On the Capitol, I noticed that they have entirely surrounded the building with a fence and are digging up part of the front lawn. I assume it is part of the geothermal well project. Are there plans for the re-landscaping of the lawn that have been published? I was wondering about the plans for an underground visitors entrance. It would make sense to do both projects at the same time, but I don't think they funded the visitors center.
I, for one, am very proud that we make some very good vehicles here in Lansing. Insurance is a great business have here but they cannot match a new Cadillac or Camaro in the driveway for Christmas. I think we really should be connecting the present GM with the past by promoting the "car culture" of Lansing. Plant tours, watch your car being made, and other promotions to raise awareness of what they make behind those big white walls. Create a downtown or Michigan Ave "GM storefront" with all the newest models on display in the big windows. They did that in NYC why not here? Sponsor more cars shows, rallies, classic car races, that could be combined with all kinds of different events and markets. I think many people still love cars, and I hope we make them here for a long time to come.
@Hood: That was great information. Thanks. Still makes me think GM is the clear #3 economic pillar in Greater Lansing, which is undoubtedly a very important role. I wouldn't want to see GM leave.
@gbdinlansing: GM World in the Renaissance Center in Detroit shows off the company's latest models to the public. I don't see them spending the money on something similar in Lansing, unfortunately.
I do think there is room in Lansing for more automotive-themed attractions or businesses. Near Detroit they turned an auto garage into a restaurant that plays up the region's automotive heritage (Vinsetta Garage), and you practically can't get a seat in the place it's so popular. The Dolson in Charlotte makes nods to automotive manufacturing and is also going gangbusters (the name references an old car model). Granted both places also serve good food, but I do think the auto theme really connects with people.
I think a smartly planned auto-themed business in REO Town would be a smashing success.
Maybe the REO museum and local dealers could fund a display of locally produced vehicles as a placemaking project, that says Lansing is a place that builds and makes things. This could include Spartan Motors and anything we make in Greater Lansing.
Since moving here a few years ago, I have felt the same way about the lack of facilities and attractions to highlight GM and Lansing's manufacturing heritage. Considering how successful such things have been elsewhere, even for defunct auto brands (saturn, studebaker, hudson, etc.), I'd think GM would be interested in setting up a showroom and/or museum/event space near REO town, and offering plant tours. Much like the Henry Ford in Dearborn. The ideal spot for such a complex? those bleak parking lots along the waterfront facing REO town.
Not only would this be great local PR, but I think it would spur some folks to rediscover GM as a modern manufacturer of high quality autos. And be a huge boon to retail, resturants and (future) hotels in REO town and downtown.
That is a great idea. Back in the day, Olds had plant tours and a small showroom at Logan Street [MLK] and Olds Ave. I might be wrong but I think that employees could buy a car there. The area that you mention was once a park called Elm Street Park, it would be really great if they put some sort of attraction on the river bank there. Right now the view from the new sunken garden is going to be a lot of blacktop parking lots on both sides of the river. I think that right now GM does not really care too much about their excess parking on our riverbanks, or anywhere else. It would be good for local leaders to prompt them to do something with all these unused acres of parking lots.
I believe I remember reading about a time not too long ago when the city asked GM about the huge parking lots. GM hinted that maybe one day the company would use the parking lots for a new development, and that shut the city right up, of course. Lansing has no leverage.
The trick is in convincing GM that investing in Lansing will pay off for GM. You'd have to demonstrate to the company how a show room or museum would improve the company's bottom line. I think a good start would be take a close look at the riverfront around the RE Olds Museum and try to include GM in a project there.
I lived in Waterloo, Iowa for a while. It's very similar to Michigan's mid-sized industrial cities (like Lansing, Waterloo even borders a vibrant college town). John Deere has some factories in Waterloo and the city has a rich history of tractor manufacturing - the city invented the gas tractor. Anyway, long story short, Waterloo was able to reinvent an old industrial area near downtown into a high tech industrial campus, even getting John Deere to open a museum there.
