There are renderings of the old proposals for this property here: 7 Block Development
The news that there has been activity there is interesting, especially given the low office vacancy rate downtown. There's a lot to speculate on, but I'd imagine any development here would probably be mostly office space. I wonder if anything will happen in the near future?
Sad, but expected news, Emil's is closing October 30th: Emil's, Lansing's oldest restaraunt, to close. It says he will open up a business in Allen Street Market called Emil's Too, it sounds like it'll be a deli/carry out style place. This pretty much empties that block for the new developer to do as he pleases.
I'd be very interested in seeing what a primarily residential development in that area would look like. I'd think that something primarily made up of townhouse/single family units with some 2-3 floor mixed use buildings would be perfect.
I grew up near Moores River Drive and I remember when the built they four lane boulevard section with the bank wall from Mt Hope to Waverly, it was just two lanes before with little gravel turn outs if you wanted to look at the river. There use to be a water skiing club that had a jump in the middle of the river, my Dad would park there so we could watch. The four lane road was never needed.
I have walked the new path that is there now and it is very nice, the river is so nice to look at, it looks as wide as some lakes from down by the Warverly bridge, and the water is full of life, and lots of people use the path for fishing and feeding the ducks and walks of course. It is true you can not see the river quite as well driving by the new path, but it really is so much more natural looking I'm sure it is better for the river. The only thing I would say is plant more or new trees along what use to be the median, the trees there looked very stressed this summer and already dropped their leafs by September and more grass and wild flowers along the bank. Then maintain the plantings, pavement and fencing better.
I have been wondering about the woodlands that are between the last riverside house and Grand River Park, are they part of the park? It looks like mature forest. I could see a separate trail bridge taking the trail over the river and over to Lansing Road to the park with a dedicated bike path to the park along Waverly and Old Lansing road. What about a trail going the other way down old Lansing Road to Woldumar that is such a nice park too.
I was thinking perhaps building the ped. bridge on the Waverly Ave bridge maybe a extension along the east side of the bridge. Using the existing structure as the support for a bike/ped. lane kind of hooking onto the side so it would not actually be another bridge just a new lane on the bridge that is there. I too, do not think it would be good to have a new bridge at that point in the river. What's with the Township anyway do they just reject everything the city purposes?
Everyone should check out Woldumar it is really beautiful with many different types of woodlands, well marked trails, and views of the Grand River that you would not believe they are so nice. It's only about 2 miles down the road from Waverly.
I find it kind of amazing to hear your report about the idea of the river trail going three or four blocks down Waverly to Old Lansing Road. I am sure everyone knows that Waverly Road was a racial line that African-Americans were not suppose to cross back in the last century. If black kids went to Sully's Drive In just west of Waverly there was often trouble and I am sure the those kids knew they were not welcome there by the neighborhood, I do not know what the owner's view was. I can clearly remember a story in the LSJ about a violent racial fight and photo with an overturned car at Sully's. To hear that some folks still think that way is so sad especially since it seems like a lot of minority folks live in Lansing Township and Delta. It would be great if the leaders out there and the neighborhoods sought to understand that in the 21st century Lansing is a truly diverse community. Why not be a happy part of it?
I think it is interesting that the county government is still a strong part of the community and has money and power to get things done. The difference between a county park and city park are easy to see, county parks seem be better taken care of. This points out the benefits of the larger community, if all the communities in greater Lansing were one think of how powerful our voice would be at the capital, and how powerful our combined funds would be. It would be nice if those folks all thought "we are Lansing" instead of "we are NOT Lansing"!
It would seem to me that the city could have it's own emergency repair fund in the parks budget, maybe they already do. It is hard to think of any very large emergency that could happen short of a very bad flood. Most of the trail is 10ft. wide strip of pavement, it seems like the city could handle that without the county, but maybe not. The wash out of the trail and bank next to GM has not really been repaired. The mayor seems like most mayors he wants to micro-manage and control everything in his city. I think he should serve as a voice for Lansing interest but isn't most of the trail in Lansing? Yet all of the county has put money into the tax fund, and they should have a voice and say so in how it is spent. If Lansing does not listen to the county, it is possible that the rest of the county will not be interested maintaining parks and trails that are within Lansing. Rise above turf battles and do what's right.
It would be a good thing if the county did take over the trail,if they have the funds to take better care of it. It seems kind of silly it is money for trails in Ingham county, does it make a difference which pocket it comes out of.
I was wondering about a few projects that are going on around town. On S Washington and South st. a store front is being renovated and then it seems like two more up the block. What is going in there? A new vintage/antique shop has moved into one of the deco one story shop fronts on that block.
