One of the projects applying for the PILOT program, the "Walnut Park Apartments," is back in this weeks council agenda. It is the new apartment building that's part of The Abigail project (The Abigail's PILOT is also up for approval). This makes me a little more optimistic that the "Capitol Park Center" that was mentioned before is actually a new unannounced project, though there's no mention of it in this weeks agenda.
Also in this weeks agenda is a public hearing for the South Edge Lofts' brownfield plan, the approval of the Red Cedar Renaissance rezoning and a 'Letter from the Mayor' regarding the Washington Ave substation including more info/renderings/site plans.
I am dumbfounded that the planning board unanimously recommended the amendment to the Design Lansing plan to include the substation. The schedule makes it clear that this process goes on a bit longer, and that they didn't vote on the amendment, yet, but it's a pretty good sign of the direction they are going in.
BTW, a bit thing in the agenda is the city wanting to aquire land to extend the river trail westward or some kind of trail from the Lansing Boat Club. What confuses me is that they talk about the land connecting Fulton, Fine and Hunters Ridge on the southside of the river, but talk about aquiring land from the Lansing Boat Club which is in Grand River Park on the northside of the river, right? Does the Lansing Boat Club own land on the southside of the river?
It says the boat club land in question is west of Waverly and across the river from Woldemar. On the satellite photos I see a driveway leading from the end of Hunters Ridge to a small greenish building near the river. If I had to guess, this is the land in question, perhaps they were supposed to move there at one time or something.
Speaking of this potential project, this is exactly the kind of thing where the city should not just buy the land, but should be annexing it as we've had examples of other parkland in the surrounding townships that Lansing owns but otherwise has no control over that drags out issues when the city wants to do something with that land. Now, these examples aren't 1:1 as neither was contiguous with the city (Grand Woods and Michigan Avenue/Waverly Avenue), but I think along the edges of the city where annexation of undeveloped/mildly developed land would provide for greater freedom of movement for city residents, the city should never put itself into a position buying land it has to ask township the permission for to do things with and this would be the perfect test of that idea.
I went by Frandor today and got this picture of the new Sparrow facility at the corner of Saginaw and 127, it's the building in with the green insulation/walls.
Looks like a good sized building, would have been great to see it on a smaller footprint and stacked taller.
I agree, I would have liked to see the Sparrow facility taller. You can get a good view of the building from northbound US-127 near Frandor or southbound in your rear view mirror (will be directly behind you).
Given the location, I think the height is appropriate. Anything outside the two downtowns of the region above two floors is all right by me mostly, except hotels and commercial office space, which should really try and maximize their sights. But, residential buildings, medical offices, etc...don't need to be super tall outside the core. This location is nearly the literal edge of both Lansing and East Lansing.
It should not be forgotten that this is actually taller than what was at the site before, so it's a definite improvement.
I also think it's scaled right for that area. It'd be nice if it were closer to Grand River, but I don't have any major complaints about this building nor am I a fan of it, it just is.
To be fair, this wasn't built on a greenfield. This replaces (and expands) an existing medical office building that'd been there for decades. This is really the kind of development outside the core we should be seeing, the reconstruction of brownfields adding more square footage. For construction off an interchange, this isn't all that bad. I agree with Hood that it would have been built closer to Grand River - and I'd really like to see zoning in the city require parking be put in back whenever possible - but there has to be something at these interchanges to provide a buffer for residential neighborhoods, and a medical arts building isn't a bad fit.
Comments
Also in this weeks agenda is a public hearing for the South Edge Lofts' brownfield plan, the approval of the Red Cedar Renaissance rezoning and a 'Letter from the Mayor' regarding the Washington Ave substation including more info/renderings/site plans.
BTW, a bit thing in the agenda is the city wanting to aquire land to extend the river trail westward or some kind of trail from the Lansing Boat Club. What confuses me is that they talk about the land connecting Fulton, Fine and Hunters Ridge on the southside of the river, but talk about aquiring land from the Lansing Boat Club which is in Grand River Park on the northside of the river, right? Does the Lansing Boat Club own land on the southside of the river?
Looks like a good sized building, would have been great to see it on a smaller footprint and stacked taller.
It should not be forgotten that this is actually taller than what was at the site before, so it's a definite improvement.