Lansing should look into doing something similar. Rather than waiting for an outside company to bring change, be the change you want to see! I might have a few small details wrong, but I believe in Waterloo local employers got together, formed an economic development corporation and built a high tech industrial campus.
I should've elaborated in my last post that in my dream world, GM would partner with the RE Olds Museum and improve it. Not that it isn't already a fine museum, but certainly it could be expanded.
I was very disappointed to hear the R E Olds Transportation museum was going to be bound to their building as a condition of the city's sale. I had really hoped, and continue to hope, that the R E Olds Museum would be able to move into a much larger more prominent location with a larger car collection and an expanded focus (think trains, military stuff and industrial exhibits). It would be even better if they could get an old industrial building, in the most perfect of worlds they'd have the budget to buy and fill the John Bean building, but the only way that happens is with massive GM investment.
Perhaps the BWL would consider donating their soon to be vacated complex? If would be a potentially awesome location for them with plenty of room to expand and moving from floodplain to floodplain couldn't be that much of an issue. That may actually be a viable idea.
All good ideas, and of course the Olds Museum would feature heavily in such a plan. If the museum can't move, perhaps there could be a "Transportation Trail" between the GR plant and the Olds Museum/Museum District? It could incorporate a new park/feature at the newly vacant BWL land at Hazel/Penn Ave, which is right between the two.
I also do like the idea of putting buildings along at least one of the streets of the Hazel/Penn property.
I was also speaking in terms of "wouldn't it be great if they did" about the riverfront parking lots and a Lansing made products display. There was a "showroom" but that was when Olds division actually could do different things somewhat independently. I was thinking more of the idea of a display window somewhere downtown like in front of the Cooley Stadium. I have about zero expectations that GM will do anything like this.
I think the location of the REO museum is not so bad, I could see a building added with elevated display space a floor up over a "parking area" at ground level where vehicles could be displayed but easily removed in the case of flooding.
Comments
On the Capitol, I noticed that they have entirely surrounded the building with a fence and are digging up part of the front lawn. I assume it is part of the geothermal well project. Are there plans for the re-landscaping of the lawn that have been published? I was wondering about the plans for an underground visitors entrance. It would make sense to do both projects at the same time, but I don't think they funded the visitors center.
I, for one, am very proud that we make some very good vehicles here in Lansing. Insurance is a great business have here but they cannot match a new Cadillac or Camaro in the driveway for Christmas. I think we really should be connecting the present GM with the past by promoting the "car culture" of Lansing. Plant tours, watch your car being made, and other promotions to raise awareness of what they make behind those big white walls. Create a downtown or Michigan Ave "GM storefront" with all the newest models on display in the big windows. They did that in NYC why not here? Sponsor more cars shows, rallies, classic car races, that could be combined with all kinds of different events and markets. I think many people still love cars, and I hope we make them here for a long time to come.
@Hood: That was great information. Thanks. Still makes me think GM is the clear #3 economic pillar in Greater Lansing, which is undoubtedly a very important role. I wouldn't want to see GM leave.
@gbdinlansing: GM World in the Renaissance Center in Detroit shows off the company's latest models to the public. I don't see them spending the money on something similar in Lansing, unfortunately.
I do think there is room in Lansing for more automotive-themed attractions or businesses. Near Detroit they turned an auto garage into a restaurant that plays up the region's automotive heritage (Vinsetta Garage), and you practically can't get a seat in the place it's so popular. The Dolson in Charlotte makes nods to automotive manufacturing and is also going gangbusters (the name references an old car model). Granted both places also serve good food, but I do think the auto theme really connects with people.
I think a smartly planned auto-themed business in REO Town would be a smashing success.
Maybe the REO museum and local dealers could fund a display of locally produced vehicles as a placemaking project, that says Lansing is a place that builds and makes things. This could include Spartan Motors and anything we make in Greater Lansing.
