Looks like Apple is opening a store at Eastwood. Apparently, the media has discovered that Apple will be opening a 6,000 sq ft store off of Preyde Boulevard. Not an Apple customer, myself, but it's apparently become a marker of a healthy retail scene.
I was just in Brooklyn and while there rode their MTA Select Bus Service route. It was super fast to get around. You purchased the tickets before boarding the bus and could enter any of the doors. This is enforced through random inspection at times. The bus triggered green lights before entering intersections so it only stopped to let people on and off. I hope that this is implemented in a similar manner.
Yep, that's what's being planned for Lansing, a "heavy" BRT line which is different from Grand Rapids' BRT-lite line. Lansing's will have a dedicated lane center lane for the vast majority of the route (GR's Silver Line runs on the curb-side f the street and the lane's are only reserved during rush-hour, I believe) , raised platforms, off-bus ticketing kiosks at the stations. This is about as close to a gold-star BRT plan as you'll find. It's why if there is ever to be a streetcars along the route, it would be really easy to switch over. This rarely happens, but it's even rarer if you're doing "light" BRT lines.
Speaking of BRT-lite lanes, I'd really like to see such a concept implemented on MLK and Cedar. You know, reserve a lane for CATA during rush-hour, take out a lot of stops and consolidate them into stations, and have off-bus ticketing.
Harry Hepler plans to build a 200 unit, four building apartment complex just north of his Motor Wheel Lofts. The apartments are going to be built from prefab boxes, similar to shipping containers, stacked together to form four floor buildings over parking. He says that he hopes to break ground in 2015.
There's really not much to say here. The buildings look nice, the area could use some density and I have faith in Hepler as a developer.
I only skimmed the article, yesterday, but my reaction was the opposite. The architecture looks cheap (and it is cheap considering how it's being constructed), ahd the suburban (drive-in) layout was a disappointment. It basically looks like it's playing off both the layout and architecture of the nearby Prudden Lofts. I think they could have so much done better with the placement of the parking, perhaps building a small garage for the entire complex so that you could bring the buildings to the street and actually make it half-way pedestrian friendly.
That said, this is the edge of downtown, Lansing needs more housing, and this land has been empty for too long and we're not going to get a better proposal for it. So, meh. lol
Well, at least if it is built in this design the buildings should go up pretty fast
I've been real happy with Hepler's work so I'm not worried about the execution here. The Prudden Lofts have exterior parking and maybe some carports (I can't remember). As much as a small garage for the complex may bring units closer to the street and reduce sidewalk crossings, it would also be a negative for a lot of people when they are thinking about how terrible this winter has been and having to carry their groceries outside from the garage to their unit.
I don't expect every project in Lansing to be a well layed out mixed used project with underground garages and/or parking ramps and what not. These type of modular apartment are at least interesting, and if you think that they can't be high quality I'd suggest you look at some of the things people have been doing with these in other places. Besides, look at what Gillespie has been building lately, in high profile locations none the less, in fact look no further than his truly suburban project right next door.
I don't expect every project in downtown to have those things, either. The problem is that there aren't ANY save for Knapps. Like I said, I support the project, but if we can't do any truly urban multi-unit development in literal middle of the city, then where? I'm kind of resigned that this is what we get for the Prudden area, and since it's tucked away and technically outside of downtown, I'm not going to complain to much, but these site plans have got to get better. Heck, better projects are getting put up in far less more car-centric southern sprawlville while we're putting up what virtually amounts of vertical apartment complexes. Stadium District, Marketplace, Prudden Lofts, etc...are the kind of things built around suburban town centers and malls in other more successful regions of the country. Were these things being built around the Meridian and Lansing malls, I'd be raving about them. It's all about context. Hell, even the Heights at Eastwood - which is a ridiculous project given the specific location of the lofts on the edge of Eastwood, lol - brings the building to the curb and attaches parking to the side.
I really don't think I'm being unfair, here. Lansing is 34 square miles (without the 425 agreas); it's really not too much to ask that the tiny middle 1 square mile that is downtown to be built in such a way that the pedestrian comes first, or is considered at least as important as the automobile.
But I do think this is positive and appropriate for downtown, there will be ground floor parking in an area that probably can't support retail, with four floors of residential above. It's also an innovative concept in it's construction. I just think that despite there being parking lots and four likely identical buildings, this is not a suburban style of project. I like the way they look too BTW.
Comments
Speaking of BRT-lite lanes, I'd really like to see such a concept implemented on MLK and Cedar. You know, reserve a lane for CATA during rush-hour, take out a lot of stops and consolidate them into stations, and have off-bus ticketing.
Harry Hepler plans to build a 200 unit, four building apartment complex just north of his Motor Wheel Lofts. The apartments are going to be built from prefab boxes, similar to shipping containers, stacked together to form four floor buildings over parking. He says that he hopes to break ground in 2015.
There's really not much to say here. The buildings look nice, the area could use some density and I have faith in Hepler as a developer.
That said, this is the edge of downtown, Lansing needs more housing, and this land has been empty for too long and we're not going to get a better proposal for it. So, meh. lol
I've been real happy with Hepler's work so I'm not worried about the execution here. The Prudden Lofts have exterior parking and maybe some carports (I can't remember). As much as a small garage for the complex may bring units closer to the street and reduce sidewalk crossings, it would also be a negative for a lot of people when they are thinking about how terrible this winter has been and having to carry their groceries outside from the garage to their unit.
I really don't think I'm being unfair, here. Lansing is 34 square miles (without the 425 agreas); it's really not too much to ask that the tiny middle 1 square mile that is downtown to be built in such a way that the pedestrian comes first, or is considered at least as important as the automobile.