I was thinking the same thing about GR...being the second largest city in the state.
I agree that it appears Lansing's economy will continue expanding; it's always nice when anecdotal evidence (JNL moving its data center to Lansing from Denver, Auto-Owner's expanding here, IBM's new office, GM stabilizing and adding shifts, etc.) matches with study results such as this.
It is nice to see that all the good news for the area hasn't just been a smokescreen, it's a real indicator of whats going on. Come to think of it the only really bad news coming out of the area in the past few years were the GM plant closures, at least that's all I can remember.
Also this story on Seymour towers was in last weeks City Pulse: The Towers and the Powers
I'm against this building being used to house the homeless myself, in fact I'm against it being reused at all. I'm too worried that Bernero will cave, but the church organizations just won't leave the subject alone. They could do much. much better by buying scattered single family homes.
I'm sure Grand Rapids was missing because they were comparing cities on the eastern part of the state. Lansing is quite a reach, but the local media sometimes includes it as a very fringe element of Southeast Michigan. Anyway, for the 2005-2008 span that the paper uses, Grand Rapids posted a GDP gain of only 5.2%. Many people don't know it, but save for Detroit, Grand Rapids's metropolitan area is the one bleeding the most jobs, and that has an effect on the GDP. That even Lansing or Grand Rapids continues to post relatively healthy gains in economic productivity despite the job losses says alot about the two cities. In other words, we're doing more with less. Lansing's economy is growing so quickly because it's become the insurance capital of the state. The metro is now home to something like one in five insurance jobs in the state.
The only reason they have an opening on this is because the administration has been dragging their feet on it. I realize that the feds have to be part of any negotiations, but the city has been dysfunctional on the issue. Bernero has to make it known that he wants to see this thing down. I'd always advocated a massive reconstruction (i.e. using the concrete frame and then building up a new entire building around it, essentially), but they aren't even considering that. The only real damage is on the ground floor from what I understand.
I would honestly just like to see it come down. I think it would still make a nice site, (along with the lot next door) for the library and Impression 5, or even a new City Hall, should one get built.
Susan Vela • suvela@lsj.com • October 6, 2009 • From LSJ.com
The Lansing area’s growth in gross domestic product ranked among the top three regions in the state in a recently-released report due to the strength of the local financial industry and more than a half-billion dollars in private investment, according to city officials.
The region matched Battle Creek and fell behind only Kalamazoo in the 2005-2008 report by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, said Bob Trezise, president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Development Corp. GDP is a term used to describe output of goods and services.
The region’s 9.2 percent growth trailed the 11.2 percent increase in Kalamazoo. That compared to 14.2 percent for Madison, Wisc., and 11.6 percent for Indianapolis, according to Trezise.
“This is empirical evidence that our strategy for growing Lansing’s economy is working,” he said. “Even in these challenging economic times, Lansing continues to shine as one of the few regions in Michigan that are winning the battle for new jobs and investments.”
...
As Tresize said, considering how hard Michigan's been hit, that Lansing is posting any economi gains is impressive. That it's posting gains really not that far off of much larger and seemingly more healthy capital cities really says something. To be not that far off of Indianapolis is impressive. I think one of Michigan's biggest problems is that it sells/markets itself so poorly.
In other good news, Lansing's entire CBD was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Downtown Lansing is on the National Register of Historic Places.
More than 80 buildings spanning 15 blocks received the distinction this summer, said Brian Anderson, director of urban development and legislative affairs for the Lansing Economic Development Corp.
The district is bound by Ionia Street, Hillsdale Street, Walnut Street and Grand Avenue, he said.
Of the 93 buildings in the area, 84 are historically significant and eligible for historic preservation tax credits. The incentive covers 20 percent of rehabilitation costs.
Anderson said the designation poses no restrictions to development.
Kudos to the proactive and progressive Lansing EDC for pursuing this and finishing the job.