Magnate and gbd, re REO town:
Since moving here a few years ago, I have felt the same way about the lack of facilities and attractions to highlight GM and Lansing's manufacturing heritage. Considering how successful such things have been elsewhere, even for defunct auto brands (saturn, studebaker, hudson, etc.), I'd think GM would be interested in setting up a showroom and/or museum/event space near REO town, and offering plant tours. Much like the Henry Ford in Dearborn. The ideal spot for such a complex? those bleak parking lots along the waterfront facing REO town.
Not only would this be great local PR, but I think it would spur some folks to rediscover GM as a modern manufacturer of high quality autos. And be a huge boon to retail, resturants and (future) hotels in REO town and downtown.
That is a great idea. Back in the day, Olds had plant tours and a small showroom at Logan Street [MLK] and Olds Ave. I might be wrong but I think that employees could buy a car there. The area that you mention was once a park called Elm Street Park, it would be really great if they put some sort of attraction on the river bank there. Right now the view from the new sunken garden is going to be a lot of blacktop parking lots on both sides of the river. I think that right now GM does not really care too much about their excess parking on our riverbanks, or anywhere else. It would be good for local leaders to prompt them to do something with all these unused acres of parking lots.
I believe I remember reading about a time not too long ago when the city asked GM about the huge parking lots. GM hinted that maybe one day the company would use the parking lots for a new development, and that shut the city right up, of course. Lansing has no leverage.
The trick is in convincing GM that investing in Lansing will pay off for GM. You'd have to demonstrate to the company how a show room or museum would improve the company's bottom line. I think a good start would be take a close look at the riverfront around the RE Olds Museum and try to include GM in a project there.
I lived in Waterloo, Iowa for a while. It's very similar to Michigan's mid-sized industrial cities (like Lansing, Waterloo even borders a vibrant college town). John Deere has some factories in Waterloo and the city has a rich history of tractor manufacturing - the city invented the gas tractor. Anyway, long story short, Waterloo was able to reinvent an old industrial area near downtown into a high tech industrial campus, even getting John Deere to open a museum there.
Lansing should look into doing something similar. Rather than waiting for an outside company to bring change, be the change you want to see! I might have a few small details wrong, but I believe in Waterloo local employers got together, formed an economic development corporation and built a high tech industrial campus.
I should've elaborated in my last post that in my dream world, GM would partner with the RE Olds Museum and improve it. Not that it isn't already a fine museum, but certainly it could be expanded.
I was very disappointed to hear the R E Olds Transportation museum was going to be bound to their building as a condition of the city's sale. I had really hoped, and continue to hope, that the R E Olds Museum would be able to move into a much larger more prominent location with a larger car collection and an expanded focus (think trains, military stuff and industrial exhibits). It would be even better if they could get an old industrial building, in the most perfect of worlds they'd have the budget to buy and fill the John Bean building, but the only way that happens is with massive GM investment.
Perhaps the BWL would consider donating their soon to be vacated complex? If would be a potentially awesome location for them with plenty of room to expand and moving from floodplain to floodplain couldn't be that much of an issue. That may actually be a viable idea.
All good ideas, and of course the Olds Museum would feature heavily in such a plan. If the museum can't move, perhaps there could be a "Transportation Trail" between the GR plant and the Olds Museum/Museum District? It could incorporate a new park/feature at the newly vacant BWL land at Hazel/Penn Ave, which is right between the two.
I also do like the idea of putting buildings along at least one of the streets of the Hazel/Penn property.
I was also speaking in terms of "wouldn't it be great if they did" about the riverfront parking lots and a Lansing made products display. There was a "showroom" but that was when Olds division actually could do different things somewhat independently. I was thinking more of the idea of a display window somewhere downtown like in front of the Cooley Stadium. I have about zero expectations that GM will do anything like this.
I think the location of the REO museum is not so bad, I could see a building added with elevated display space a floor up over a "parking area" at ground level where vehicles could be displayed but easily removed in the case of flooding.