Actually, no. I wasn't very clear. The access at the northeast side of the bridge is still there, but it looks like they had the ramp blocked off to the parking garage at the bridge. So, I guess all that was removed was the southeast and southwest acesses.
The Gillespie Group has or is renovating two duplexes on Hosmer just south of Michigan in between downtown and Sparrow Hospital.
These are across the street from the old Penfield Apartments (I think that was their name) that burned a few years ago and look nearly to be reopened. This is kind of a good sign as this area has been a bit rough, so it looks like development is finally starting to creep of the avenue. I'm fairly familiar with this street, but hadn't noticed that they'd bought these duplexes, both of which have been regularly occupied. In fact, I was up around this corner this evening.
With the current capitol restoration of the dome coming in under budget, two decorative lampost will be installed near Capitol Avenue along the walkway. Apparently, there used to be some and this is replacing them.
With the current restoration work coming in under budget, the commission will be able to install decorative lightposts on the east lawn, near the head of East Michigan Avenue. A pair of cast-iron gas lightposts existed there — on either side of the main walk from Capitol Avenue up to the main steps — until electricity was installed at the statehouse near the turn of the last century, Chartkoff said.
I can not wait to hear about the redevelopment of Oliver Towers, BTW. I bet it includes some new construction, too, but even if it doesn't, this is still a big deal. But, wouldn't it be something if it include the construction of another tower?
Looks like the redevelopment of Oliver Towers is going to be rather typical (100 apartments on the upper floors, ground floor retail). And, quite frankly, an $8 million investment sounds rather cheap even for a renovation. But, it's good the building is going back on the tax rolls. Hopefully, we see more ambitious stuff for the rest of this block down the line.
It is great news to hear that they are going to do something with the Oliver towers building. I hope a plan involves re-doing the generic facade. It never was an attractive building for such a prominent spot. I would think that apartments in that building would have really great city views with churches downtown and LCC. The city might want to think about repaving Capital Ave.in that area, it is so bad that it is embarrassing.
It's cool that the popcorn shop is going in on 100 block soon to be known as the snack block. I hope that the closed shop fronts on Washington SQ. will be replaced with something more than sandwich shops. I think there could be more sit down restaurants that might have dinner hours this would be good and encourage others to have later hours , also get that night club going, up the street and kind of expand the entertainment district, night clubs bring in people at night!
EDIT: Looks like current news reports are saying that they are planning "European-style" apartments (read: small), and the renovation will include a reconstruction of the building's faced. The apartments will be one-and-two bedrooms from 400 to 800 square feet. They are also considering building out the storefronts to Capitol Avenue.
I'm going to hold off on judging the Oliver Towers redevelopment until I see what the facade will look like and how the retail space will be situated. It's just nice to finally see some real progress on this property.
Just a quick thought, we should probably be updating the Oliver Towers page in the forum with this information rather than the "General Lansing Development" page. Specific project updates might get lost pretty easily in this thread.
Comments
These are across the street from the old Penfield Apartments (I think that was their name) that burned a few years ago and look nearly to be reopened. This is kind of a good sign as this area has been a bit rough, so it looks like development is finally starting to creep of the avenue. I'm fairly familiar with this street, but hadn't noticed that they'd bought these duplexes, both of which have been regularly occupied. In fact, I was up around this corner this evening.
I can not wait to hear about the redevelopment of Oliver Towers, BTW. I bet it includes some new construction, too, but even if it doesn't, this is still a big deal. But, wouldn't it be something if it include the construction of another tower?
It's cool that the popcorn shop is going in on 100 block soon to be known as the snack block. I hope that the closed shop fronts on Washington SQ. will be replaced with something more than sandwich shops. I think there could be more sit down restaurants that might have dinner hours this would be good and encourage others to have later hours , also get that night club going, up the street and kind of expand the entertainment district, night clubs bring in people at night!
Interior concepts:
EDIT: Looks like current news reports are saying that they are planning "European-style" apartments (read: small), and the renovation will include a reconstruction of the building's faced. The apartments will be one-and-two bedrooms from 400 to 800 square feet. They are also considering building out the storefronts to Capitol Avenue.