I knew that they closed indoor rink some time ago, but I think when I was through there last winter the outdoor rink wasn't even open. It's sad because everything was fairly nice that last time I was there, not long before they closed the indoor rink. Hopefully they'll consider reopening it if the city's finances improve.
Are you saying that they had only closed the indoor rink, initially, and that the outdoor rink remained for some years after that? I was under the impression, for some reason, that they'd closed down the whole complex and that only the rest of the park was open for use.
There is a new rendering and details on the brew pub to be located at the site of the former PNC bank branch at the northeast corner of Michigan and Fairview in East Town. For some reason, I remember the rough drawing having more floors/looked more imposing.
Arcadia Ales, a southwestern Michigan brewery and restaurant, is expanding into Lansing.
Arcadia and Urban Feast restaurant group are going to open Arcadia Ale & SmokeHouse at 2101 E. Michigan Ave., the northeast corner of Michigan and Fairview avenues, in Lansing's East Side neighborhood.
The new location will feature a full selection of Arcadia's beers, including five "Lansing-only" beers, according to a news release from the brewery, which specializes in British-style ales.
...
The building, which recently served as a branch office of PNC Bank, will feature an urban garden and brew pub additions to the existing structure on the property along with a patio and on-site parking.
An opening date for the restaurant has not been announced.
...
Apparently, this was a shared Battle Creek Enquirer article.
The Lansing State Journal is going to move in to the Knapps Centre, taking a 20,000 sq ft lease on the third floor. The Eydes bought their current building (87,000 sq ft) a couple weeks ago and are planning on converting it to a mixed-use building with apartments on the third floor and office space on the rest.
It will be good to get more workers on Washington Ave and fill out more of the Knapps Centre. Maybe a small sandwich shop could open on the ground floor of the LSJ building to provide another food option for those waiting for a bus across the street.
The LSJ is reporting that all four old GM sites up for sale by the RACER trust are still negotiating with someone for redevelopment, but they are being mum about who it is. They are marked as "not available." They do say that if the sale goes through redevelopment would start soon. I do wonder who this is? There was talk a while back of a solar company for some of these. Both the Lansing Township Supervisor and Bernero seem to be excited about this, with Kathleen Rodgers having said earlier that she expects 1,000 manufacturing jobs related to GM in some kind of way from the sites in her township. Sounds like some auto suppliers.
In other news, the Lansing State Journal will be moving to the third floor of the Knapp's Center after the Eydes bought their headquarters on Lenawee on November 12. 120 Lenawee was constructed in 1951. The Eydes say they want to redevelop it into a mixed use property with residential units on the top floor and other uses below. The LSJ after years of cuts has been talking of moving forever, but it looks like they got an opportunity. I was in the building earlier in the year and it was sad to see how empty this cavernous building was. Good to see plans for redevelopment.
My last ice rink comment is when I googled Washington Park Ice rink I got a few pages that seem to say that there is a rink in operation there. It could be old pages I am going to drive by there and have a look.
The brew pub sounds really great. Looks like we are going to be a local brewery capital, and in 2016 when they vote in legal marijuana Lansing will be the capital of all good times. I think that Lansing is turning into a really cool place to be.
I have never been inside the LJS building, I do remember being able to see the presses running through the windows. While it is very good that we still have a daily newspaper, since I have returned to Lansing I have found the paper easy to bypass with it's tiny format and USA Today insert. I honestly think if the USA insert was not there I would buy the paper for the local news and sports. I hope the redevelopment of the old building will includes more windows and some nice landscaping. I never knew they cut down a 187 year old tree to build that building.
I think it would be interesting to find and chronicle the largest and oldest trees in Lansing. I am a kind of a tree nut after living in a place where most trees are short little pine trees I find the huge trees of Lansing so amazing. I know that tourist will look at pretty much anything if it is the largest or oldest and find it interesting. I know there are people who would love to go on a big old tree tour of Lansing to see the biggest and oldest of each kind of tree we have here.
I would still love to see some retail on the first floor of Knapp's. Particularly clothing stores; I imagine a Gap or Banana Republic, or something similar. It's a bummer having to go to the Eastwood area everytime. It would definitely give people a reason to stay downtown after work or even better, move downtown.
The bars are nice but it kind of sucks living in the city when you have to go somewhere else to get the necessities/niceties. I admit I was a bit jaded when they announced another bar/brewery coming to Michigan Ave. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely excited by the developments but we definitely could use a little bit more diversification in them.
That's always the problem at the beginning of a revitalization. There still needs to be quite a bit of residential growth before most retailers will stick their foot in the water. There is a fashion incubator whose small businesses sell lots of interesting clothes and apparel on the ground floor mezzanine, though, so it's not totally without any retail. But, I'd bet the hours are only during the day.
