Clara's has always been a restaurant with a great building and atmosphere but mediocre service and food in my opinion, I haven't been there in at least a few years though. Hopefully the building can be put back to use quickly and as a restaurant.
So true. I hadn't been in years, and everyone that I've ever been there with says the food is just so-so. I can't imagine with downtown the the destination it's becoming, now, that the station won't be saved.
I have no doubt that the station will be saved, it's an interesting building that appears to be in good shape in a great location. My hope is that it's reoccupied very quickly and that it can continue to be used as a restaurant or something equally accessible to the public. I wouldn't even entirely doubt that the reason for closing is because of some imminent plans for the building.
I'm still surprised the old Rum Runners building hasn't found a new tenant. I also wonder when Scott Gillespie is going to begin his project on the corner, there.
I think that the only reason Clara's lasted as long as it did was because of the building, it's interesting enough to overlook the not that great food. I am here to tell you they had the same problem back in 1979. I could see a Zehnder's kind of restaurant, a big family dinner place. It could really be a tourist destination. There could be trains on display maybe even offering train tours into the country side and back. The one thing a restaurant needs however is good food. Here in Lansing there are so many places that serve good food, why would people go to a place that does not strive to serve the best. I always wonder if the business plan says, let's serve below average food. The depot will be on the BRT line so I think that more people from downtown and Sparrow might hop the BRT and stop at the depot for a meal. If they do build it the BRT line could bring lots of people to each neighborhood along the line.
Is there something planned for that corner? The sign just says this could be a "what ever". I wonder sometimes if the property owners are asking too much to rent, lease or buy their spaces. Here in REOtown there are some really great store fronts that could be a coffee shop,a bistro, a deli-grocery, an antique shop, the people are in place down there, as lots of folks work in REOtown, and more living here. They pack the two restaurants and pub that are there now. Is it a better deal to have these spaces sit there empty?
Yes, preliminary plans for a few years now have a 4-story building proposed. Like everything else in the area it will be ground floor commercial/retail/whatever with apartments above. Scott Gillespie has already done something similar down at the corner of Michigan and Marshall.
If your talking about the corner where the old Mobil gas station was that's a Pat Gillespie project and the rendering he showed off a couple years ago was three floors with no indication of retail, thankfully it prominently states "conceptual only" also: 600 E Michigan
Comments
Clara's has always been a restaurant with a great building and atmosphere but mediocre service and food in my opinion, I haven't been there in at least a few years though. Hopefully the building can be put back to use quickly and as a restaurant.
Is there something planned for that corner? The sign just says this could be a "what ever". I wonder sometimes if the property owners are asking too much to rent, lease or buy their spaces. Here in REOtown there are some really great store fronts that could be a coffee shop,a bistro, a deli-grocery, an antique shop, the people are in place down there, as lots of folks work in REOtown, and more living here. They pack the two restaurants and pub that are there now. Is it a better deal to have these spaces sit there empty?