LANSING — Twenty years after its founding, the Allen Neighborhood Center is planning a major rebuild.
A $10 million project — called Allen Place — will include 29 units of mixed-income housing, as well as commercial space at the center's current site at 1611 E. Kalamazoo St. in Lansing.
Really cool! I didn't see an ETA in the article, but I hope they move sooner rather than later on this one. It looks like they are keeping the old facade and just repainting it per the image in the article.
I rode my bike by the new Rotary Park area on the River Trail downtown, it is coming along nicely. I saw a big pile of sand for the beach, the fireplace looks really good, the colorful canopies were in place and the lights for the illuminated "forest" are strung through the trees, lights and other stage fixtures were being installed under the bridge. Now it will be up to the city to take care of this park and create a reason to be there. I see the fireplace out in EL and it looks like it is never used. I am hoping there be regularly scheduled personal to make and keep the fireplace going a lot of the time. If people knew they could go down and sit by the fire any time I could see lots of people gathering there if a fire is just an occasional thing then, I think people will not consider going there. We are also going to need a few more trees to call it a forest. All of this is great and I am hoping for the park to be a great success!
I was at a neighborhood meeting for Cherry Hill this week and there's a developer proposing to build a 52 unit apartment building at the NE corner of Cherry St & St. Joe. The building is slated to be "mixed income," with 20% market rate and 80% income controlled at different levels. The neighborhoods reception was neutral to negative, many didn't like the "low income" aspect of it. My concern was mainly with the architecture, I'm happy with the materials but I'd like to see more variation in the facade and roof line. They're talking about a groundbreaking in about a year at the most optimistic.
Still waiting for a kick ass urban condo development in Old Town or another walkable neighborhood for people that want something higher end but also want to live smack dab in a cool neighborhood.
They said they only approval they'd need from the city would be for a site plan. They're going for a competitive MSHDA loan (hence the mixed income), they said that the project in it's current form is contingent on that financing.
I'm torn on seeing the houses go, none of them are too special but they would be nice if really fixed up. 613 Cherry in particular may be worth saving as it's probably the most interesting house and not entirely in the way of the proposed development.
I'm sort of hoping they can save 613 Cherry and I do wish this was condos or market rate apartments but that would make the financing much more difficult. If they build a quality building they'll likely have my support.
The Cherry Hill plan looks OK, with a bit of imagination I wonder if they could use the houses there that all must be over 100 years old, as part of the new buildings. Out east they would take a little house and strip it down the bare walls and incorporate the old facade into a much larger building, developers did this because the homes were in a historic district and this would preserve the residential look of the street but get around the "you can't tear down a historical building rules". I see that this outside the district but it would be nice if they could keep the neighborhood looking like an old neighborhood while increasing the density of people living there. I know that this will not happen as we tear down first and ask questions later around here! It is also true that there many open lots and surface parking lots down there that would be easy to build on. I would be nice to see those areas developed before they start tearing down more houses in that area.
I am very sorry to hear about Roma, to me it really was like going to a shop in the North End of Boston. We get a couple of slices of "Grand Ma" pizza a week over there and often go on Wednesday for two for one bread-day. Is there any place else like this in Lansing? I chef-ed in a very busy deli-bakery in Mass. for many years and it is hard work to keep the shelves full of fresh food every day. I am glad I did not have to do it for 50 years!
Comments
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2019/08/06/allen-neighborhood-center-residential-kalamazoo-street-egle-grants/1889663001/
Really cool! I didn't see an ETA in the article, but I hope they move sooner rather than later on this one. It looks like they are keeping the old facade and just repainting it per the image in the article.
I rode my bike by the new Rotary Park area on the River Trail downtown, it is coming along nicely. I saw a big pile of sand for the beach, the fireplace looks really good, the colorful canopies were in place and the lights for the illuminated "forest" are strung through the trees, lights and other stage fixtures were being installed under the bridge. Now it will be up to the city to take care of this park and create a reason to be there. I see the fireplace out in EL and it looks like it is never used. I am hoping there be regularly scheduled personal to make and keep the fireplace going a lot of the time. If people knew they could go down and sit by the fire any time I could see lots of people gathering there if a fire is just an occasional thing then, I think people will not consider going there. We are also going to need a few more trees to call it a forest. All of this is great and I am hoping for the park to be a great success!
I was wondering which project is called the "Lower Town Lofts"?
Still waiting for a kick ass urban condo development in Old Town or another walkable neighborhood for people that want something higher end but also want to live smack dab in a cool neighborhood.
I'm torn on seeing the houses go, none of them are too special but they would be nice if really fixed up. 613 Cherry in particular may be worth saving as it's probably the most interesting house and not entirely in the way of the proposed development.
I'm sort of hoping they can save 613 Cherry and I do wish this was condos or market rate apartments but that would make the financing much more difficult. If they build a quality building they'll likely have my support.
The Cherry Hill plan looks OK, with a bit of imagination I wonder if they could use the houses there that all must be over 100 years old, as part of the new buildings. Out east they would take a little house and strip it down the bare walls and incorporate the old facade into a much larger building, developers did this because the homes were in a historic district and this would preserve the residential look of the street but get around the "you can't tear down a historical building rules". I see that this outside the district but it would be nice if they could keep the neighborhood looking like an old neighborhood while increasing the density of people living there. I know that this will not happen as we tear down first and ask questions later around here! It is also true that there many open lots and surface parking lots down there that would be easy to build on. I would be nice to see those areas developed before they start tearing down more houses in that area.
I am very sorry to hear about Roma, to me it really was like going to a shop in the North End of Boston. We get a couple of slices of "Grand Ma" pizza a week over there and often go on Wednesday for two for one bread-day. Is there any place else like this in Lansing? I chef-ed in a very busy deli-bakery in Mass. for many years and it is hard work to keep the shelves full of fresh food every day. I am glad I did not have to do it for 50 years!
Nice to see that happen, I'd love that area to become a viable business district again