That's not good news for Cooley but it was forseeable. I think the good news out of it is that they are choosing to keep Lansing as their headquarters.
I wonder if this will mean more students downtown. I hope that when normalcy returns all the people who are going to school will choose to attend in person, I think people will have gained a new appreciation for being in a classroom with other students and live instructors. Perhaps there will be a pent up demand and we will see a lot more students attending our local colleges and universities soon.
I'm pretty optimistic about the future of Cooley, I do wonder if they will stay in downtown Lansing over the long term given their affiliation with Western though. The number of Cooley students that were downtown 10 years ago was certainly a boon for the apartments and businesses.
Has there ever been any talk of having an MSU presence in downtown Lansing? I think it would be a great idea to have some graduate level programs like law or political science there, given Lansing’s role as the capital city. Plus, the older students might be over the whole college town life, and it would help bridge the gap between the two cores of the region. With LCC, Cooley, and MSU there could be a pretty sizable student population downtown.
It's been curious to see that Michigan State hasn't had much of a presence in downtown Lansing. They have a presence in Detroit. I wonder if they have just tried to leave Lansing to Cooley and LCC. They put up the MSU signs on the lightposts along Michigan Ave to try to "bridge the gap" but a real investment would make a big difference.
Another attempt at construction of a 30-story mixed-use mid/high rise building in Lansing: Financier draws plan to build Lansing's tallest building
Interesting the the financing seems to be a more assured thing. This seems to fall under the "I'll believe it when I see it" category, but I'm interested to see how it progresses (if at all). The article was not specific about a location - "three properties, which he wouldn’t identify, are being considered for the skyscraper. One is adjacent to a highway outside of downtown." Perhaps one location is along US-127 near Kalamazoo/Michigan Ave? Or along I-496 and St Joe (though that's technically downtown?) The indication is this could go in front of City Council by early next year.
Yeah, my hopes for a location would be any of the very large surface parking lots in downtown Lansing (Allegan & Walnut, Pine & Kalamzoo, or Grand & Kalamazoo). When they say "highway outside of downtown", the only places I can think of where land is scarce and there is demand for something this large would be the old Pontiac dealership on Michigan Ave by Frandor, the Sears at Frandor, or near the new McLaren Hospital. It doesn't make sense to me to build something this tall on W Saginaw Hwy when it's cheaper to build wide and that's a possibility there. With that being said, the two Frandor location don't fall under Lansing authority as I understand it (I think Sears is Lansing Township and Pontiac dealership is East Lansing)?
The way the financier came off in that article strikes me as a bunch of hot air. I am firmly in the "I'll believe it when I see it" camp. I guess I just expect something more concrete when someone is pitching something and this just reads as someone looking for people to sign onto something that isn't really concrete at all.
Speaking of land though I know that the land at the intersection of Kalamazoo and MLK has been for sale for years. Maybe there?
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https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinion/contributors/viewpoints/2020/08/21/bringing-blighted-property-back-life-lansing/3298666001/
Financier draws plan to build Lansing's tallest building
Interesting the the financing seems to be a more assured thing. This seems to fall under the "I'll believe it when I see it" category, but I'm interested to see how it progresses (if at all). The article was not specific about a location - "three properties, which he wouldn’t identify, are being considered for the skyscraper. One is adjacent to a highway outside of downtown." Perhaps one location is along US-127 near Kalamazoo/Michigan Ave? Or along I-496 and St Joe (though that's technically downtown?) The indication is this could go in front of City Council by early next year.
Speaking of land though I know that the land at the intersection of Kalamazoo and MLK has been for sale for years. Maybe there?