It would be a good thing if the county did take over the trail,if they have the funds to take better care of it. It seems kind of silly it is money for trails in Ingham county, does it make a difference which pocket it comes out of.
I was wondering about a few projects that are going on around town. On S Washington and South st. a store front is being renovated and then it seems like two more up the block. What is going in there? A new vintage/antique shop has moved into one of the deco one story shop fronts on that block.
Over at St Joe and Waverly they are working on an old gas station, I was hoping it would be something interesting. Also on St Joe the old trucking building is up for sale again, so it seems that they were just cleaning up that site. I have heard rumors that something big is going in that area, but I do not know what.
In the the good news department, they have repaved Mt.Hope from MKL to Boston Blvd. That section had four lanes of really bad pavement. Now if they could go in the other direction all the way to East Lansing, because it sure could use it. I was also wondering about the origin of the name Mount Hope, there is a "high point" at Penn. Ave. other wise it's pretty flat. Maybe it refers to the high creek bank/glacial deposit at Mt. Hope cemetery. I am sure even slight rise in the landscape might have seemed like mounts with a horse and wagon.
I think I'd second the idea of the county taking over the River Trail, they've already shown they're pretty good at running parks. It's becoming an increasingly regional system anyways, it may as well be operated and paid for regionally.
At S Washington and South streets the former Southtown bar has been renovated, revealing the old storefronts, the one at the corner looks like the last one to be filled. I'm curious to know which other two storefronts you're talking about though, I don't think I've noticed them.
I'm glad to hear of them repaving any of the many roads that need it and I couldn't agree more on the need to repave the rest of Mt Hope, especially east of Aurelius.
I could be wrong, but there seems to be activity in two of the shops near the new vintage shop with the octagon shaped window.Also the for sale sign is also gone from the nice building next to the BBQ shop. It looks like a natural place for a restaurant. Plus there is a least one maybe two new murals on the east side of Washington above the theater group's building next to the Riverside Church. Also a new medical marijuana shop opened, making two in one block. That's cool I guess, there seem to be a lot of mmj shops opening on every major street in Lansing. I would rather,or also, like to see some shops open that would serve all the neighborhood residents like a grocery store, or a coffee shop. It would seem that Lansing's mmj shops are serving a much larger population area than just Lansing.
In other repaving notes at least part of Lindbergh Drive by Potter Park is being repaved, and Michigan Ave. west of Sexton to Waverly is open and is such a pleasure to drive.
Today's throwback thursday from the city is of the original Lansing Brewing Company, which stood at the northeast corner of Turner in Clinton in north Lansing. This picture was taken in 1912, and I believe it's looking northeast from the west side of Turner from in front of the old Este's furniture warehouse. It's kind of sad what's right on the corner, today; a non-descript, one-story office building and to the north a the much nicer-looking Red Cedar Friends (Quaker) meetinghouse.
The public service department's throwback thursday is of the construction of the capitol in 1875. We're looking directly west over/through the block which now includes the old Hotel Olds, Boji Tower, Hollister Building etc...Not sure if this was taken right on Washington on inside the block itself, but you get the general idea.
In other news, I was really excited to hear the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) was granted $50,000 by the state to put together a plan to revitalize southwest Lansing. This area has been pushing for years for more attention, and they should have because the commercial corridors could be so much better. The great thing about this is that this is being approached from a grassroots angle, instead of the city having something in mind and telling southwest Lansing what it needs and wants. The money is going to be used partially to hire a consultant who will work with the area to identify needs and wants such as beautification, business retention and attracting, etc...So excited. I love downtown, but it's long since time that the commercial corridors reflect some of the really solid residential areas of this part of the city.
Lastly, and most unrelated, but I was downtown either Monday or Tuesday night and noticed the Lansing City Hall bathed in purple light. I was shocked. It was beautiful. Funny how a little different lighting can entirely change the feel of an area. Something as small as this can be a great "place-making" tool. Anyone know if this is permanent, if they'll switch out the colors, etc...?
I haven't seen the exterior lighting on City Hall, but you have me curious about it now.
As far as southwest Lansing goes, they could do wonders just by doing something with the Holmes & Pleasant Grove intersection. The old school there could become apartments or some sort of community center and all the commercial buildings along that stretch need to be razed or at least get a significant remodel. The entire commercial stretch of south MLK could also use some love although I think it's already on a bit of an upswing even now. Doing something positive with the Waverly corridor itself may be a little more challenging, to the point where it may be better to focus efforts elsewhere.