And, it other good news, Niowave (located at the refurbished Walnut Elementary in the Walnut Neighborhood directly west of Old Town) has received some lucrative Department of Energy contracts:
Melissa Domsic • Lansing State Journal • October 6, 2009 • From Lansing State Journal
Niowave Inc. has won two Department of Energy contracts totaling $1.5 million.
The Lansing-based high-tech research and manufacturing company said today it received contracts through the department's Small Business Innovation Research program.
The contracts involve researching and developing two superconducting radio frequency cavities as part of the second phase of particle accelerator projects. Both will be complete in July 2011.
Niowave also received $250,000 to commercialize the technology. Funding came from the Michigan Emerging Technology Fund and private investment.
Anyone catch the CBRE|Martin Report on the back of the Business Weekly that comes with the LSJ on Monday's, yesterday? Apparently, someone's retained CBRE to market the southern half of the block bounded by Cedar, Larch, Shiawassee, and Erie to developers. They don't appear to be selling all of the land, but are marketing it as either leasing out the existing buildings or redeveloping the entire site. The 2.19 acre site includes everything south of Roma Bakery, save for the corner buildings (i.e. Corner Bar at Shiawassee and Cedar and Adado Auto Brokers at Shiawassee and Larch). What it does include are the structures that house Riverfront Cycle, Commercial Blueprints, Napa, and the small warehouse at 413 North Larch. It also includes two vacant lots and all of the parking lots for the aforementioned businesses.
To put it more simply, it's much of everything on the block north of Market Place except for the former A-to-Z Rental lot and Inline Design Marketing property. Someone called "Micro Investment Co." of 801 South Waverly (Lansing Township) owns the land. The Eyde's own most everything to the north.
Yep, we'd been figuring this for some time, though, I was going to be skeptical until it was formally called. They could have easily moved to some other township; I'm glad that they saw that being in close proximity to their subsidary was a smart move for them.
BTW, I was downtown earlier today, and was happy to see how much of an effect the new Troppo will make on the street streetscape. You don't really realize these things until you see how tall they go.
Comments
I agree that it appears Lansing's economy will continue expanding; it's always nice when anecdotal evidence (JNL moving its data center to Lansing from Denver, Auto-Owner's expanding here, IBM's new office, GM stabilizing and adding shifts, etc.) matches with study results such as this.
Also this story on Seymour towers was in last weeks City Pulse: The Towers and the Powers
I'm against this building being used to house the homeless myself, in fact I'm against it being reused at all. I'm too worried that Bernero will cave, but the church organizations just won't leave the subject alone. They could do much. much better by buying scattered single family homes.
The only reason they have an opening on this is because the administration has been dragging their feet on it. I realize that the feds have to be part of any negotiations, but the city has been dysfunctional on the issue. Bernero has to make it known that he wants to see this thing down. I'd always advocated a massive reconstruction (i.e. using the concrete frame and then building up a new entire building around it, essentially), but they aren't even considering that. The only real damage is on the ground floor from what I understand.
As Tresize said, considering how hard Michigan's been hit, that Lansing is posting any economi gains is impressive. That it's posting gains really not that far off of much larger and seemingly more healthy capital cities really says something. To be not that far off of Indianapolis is impressive. I think one of Michigan's biggest problems is that it sells/markets itself so poorly.
In other good news, Lansing's entire CBD was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Kudos to the proactive and progressive Lansing EDC for pursuing this and finishing the job.
And, it other good news, Niowave (located at the refurbished Walnut Elementary in the Walnut Neighborhood directly west of Old Town) has received some lucrative Department of Energy contracts:
Sounds like it may be a good plan, it's small news, I know, but at least the building won't be left vacant.
To put it more simply, it's much of everything on the block north of Market Place except for the former A-to-Z Rental lot and Inline Design Marketing property. Someone called "Micro Investment Co." of 801 South Waverly (Lansing Township) owns the land. The Eyde's own most everything to the north.
Blue Cross moving 250 to downtown Lansing
BTW, I was downtown earlier today, and was happy to see how much of an effect the new Troppo will make on the street streetscape. You don't really realize these things until you see how tall they go.