General Lansing Development

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  • Just a general observation, but being able to see the Boji Tower from where I live I've noticed for the past week or two that the neon clock (and accent lighting) has not been coming on until very early in the morning or not at all. One evening, they didn't even have the beacon on the antenna working, which I'm not sure is even legal. I can't figure if this is purposeful (to save money) or if they are having problems with the lights, but it's been really noticeable to anyone who is able to see the front of the tower on a consistent basis during the evening.
  • CapitalGains has a nice feature on the trio behind, Zoobies, The Cosmos, The Creole, The Creole Cafe, and soon to be Punk Taco.

    Love what these guys are doing for the Lansing food scene.
  • I'm very curious to see what they come up with for the Temple Building and when it will happen. I've heard good things about all their places so hopefully they'll continue to impress.
  • edited January 2016
    The BWL released a survey/poll of residential and business customers about what they want to replace Eckert Station:
    Some key findings of EPIC-MRA's survey:

    About 95% of residential and 97%of business customers said "a top goal" should be making Eckert "as reliable as possible."
    About 93%of residential and business customers said keeping power "as affordable as possible" is a top goal.
    Some 64%of residential and 71%of business customers favored replacing Eckert with a natural gas power plant. But after learning that a new power plant would likely include a rate increase, support dropped to 47% among residential customers and 56% among business customers.
    77%of residential and 58%of business customers said it was "important to have greater reliance on renewable energy sources."
    82%of residential customers and 77%of business customers oppose BWL buying power form the interstate power grid instead of creating new reliable and affordable energy sources.
    74% of residential customers favor the installation of smart meters in their homes. Smart meters improve energy efficiency and also automatically tell a utility when a building's power is lost and restored.
    87%of business customers and 81% of residential customers give the BWL "positive" ratings in providing reliable, affordable electric service.
    63%of residential customers and 61%of business customers said BWL electric rates are "reasonable."
    54% of residential customers and 48% of business customers said they would pay higher monthly rates to enable the BWL to increase the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy sources.

    Eckert - which generates a full third of the BWL's energy - has to be shutdown by 2020. I suspect the first number given is talking about the Eckert replacement, unless they are talking about making it reliable in the interim.
  • Why do I have a feeling "use more renewables" and "don't rely on the interstate grid" are two desires greatly at odds with each other.
  • edited January 2016
    Why do I have a feeling "use more renewables" and "don't rely on the interstate grid" are two desires greatly at odds with each other.

    I'm not sure I understand. That they include the two together in the answer to the survey says to me, at least, that customers want to rely on local renewables instead of buying power on the market. They sound at odds because they literally are unless I'm reading the survey wrong. In this case, with the BWL developing renewals, itself, it sort of implies local renewables.
  • So I was driving by the old Dykstra Ford/Metro Ford building on MLK and Holmes the other night and it hit me as I passed it that there were lights on inside the building and what I thought was scaffolding. I tried to see if there was still a For Sale sign in front but I couldn't tell. I don't drive by there very often so I haven't been back by there. Has anyone noticed anything going on there? It would be nice to see something happen with that building.
  • @cliffordzang I haven't been over that way much lately, but I'll definitely look when I make it by there. It would be really nice to see that building reused or at least demolished. I just can't imagine what good the building would be for anything besides a car dealership though.
  • Cliff, I'm by there every once in awhile, and it seems like they are always working on it when I've been by. But, this has been over the course of years. Usually, I see workers on repairing the roof or doing other touch-ups. I never thought much of it; it is really hard to re-use purpose-built buildings like this - and particularly a building this large in that part of town - so I always imagined they demolish it and market the land but they've never done that. Seems like when stuff gets demolished in that area they put up some commercial strip like they did at the northeast corner of MLK and Holmes or some fast food places like they did further up the street with Popeyes.

    I'd really like if the city would start marketing these buildings in this part of town like they've done with the Dunham's at Frandor Plus which became a very creative reuse of the building bringing in high-tech jobs. It'd be nice to see the area treated as comprehensive neighborhood center.
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