It is very good that Lansing will start looking at the neighborhood commercial corridors. It is kind of ironic that Holmes Road is one of the few nicely paved roads and is pleasent to drive. I agree that the four corners at Holes,and Cedar, MLK, Pleasent Grove, and Waverly could all use a big make over. Logan Center is a total mess the way the former parking area was developed with ugly strip malls facing different directions, and on the other side is the huge mostly empty area with collapsing parking lots looks like it could be in Detroit or Flint. Even the QD. at Pleasant Grove and Holmes is kind of shabby. It would be great to see these places organized into village centers along the same idea as S.Washington in REO town where the line of small store fronts look like many small town's main street. These four corner areas already serve as village or neighborhood centers and seem busy with a lot of small businesses, they are just poorly or not really planned to be appealing, this could be the area where Lansing could help by creating a nice street-scape. I don't know if S. Cedar Street is included in this area, I have grown to like the interesting mix of everything you can find there. Why not have a bus line like the new Michgan Ave line, down to Holt and up to Dewitt. Line the corridor with Cedar trees and nice street lights.
Waverly is really a mess going in and out of Lansing with bad zoning and worse pavement. The rail crossing just past Lansing Road it the worst in Lansing. How can they just let it go like that?
Kind of a small thing, but I noticed yesterday that Feldman Chevy is tearing down the old brick building on the corner of Michigan & Howard. Don't know if that corner will be empty or if something will be rebuilt. There are signs all around it though warning about asbestos.
This was in the media a month or so ago, and I thought'd we'd mentioned here but maybe not, but they are doing some renovation to their property which will include the construction of a nearly 12,000 square feet body shop. Not sure if this corner site will be used as anything other than landscaping, but that's the gist of it.
Comments
I was wondering about a few projects that are going on around town. On S Washington and South st. a store front is being renovated and then it seems like two more up the block. What is going in there? A new vintage/antique shop has moved into one of the deco one story shop fronts on that block.
Over at St Joe and Waverly they are working on an old gas station, I was hoping it would be something interesting. Also on St Joe the old trucking building is up for sale again, so it seems that they were just cleaning up that site. I have heard rumors that something big is going in that area, but I do not know what.
In the the good news department, they have repaved Mt.Hope from MKL to Boston Blvd. That section had four lanes of really bad pavement. Now if they could go in the other direction all the way to East Lansing, because it sure could use it. I was also wondering about the origin of the name Mount Hope, there is a "high point" at Penn. Ave. other wise it's pretty flat. Maybe it refers to the high creek bank/glacial deposit at Mt. Hope cemetery. I am sure even slight rise in the landscape might have seemed like mounts with a horse and wagon.
At S Washington and South streets the former Southtown bar has been renovated, revealing the old storefronts, the one at the corner looks like the last one to be filled. I'm curious to know which other two storefronts you're talking about though, I don't think I've noticed them.
I'm glad to hear of them repaving any of the many roads that need it and I couldn't agree more on the need to repave the rest of Mt Hope, especially east of Aurelius.
In other repaving notes at least part of Lindbergh Drive by Potter Park is being repaved, and Michigan Ave. west of Sexton to Waverly is open and is such a pleasure to drive.
The public service department's throwback thursday is of the construction of the capitol in 1875. We're looking directly west over/through the block which now includes the old Hotel Olds, Boji Tower, Hollister Building etc...Not sure if this was taken right on Washington on inside the block itself, but you get the general idea.
Lastly, and most unrelated, but I was downtown either Monday or Tuesday night and noticed the Lansing City Hall bathed in purple light. I was shocked. It was beautiful. Funny how a little different lighting can entirely change the feel of an area. Something as small as this can be a great "place-making" tool. Anyone know if this is permanent, if they'll switch out the colors, etc...?
As far as southwest Lansing goes, they could do wonders just by doing something with the Holmes & Pleasant Grove intersection. The old school there could become apartments or some sort of community center and all the commercial buildings along that stretch need to be razed or at least get a significant remodel. The entire commercial stretch of south MLK could also use some love although I think it's already on a bit of an upswing even now. Doing something positive with the Waverly corridor itself may be a little more challenging, to the point where it may be better to focus efforts elsewhere.
Waverly is really a mess going in and out of Lansing with bad zoning and worse pavement. The rail crossing just past Lansing Road it the worst in Lansing. How can they just let it go like that?