WLNS reported that firefighters were demolishing some of the sidewalls in an effort to save what parts of the building they can. If they can save the facade, keeping it in a repairable state, I'de be happy. It turns out the owner of ACD.net is the one redeveloping it, he says they still plan to move forward with their project.
BTW, if you ever want to get an interesting view of the skyline, you can drive down west down Prospect between 8th and Hosmer. You're up on that ridge that rises above the eastside and you can see a pretty cool shot of the Grand Tower and some of the taller buildings. It's particularly good at night.
Actually, Hosmer Street is a pretty cool street that follows the ridge. If it were a little higher it would be a great look-out point.
I was just by the building this morning and they tore down whatever was left of the front facade. As far as I'm concerned there is nothing left of the building worth trying to save. Maybe, now that Kalamazoo from Larch to the RR tracks is a virtually blank slate, besides the abandoned gas station, we will see some new projects go up. I would be happy with 2-4 floor buildings in this area, or even rowhouses but it may be too busy of a street for that.
Kalamazoo east of Larch and west of the railroad tracks is mostly empty, but you totally forgot about the two Valvoline business, and the car repair shop, but mentioned the abandoned gas station which I'd call empty land than either of the other two. lol The tiny structure is something like 400 square feet.
But, something needs to be done with that area. That is one of the main gateway into and out of downtown Lansing. Kazoo runs all the way to East Lansing. With Michigan, Shiawassee and Kalamazoo having bridges into downtown, each of these streets should be gateways into the downtown when coming down the ridge.
I don't think there is any hope to fix up Kalamazoo in the near future, maybe this area being so close to downtown, but once you get further East through the neighborhoods it would be too difficult. Many cities withe successful downtowns have rough edges, we need not be too concerned with areas like this, simply keeping it from getting much worse would be an accomplishment.
We definitely need to be concerned with every area of your city, and particularly the outlying neighborhoods of downtown. But, you and I have always disagreed on this. This is a very ugly area, and a very important one as with any gateway neighborhood. It's the first thing people seeing coming into downtown, and the last thing they see leaving. The owner of this now demolished structure wouldn't have been redeveloping the thing if he didn't have hope for the area. This either/or attitude concerning developing the city reallyu annoys me, because it's not an either/or choice.
Looks like the groundfloor of the Ranney Building is going to be a coffee shop or cafe as some lettering was up along the groundfloor of the facade. I didn't really catch the name, as I only caught the lettering out of the side of my eye.
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From what I saw, the entire facade on the top two floors was gone. I hope if the building can't be saved, that they are able to do a new construction.
Actually, Hosmer Street is a pretty cool street that follows the ridge. If it were a little higher it would be a great look-out point.
But, something needs to be done with that area. That is one of the main gateway into and out of downtown Lansing. Kazoo runs all the way to East Lansing. With Michigan, Shiawassee and Kalamazoo having bridges into downtown, each of these streets should be gateways into the downtown when coming down the ridge.