and here is the FDIC press release with all the information as well.
"Auto-Owners Insurance Group plans a $105.3 million expansion of its Delta Township headquarters that would create 800 full-time jobs. The proposed project would involve a three-story, 250,000-square-foot facility on 143 acres it bought along South Creyts Road near Interstate 496."
With the size of their campus over there on Creyts 'm not surprised they decided to expand rather than move. If they would of moved way out in Dewitt that would of been very, very bad.
My question is, what's to become of their existing campus right across 496? I'm not sure I understand why they didn't just squeeze in a building somewhere on the existing campus. So, was the DeWitt move a fake-out? Were they trying to get a better deal from Delta Township? We all said it was odd when they announced their plans up in DeWitt.
BTW, the biggest news of the day is that GM Lansing-Delta Township is adding back a third shift brining hundreds of laid off workers back. Since Spring Hill, TN workers are getting first crack at the jobs (since there's was the plant closed to make room for this third shift, up here), this actually means that the area may be getting a few hundred new residents to help offset those moving out.
So, lots of good, stabilizing news for the area, today.
Without building parking structures ($$$$), there's not really space on the "old" Auto-Owners campus for any new large office buildings. Having the Blues property across 496 now allows Auto-Owners to expand essentially next door while continuing to occupy its massive existing campus.
This is a very good thing from a planning perspective. Think of all the headaches had Auto-Owners moved to DeWitt Township. There's no one in this region equipped to take over a corporate campus of that size, which would mean big empty buildings in Delta Township or a pretty inefficient local Auto-Owners operation with essentially two corporate campuses. (Accident Fund might have once been a possibility to take over the Auto-Owners campus since they were in the market for a larger corporate headquarters, but they thankfully decided on the downtown power plant.) And all the infrastructure is in place right there in Delta Township - the big hotel, a few eateries, decent highway interchange. All of that doesn't now need to be duplicated in DeWitt Township.
I wonder if they'll find a way to link the two sides of 496 for pedestrian traffic once they start building on the south property.
Comments
It looks like the Roy E. Peffley Chilled Water Plant was officially dedicated, today. I knew it was basically finished, but had no idea today was the dedication. I guess we'll see the chiller plant on the Ottawa Street Station coming down relatively soon, then. Apparently, this new chiller is 60% more efficient than the one on the OSS.
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2009/09/fdic_forces_irwin_union_sale.html
This seems like pretty great news.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20090922/NEWS03/309220013
BTW, the biggest news of the day is that GM Lansing-Delta Township is adding back a third shift brining hundreds of laid off workers back. Since Spring Hill, TN workers are getting first crack at the jobs (since there's was the plant closed to make room for this third shift, up here), this actually means that the area may be getting a few hundred new residents to help offset those moving out.
So, lots of good, stabilizing news for the area, today.
This is a very good thing from a planning perspective. Think of all the headaches had Auto-Owners moved to DeWitt Township. There's no one in this region equipped to take over a corporate campus of that size, which would mean big empty buildings in Delta Township or a pretty inefficient local Auto-Owners operation with essentially two corporate campuses. (Accident Fund might have once been a possibility to take over the Auto-Owners campus since they were in the market for a larger corporate headquarters, but they thankfully decided on the downtown power plant.) And all the infrastructure is in place right there in Delta Township - the big hotel, a few eateries, decent highway interchange. All of that doesn't now need to be duplicated in DeWitt Township.
I wonder if they'll find a way to link the two sides of 496 for pedestrian traffic once they start building on the south property.