To remedy some of the mistakes made when the BWL was originally going to replace Eckert fully with another coal-fired plant (with some biomass), the utility has formed a 9-member citizens advisory committee to choose the direction in which BWL wants to go in when the Eckert is taken off line in 2020. Options they will pick from are the construction of a new plant, buying power on the market and/or investing in alternative and renewable energy sources. The utility has said in the past that it will likely be a combination.
It serves as a reminder of how soon the decommissioning of Eckert is. I still can't imagine what can be done with that building after its life as a power plant.
Oh, I highly doubt this is going to be saved (or should be saved, quite honestly). I imagine whenever it gets cleaned up that it'll become a new park, or GM will buy it for something. There is not much you can do with a site so isolated and in a flood plain.
The cost of razing the building, the smokestacks and environmental cleanup necessary after razing will probably mean the property either gets reused or sits empty a very long time before demolition. I also don't expect GM to save the day by buying up the property, they have plenty of empty land and the Eckert site sits on the opposite side of the railroad tracks.
The old part of the plant is nice and would make a nice centerpiece to any redevelopment, the tall newer part could get a new facade and reworked floors to just about any needs. I think the only real hindrance to the site is the isolated location, but given the right use it could be a very interesting project.
I thought a similar thing regarding Eckert in terms of cost to raze it. I found myself just chatting with engineers a couple years back, one an electrical engineer who in in power distribution and he said couldn't see them leaving the plant at all. It's more of a liability to maintain and secure such a large building. He didn't imagine it lasting much past the decommissioning.
That said, it is too bad if that is the case. I agree that the original portion of the power plant could be a nice redevelopment, but again as mentioned is the access and the fact is sits in a flood plain. I think it will be interesting to see what does come of it. I just can't see there being a demand for it's redevelopment given the factors playing against it like cost and location. The Ottawa plant at least had the downtown location playing in it's favor and even so sat mostly vacant for a considerable amount of time before anything was considered.
I live right around the bend from the Eckert Plant and I find it have a kind of steam punk personality with the noise it makes as you go by on the river trail, it kind of goes like clunk clunk woerrrrr woerrr pishisssh which seems like such a small sound to come out of this huge building. The smoke stacks that we call the towers are a great landmark you can see for miles and their gray cement can reflect the color of the sky. I often think of them as a monumental sculpture. Their purpose of sending our pollution down wind to land on other's lakes and forests is not so great however. As for finding power to replace the plant, I think I once heard they could start up the turbines in that little building by the damn any time. This could be quite wrong but why not use hydro-electric power as a part of the answer the damn is there, why not use it? May be BTW could partener with GM and install solar panels over all the open lots like MSU is doing over some of their outer parking lots. The roofs of the plants could also have solar panels.
The area where Eckert is, can be reached by two bridges,and the river trail, this could be the site of some sort of attraction, like an aquarium or winter garden in the one nice building. I could also see clearing the site completely, building a park there with a lock and fish latter that access the up river. Really crazy would be if they built a boat lock, took down the damn and built a natural falls and rapids. The area where the plant was could serve as flood plain during high water. What ever they do they must take down the buildings that are no longer in use.
I was wondering in that same area, are the former Olds administration and engineering buildings seem to be serving only as billboards. Does GM use them for anything? They are really nice mid-century modern buildings which they seem to also be using for junk storage that can be seen through the windows. I just moved here so I know everyone must be use to it but it seems kind of sad to me to see these nice building that were so cool at the time not used for something. Maybe a college could open a transportation engineering school there.
A few things. To replace the amount of power Eckert generates with solar would require hundreds and hundreds of acres (probably thousands). Hydro power from a relatively slow moving, low-volume river like the Grand produces enough even less. Renewables are definitely part of the solution, but they can't replaced so-called "baseline" power plants. But, yeah, it would be nice to see BWL and GM partner around Grand River Assembly to replace some of what will be lost with Eckert. BTW, the Moores River Park Hydroelectric Dam was put back online in 2008, I believe. They've been talking about doing the same to the North Lansing dam, but I don't think they ever did. The Moores River Park Hydroelectric Dam, BTW, only has enough generating power to produce for 200 homes.
As for the old Oldsmobile Headquarters building, that it is still standing is a wonder. They were very adament about tearing it down, but seem to have lost interest, thank god. It's crazy that they wouldn't be marketing this. It's a perfectly reusable building an architecturally significant/unique. At least they are still using it for something, but to see it used as storage is disappointing. Perhaps someone should write the city to see if they can talk with GM about this...
@gbinlansing I'd agree with you that the best possible reuse for Eckert or the property is as some sort of attraction because of its isolated location. I was thinking it would make a great location for a new R E Olds museum if only they could fund something that large. It could also work as a resort style hotel (with casino?), perhaps with an indoor water park wrapping around the north and east sides of the building. I wonder if there's been any serious discussion about the future of the Eckert site?
@MichMatters I'm also amazed that the Olds HQ is still standing, I assume that GM has something in mind for it since it's still standing. It's a rather large building with a lot of parking, I don't know how likely it is that they'll ever use all of it even if they do find a use for it.
I was just thinking before I came back here that it would make an great location - at least the ground floor - for the RE Olds Museum. What more fitting a structure than the former administration building? I think the upper floors could make great laboratory or tech space maybe even for BWL or local GM operations or just any tech company in general. You've got all that parking and a modern buildings with large floorplates.
I think a more realistic approach for the Eckert and GM site are new neighborhoods. There aren't many large open areas of land within the center of the city that could still be developed and provide new construction homes. The flood zone shouldn't prevent development in the area, some parts could become parkland while others could have homes that are built on top of their garage.
Comments
The old part of the plant is nice and would make a nice centerpiece to any redevelopment, the tall newer part could get a new facade and reworked floors to just about any needs. I think the only real hindrance to the site is the isolated location, but given the right use it could be a very interesting project.
That said, it is too bad if that is the case. I agree that the original portion of the power plant could be a nice redevelopment, but again as mentioned is the access and the fact is sits in a flood plain. I think it will be interesting to see what does come of it. I just can't see there being a demand for it's redevelopment given the factors playing against it like cost and location. The Ottawa plant at least had the downtown location playing in it's favor and even so sat mostly vacant for a considerable amount of time before anything was considered.
The area where Eckert is, can be reached by two bridges,and the river trail, this could be the site of some sort of attraction, like an aquarium or winter garden in the one nice building. I could also see clearing the site completely, building a park there with a lock and fish latter that access the up river. Really crazy would be if they built a boat lock, took down the damn and built a natural falls and rapids. The area where the plant was could serve as flood plain during high water. What ever they do they must take down the buildings that are no longer in use.
I was wondering in that same area, are the former Olds administration and engineering buildings seem to be serving only as billboards. Does GM use them for anything? They are really nice mid-century modern buildings which they seem to also be using for junk storage that can be seen through the windows. I just moved here so I know everyone must be use to it but it seems kind of sad to me to see these nice building that were so cool at the time not used for something. Maybe a college could open a transportation engineering school there.
As for the old Oldsmobile Headquarters building, that it is still standing is a wonder. They were very adament about tearing it down, but seem to have lost interest, thank god. It's crazy that they wouldn't be marketing this. It's a perfectly reusable building an architecturally significant/unique. At least they are still using it for something, but to see it used as storage is disappointing. Perhaps someone should write the city to see if they can talk with GM about this...
@MichMatters I'm also amazed that the Olds HQ is still standing, I assume that GM has something in mind for it since it's still standing. It's a rather large building with a lot of parking, I don't know how likely it is that they'll ever use all of it even if they do find a use for it.