Over at St Joe and Waverly they are working on an old gas station, I was hoping it would be something interesting. Also on St Joe the old trucking building is up for sale again, so it seems that they were just cleaning up that site. I have heard rumors that something big is going in that area, but I do not know what.
In the the good news department, they have repaved Mt.Hope from MKL to Boston Blvd. That section had four lanes of really bad pavement. Now if they could go in the other direction all the way to East Lansing, because it sure could use it. I was also wondering about the origin of the name Mount Hope, there is a "high point" at Penn. Ave. other wise it's pretty flat. Maybe it refers to the high creek bank/glacial deposit at Mt. Hope cemetery. I am sure even slight rise in the landscape might have seemed like mounts with a horse and wagon.
I think I'd second the idea of the county taking over the River Trail, they've already shown they're pretty good at running parks. It's becoming an increasingly regional system anyways, it may as well be operated and paid for regionally.
At S Washington and South streets the former Southtown bar has been renovated, revealing the old storefronts, the one at the corner looks like the last one to be filled. I'm curious to know which other two storefronts you're talking about though, I don't think I've noticed them.
I'm glad to hear of them repaving any of the many roads that need it and I couldn't agree more on the need to repave the rest of Mt Hope, especially east of Aurelius.
Comments
The news that there has been activity there is interesting, especially given the low office vacancy rate downtown. There's a lot to speculate on, but I'd imagine any development here would probably be mostly office space. I wonder if anything will happen in the near future?
Sad, but expected news, Emil's is closing October 30th: Emil's, Lansing's oldest restaraunt, to close. It says he will open up a business in Allen Street Market called Emil's Too, it sounds like it'll be a deli/carry out style place. This pretty much empties that block for the new developer to do as he pleases.
I have walked the new path that is there now and it is very nice, the river is so nice to look at, it looks as wide as some lakes from down by the Warverly bridge, and the water is full of life, and lots of people use the path for fishing and feeding the ducks and walks of course. It is true you can not see the river quite as well driving by the new path, but it really is so much more natural looking I'm sure it is better for the river. The only thing I would say is plant more or new trees along what use to be the median, the trees there looked very stressed this summer and already dropped their leafs by September and more grass and wild flowers along the bank. Then maintain the plantings, pavement and fencing better.
I have been wondering about the woodlands that are between the last riverside house and Grand River Park, are they part of the park? It looks like mature forest. I could see a separate trail bridge taking the trail over the river and over to Lansing Road to the park with a dedicated bike path to the park along Waverly and Old Lansing road. What about a trail going the other way down old Lansing Road to Woldumar that is such a nice park too.
Everyone should check out Woldumar it is really beautiful with many different types of woodlands, well marked trails, and views of the Grand River that you would not believe they are so nice. It's only about 2 miles down the road from Waverly.
I think it is interesting that the county government is still a strong part of the community and has money and power to get things done. The difference between a county park and city park are easy to see, county parks seem be better taken care of. This points out the benefits of the larger community, if all the communities in greater Lansing were one think of how powerful our voice would be at the capital, and how powerful our combined funds would be. It would be nice if those folks all thought "we are Lansing" instead of "we are NOT Lansing"!
I was wondering about a few projects that are going on around town. On S Washington and South st. a store front is being renovated and then it seems like two more up the block. What is going in there? A new vintage/antique shop has moved into one of the deco one story shop fronts on that block.
Over at St Joe and Waverly they are working on an old gas station, I was hoping it would be something interesting. Also on St Joe the old trucking building is up for sale again, so it seems that they were just cleaning up that site. I have heard rumors that something big is going in that area, but I do not know what.
In the the good news department, they have repaved Mt.Hope from MKL to Boston Blvd. That section had four lanes of really bad pavement. Now if they could go in the other direction all the way to East Lansing, because it sure could use it. I was also wondering about the origin of the name Mount Hope, there is a "high point" at Penn. Ave. other wise it's pretty flat. Maybe it refers to the high creek bank/glacial deposit at Mt. Hope cemetery. I am sure even slight rise in the landscape might have seemed like mounts with a horse and wagon.
At S Washington and South streets the former Southtown bar has been renovated, revealing the old storefronts, the one at the corner looks like the last one to be filled. I'm curious to know which other two storefronts you're talking about though, I don't think I've noticed them.
I'm glad to hear of them repaving any of the many roads that need it and I couldn't agree more on the need to repave the rest of Mt Hope, especially east of Aurelius.