Just go through on the assessor's look-up tool to see all of the land. It seems that this block (north of May, west of the railroad tracks, east of Prudden and south of Sheridian and Saginaw) is actually four different parcels which includes one parcel for the parking lot and then three for the vacant land to the north of that. What is of interest, is that one of those three parcels for the vacant land is owned by some other party than Hepler's LLCs (a Lansing couple up on the northeast side, it appears). I wonder how this will effect the project, or if these other owners are family members or something?
I also wonder if Hepler's move will finally incentivize Gillespie to build phase II of Prudden Place across the tracks? He still owns the land.
So, LPD has made it official, today, that they are vacating the North Precinct when their lease is up in August. I say officially because it's been pretty well known since at least 2012 that they wanted to leave, and Hepler's poor maintenance of the building didn't make this a difficult decision.
As someone living less than a mile from the place, I'm very disappointed that they aren't just moving, but moving way-the-hell to the southeast corner of the city "temporarily" in the Hill Center. I also know that having that large a police presence, below, was a huge selling point for Motor Wheels Lofts and Prudden Place. No one can reasonably argue that this won't have major response time increases for those of us north of 496, particularly the northeast corner of the city. I get it makes sense to use space the city owns, and though I don't want them to move, at all, I could tolerate them moving where they'd once planned down on Washington. But, the Hill Center is about as far away from the center of population of city as you can get and still be in the city. I don't get it.
Wowee! So, GM is building a logstics center and stamping plant at Grand River? The auto gods have been kind.
BTW, anyone catch the City Pulse story on the LSD planning to dispose of Eastern and Sexton? I think it's really unfortunate, and I'd much rather them be kept schools (the plan is to only have Everett and repurpose Pattengill as a high school), as there are smaller school districts and cities in this state with more high schools. Two high schools for a city this size (both population-wise and physically) seems more like a lack of imagination and will than an economic necessity. With Lansing maybe posting a slight population gain when the next Census estimates come out in July, and LSD's enrollment decline slowing down, it seems kind of crazy to close Eastern and Sexton.
What's more, it seems the school district is both rushing the decision and being very coy by not cultivating the preservationist community that would be key in helping them find a suitable use for the buildings. I hope to god they don't sell Eastern to Sparrow, or you can be sure it will be a parking lot, which is completely unacceptable. This is yet another example of the tone-deafness of the LSD and the City of Lansing and how they work together. The other recent notable example is the "temporary" home for the LPD at Harry Hill.
Some development updates on the agenda for next Monday's city council meeting:
- The developers for Moores River Elementary (to turn it into labs) are formally requesting a special land use permit.
- The Granger Group are formally requesting a special land use permit to demolish the Walter Neller Building at Grand & Allegan to extend their surface parking lot which extends from Michigan Avenue.
- Tons of new stop signs are going up all around the city, some to replace some traffic signals. Not sure if all of these are new signs, or replacements for existing signage.
BTW, speaking again of the pending Walter Neller Building demolition, I meant to ask you guys that if you owned the property, what would be your preference for it? Would it be something you renovate? If you were to replace and demolish it, would you develop another two-story building on the site, something mid-rise, something high-rise? What would the uses for it be?
Me? Given that this is in the central business district core, I'd actually develop it as a 12-story-or-so speculative office building, but given the ground floor over to legit retail - not another restaurant/bar and not a service business.
Most importantly for me, I do not want to see the building renovated. I feel like if it were renovated it would make the development of anything worthwhile on the site unlikely.
I've always wanted to see a high rise on the corner, at least 20 floors tall, I'd prefer it be a hotel and/or residential but office wouldn't disappoint me. I pretty much figure that there will be a large parking ramp involved in any project here and that would go where the Walter Neller building is, if we're lucky there will be some sort of liner building surrounding the ramp or at minimum ground floor retail.
Nice! I've always said that even if they got something like a low-end ALDI's, downtown, that'd be a huge improvement over the options (or lack there of), now. For me, you could have something like this somewhere in the island of Cedar and Larch between the freeway and Saginaw. Or, you could develop it on the west end of downtown, you know, like at the Eyde lands at Kalamazoo/Butler/MLK.
I think the only existing retail space down there big enough for a decent grocery store would be in Knapp's, and that doesn't seem too likely. I was thinking maybe around St Joe & Washington would be a good spot for new construction. There are a few lots on both streets that would probably be large enough to have some surface parking along with the store, the area sure could use some life.
On your note, that large underused property accross from Riverfront Towers would be a great spot.
Comments
I also wonder if Hepler's move will finally incentivize Gillespie to build phase II of Prudden Place across the tracks? He still owns the land.
As someone living less than a mile from the place, I'm very disappointed that they aren't just moving, but moving way-the-hell to the southeast corner of the city "temporarily" in the Hill Center. I also know that having that large a police presence, below, was a huge selling point for Motor Wheels Lofts and Prudden Place. No one can reasonably argue that this won't have major response time increases for those of us north of 496, particularly the northeast corner of the city. I get it makes sense to use space the city owns, and though I don't want them to move, at all, I could tolerate them moving where they'd once planned down on Washington. But, the Hill Center is about as far away from the center of population of city as you can get and still be in the city. I don't get it.
BTW, anyone catch the City Pulse story on the LSD planning to dispose of Eastern and Sexton? I think it's really unfortunate, and I'd much rather them be kept schools (the plan is to only have Everett and repurpose Pattengill as a high school), as there are smaller school districts and cities in this state with more high schools. Two high schools for a city this size (both population-wise and physically) seems more like a lack of imagination and will than an economic necessity. With Lansing maybe posting a slight population gain when the next Census estimates come out in July, and LSD's enrollment decline slowing down, it seems kind of crazy to close Eastern and Sexton.
What's more, it seems the school district is both rushing the decision and being very coy by not cultivating the preservationist community that would be key in helping them find a suitable use for the buildings. I hope to god they don't sell Eastern to Sparrow, or you can be sure it will be a parking lot, which is completely unacceptable. This is yet another example of the tone-deafness of the LSD and the City of Lansing and how they work together. The other recent notable example is the "temporary" home for the LPD at Harry Hill.
- The developers for Moores River Elementary (to turn it into labs) are formally requesting a special land use permit.
- The Granger Group are formally requesting a special land use permit to demolish the Walter Neller Building at Grand & Allegan to extend their surface parking lot which extends from Michigan Avenue.
- Tons of new stop signs are going up all around the city, some to replace some traffic signals. Not sure if all of these are new signs, or replacements for existing signage.
Me? Given that this is in the central business district core, I'd actually develop it as a 12-story-or-so speculative office building, but given the ground floor over to legit retail - not another restaurant/bar and not a service business.
I've always wanted to see a high rise on the corner, at least 20 floors tall, I'd prefer it be a hotel and/or residential but office wouldn't disappoint me. I pretty much figure that there will be a large parking ramp involved in any project here and that would go where the Walter Neller building is, if we're lucky there will be some sort of liner building surrounding the ramp or at minimum ground floor retail.
On your note, that large underused property accross from Riverfront Towers would be a great spot.