@MichMatters As far as I knew the outdoor rink remained open for at least some time after the indoor rink closed. As I remember, the original discussions were to just close the indoor rink and leave the outdoor rink open. I can't seem to find any of the news stories about it closing at all though.
@gbinlansing Off the top of my head I know of two noteworthy trees: There's an old catalpa on the Capitol grounds, from Wikipedia: "The oldest tree on the grounds is a catalpa on the southeast lawn present when the Capitol was dedicated in 1873. The American Forestry Association has certified that this catalpa is the largest living tree of its kind in the United States". There's a tree in front of the frat house in the 100 block of Spartan Ave, there's something important about it as the new development there will be built around the tree per concerns the neighborhood brought up.
I've had an interest in a lot of the forest in the area prior to development, and a lot of the forested land you see today that you think is old-growth forest is actually replantings. I was just reading up on the history of Fenner Nature Center on the eastside a few days ago, and found out that the place has been entirely replanted. It was once part of a huge farm called Springdale owned by the Turners, and was a major farm as recently as the 1890's, though farming went on as late as the 1950's . From the 20's on I believe they replanted the site with trees as they stopped farming sections of it. The Turners sold the land to the city in 1952 for a park minus a few acres for his home, which I have no idea where it was located on the property. It was still used by the city in the 50's to provide hay for the animals at Potter Park, and was opened as a park in 1959.
The farm included the current nature center, though it went all the way to Forest where some private residences now stand. Beyond that it stretched above Mt. Hope and included everything east of Aurelius and south of the Red Cedar basically stretching up to about Kircher Park to the northeast. Apparently, most of the land was used for cattle farming, at least the land that could. I'd guess that maybe the lowlands around the river bends are original trees, but everything else has been man-made.
Comments
Apparently, this was a shared Battle Creek Enquirer article.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2015/11/24/lsj-moving-knapps-centre/76263544/
It will be good to get more workers on Washington Ave and fill out more of the Knapps Centre. Maybe a small sandwich shop could open on the ground floor of the LSJ building to provide another food option for those waiting for a bus across the street.
In other news, the Lansing State Journal will be moving to the third floor of the Knapp's Center after the Eydes bought their headquarters on Lenawee on November 12. 120 Lenawee was constructed in 1951. The Eydes say they want to redevelop it into a mixed use property with residential units on the top floor and other uses below. The LSJ after years of cuts has been talking of moving forever, but it looks like they got an opportunity. I was in the building earlier in the year and it was sad to see how empty this cavernous building was. Good to see plans for redevelopment.
The brew pub sounds really great. Looks like we are going to be a local brewery capital, and in 2016 when they vote in legal marijuana Lansing will be the capital of all good times. I think that Lansing is turning into a really cool place to be.
I have never been inside the LJS building, I do remember being able to see the presses running through the windows. While it is very good that we still have a daily newspaper, since I have returned to Lansing I have found the paper easy to bypass with it's tiny format and USA Today insert. I honestly think if the USA insert was not there I would buy the paper for the local news and sports. I hope the redevelopment of the old building will includes more windows and some nice landscaping. I never knew they cut down a 187 year old tree to build that building.
I think it would be interesting to find and chronicle the largest and oldest trees in Lansing. I am a kind of a tree nut after living in a place where most trees are short little pine trees I find the huge trees of Lansing so amazing. I know that tourist will look at pretty much anything if it is the largest or oldest and find it interesting. I know there are people who would love to go on a big old tree tour of Lansing to see the biggest and oldest of each kind of tree we have here.
The bars are nice but it kind of sucks living in the city when you have to go somewhere else to get the necessities/niceties. I admit I was a bit jaded when they announced another bar/brewery coming to Michigan Ave. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely excited by the developments but we definitely could use a little bit more diversification in them.
@gbinlansing Off the top of my head I know of two noteworthy trees: There's an old catalpa on the Capitol grounds, from Wikipedia: "The oldest tree on the grounds is a catalpa on the southeast lawn present when the Capitol was dedicated in 1873. The American Forestry Association has certified that this catalpa is the largest living tree of its kind in the United States". There's a tree in front of the frat house in the 100 block of Spartan Ave, there's something important about it as the new development there will be built around the tree per concerns the neighborhood brought up.
The farm included the current nature center, though it went all the way to Forest where some private residences now stand. Beyond that it stretched above Mt. Hope and included everything east of Aurelius and south of the Red Cedar basically stretching up to about Kircher Park to the northeast. Apparently, most of the land was used for cattle farming, at least the land that could. I'd guess that maybe the lowlands around the river bends are original trees, but everything else has been man-made.