Looks like Gillespie is trying to redevelop the old sears location and surround parking lot. I bet it'll end up being something similar to what is across the street on Michigan Ave. I also hope that whatever they turn it into it will have plenty more green space in comparison to the concrete jungle that parcel is right now. Very excited to see what the future holds for this area of Frandor.
This is great news! I really do hope they start over from the ground up at this site. The Sears building had some nice Mid-Century -Modern features but it really is just a '50s version of a big box store surround by a sea of blacktop and most of the nice features have been covered with paint and ugly awnings. I guess they could use this structure for as a part of an entertainment/performance center or maybe a casino/hotel/conference center could incorporate the old buildings. I really like hearing that Pat G. is ready to get going on this property, it really say a lot about Lansing and a more hopeful and prosperous future just ahead! This will be a fun development to follow.
They are definitely cutting them down along the red line. I drove down there yesterday and it is a lot more wide open. It feels like they may be widening the road but that's just a guess. It will definitely help when they put in the roundabout at Forest/Collins. It sucks seeing some of the large trees along Collins cut down, but I never realized how close they actually were to the road. Pretty dangerous with the speeds that people tend to drive down there.
Yeah, I noticed they had pretty much all the trees along the road cleared. I'm assuming this is for good reason and they're going to be making some significant changes to the roads there.
@cliffordzang I missed that they're putting in a roundabout there, is that official? I like the idea of that.
Regarding the Sears building, I really hope they don't attempt to reuse it in any way. It's horribly outdated with low ceilings too many pillars, nothing significant in its design and a single floor building is really an underuse of that land. IMO if Gillespie were smart he would work with the City along with Frandor's and Skyview's owners to properly develop Morgan Ln and Vine St with curb & gutter, a nice streetscape and sidewalks, then add some streets bisecting the property into 3-5 blocks. Then you have much more developable land, more potential storefronts, you can develop individual buildings, sell some lots and just generally maximize the use of the land while creating a much more interesting area. To me that approach is a no-brainer for a property that large in area like that with increasing density.
I like this idea, I have had similar ideas about what to do with that huge area. It would be good to include all of "Frandor" in a new street and sidewalk plan. I could see a "Main Street" going from north to south through the Frandor parking lots up to Saginaw and down to Michigan Ave, line the new lanes and blocks with sidewalks trees and grass, make Morgan and Vine [which I think are city streets]built to be the east-west "Main Street". I could also see a small pedestrian lane that would go behind the eastern Frandor building, this could open store fronts on the east side of the building with views and of the new wetlands and park next door. I would also like to see a reconfiguration of all of the tangle of crumby streets ,curb cuts and drives that surround this area. Pat G. has a real opportunity to create a renewed urban center /"downtown" here to go with our downtowns of Lansing and East Lansing. I hope if he does it will be of top quality.
@MichMatters Looks like the city is just getting overzealous with the tree cutting again, it's disappointing to see. Never the less the roads in this area really needed some attention and the roundabout should be nice, so I'll try to look at the positives.
@gbinlansing Just to give a really rough idea of how the Sears site alone could be subdivided, I drew up a oversimplified site plan. The red streets are existing ones to be improved, green is the approximate locations of new streets and the blue shaded areas represents all the developable land Gillespie would get out of this. Keep in mind these are large blocks, large enough to stick a low slung parking garage in the middle and build around them or build a Skyview-sized building or larger on each one. The site could be subdivided more than I've shown and still make sense.
I look forward to seeing how this will work out. There is room for a whole new neighborhood over there.
I have not seen the new tree cuts I guess they may need to change the name of the street from Forest Road. It's always the trees get it first around here.
They have made some really awful utility cuts on the North Side lately, those trees were very old and beautiful.
Oh, it looks terrible with all the trees cut. I would rather have a separated bike path that fits on the outside of the trees and road without widening the road at all.
Yeah as you head north on Collins from Dunckel the tree-cutting is very noticeable. Approaching the Forest/Collins intersection it is wide open. I can't say that I'm going to be using the on-street bike lanes on Collins with vehicles approaching me at 40+ mph from behind. Nevertheless, I look forward to seeing how it all looks when it's complete.
Comments
Looks like Gillespie is trying to redevelop the old sears location and surround parking lot. I bet it'll end up being something similar to what is across the street on Michigan Ave. I also hope that whatever they turn it into it will have plenty more green space in comparison to the concrete jungle that parcel is right now. Very excited to see what the future holds for this area of Frandor.
@cliffordzang I missed that they're putting in a roundabout there, is that official? I like the idea of that.
@gbinlansing Just to give a really rough idea of how the Sears site alone could be subdivided, I drew up a oversimplified site plan. The red streets are existing ones to be improved, green is the approximate locations of new streets and the blue shaded areas represents all the developable land Gillespie would get out of this. Keep in mind these are large blocks, large enough to stick a low slung parking garage in the middle and build around them or build a Skyview-sized building or larger on each one. The site could be subdivided more than I've shown and still make sense.
I have not seen the new tree cuts I guess they may need to change the name of the street from Forest Road. It's always the trees get it first around here.
They have made some really awful utility cuts on the North Side lately, those trees were very old and beautiful.