LPD was using around 84,000 square feet of the building when they were there in addition to the other tenants.
Anyway, had time to look up the council agenda. A few observations:
It looks like there is two options on a proposed site plan. One shows the units divided between two low-rise buildings at the western and eastern edges of the property. The other one envisions a single high-rise building that takes up the northern frontage of the property. Both options show a thin building(s). I was kind of surprised as I kind of figured we'd see something that covered more of the large site. I guess that means more room for future developments on the site?
I'm genuinely confused - and this isn't specific to this project either - why the developer is seeking a special land use permit for this site zoned "heavy industrial" instead of just requesting a rezoning of the site. Either requires a council hearing, so why not simply asking for a more appropriate rezoning? This said, apparently, that entire area is still zoned heavy industrial, so everything there has gottena special land use permit. What's weird, though, is that the document even states that if the site was to be used as its zoned that that would actually be out of sync with the area. lol
Out at Frandor tonight I noticed they've extended the decorative street lighting on Michigan Avenue to under the US 127 bridge. If I counted correctly, it's three on each side of the road and it really illuminates better than the overhead lamps. They differ than the lamps west of Howard in that they are white in color. Either way, I'd love to see them complete the entire avenue all the way to the eastern border, finally.
Okemos-based TA Forsberg Inc. pushes an "attainable housing" plan that's already turning heads. Rents could be as low as $600 monthly.
Something like this could really be game-changing and replicated across the cheaper neighborhoods in town, as it seems to me that you could market them as starter houses to younger people and more permanent housing for working folks who want need quality housing. So you could both attract new residents to town and retain the ones you already have with something like this.
And, look at that, reading down, that sounds like the plan:
Forsberg said the company's "atrustic goal" is to build up to 50 "Tembo" homes over the next two years in REO Town, on the city's east side near the Michigan Avenue corridor and in other areas that have available lots.
Tembo is a Swahili word for elephant, a term discovered by Lansing-based branding agency M3 Group, which believes the name fits the Forsberg company's vision.
Thank you for the post. I am impressed at how nice it looks inside. This house went up so fast, and I think many parts were pre-fabricated off site. I was thinking Habitat for Humanity might have been building this house, it is interesting to hear that it is a private company with a big plan doing this. I really like the idea of simple housing, I am hoping to see the building painted and landscaped soon, then it will fit in to the neighborhood a bit better. I wonder where they are going next. There are lots of missing teeth along the streets of REOtown it would be so cool to see them filled in with new housing. It would be good to also have a program that helped people fix up the existing homes. There are some that must be among the oldest houses in town in the area, and some really big nice old houses too.
I don't want to be a downer here, but I'd rather not see houses like that built in Lansing neighborhoods. I agree, the inside looks nice and I don't mind simple housing, but this has a post foundation and plywood for siding. It looks like a hunting shack, not something that should be built in the city.
I have to some what agree, I am hoping they doll it up a bit, I think it is OK for some areas that may never see anything built on the empty lots. I know that we are not like Detroit in that we will recover our population to it's high point so one day these lots will be redeveloped perhaps. So maybe we could contact this company to offer some advice on the design, some windows in the front, maybe clap board or cedar shingle siding would not add too much to the cost and make it look less shack like!
It still has to be painted and gussied up, of course. I'm not talking about putting these things next to historic brick homes or anything, but I do not mind at all seeing this type of infill in the neighborhoods with non-descript wood-framed housing.
The city council will be setting a public hearing for 700 East Oakland (Motor Wheels/Prudden expansion) for June 12th, tonight. The hearing is on the rezoning of the property, in this case the approval of a special land use permit. Still no public details on this aside from council pack back on the 24th of April, but it's good to see this moving foward so quickly.
A public hearing is also being set for May 22nd for the brownfield plan for the Belen buildings redevelopment ("513 and 515 W. Ionia Street") and 221 W. Saginaw Street redevelopment.
Lastly, Central United Methodist Church at Capitol and Ottawa is being granted Historict District status.
This happened a few days ago - and I've wondered why these buildings remained standing - but the Gillespie's finally demoed the old Bonnie's bar building in front of the brewing company on Cedar. They'd continued to market this building and the other one to the south for years now, and it was always weird since the land is way more valuable and leaving them standing made it harder to redevelop that Cedar frontage. I imagine they'll use the space in the interim for more parking for the bar, but this also makes it easier to develop this streetfront in the future.
Comments
LPD was using around 84,000 square feet of the building when they were there in addition to the other tenants.
Anyway, had time to look up the council agenda. A few observations:
It looks like there is two options on a proposed site plan. One shows the units divided between two low-rise buildings at the western and eastern edges of the property. The other one envisions a single high-rise building that takes up the northern frontage of the property. Both options show a thin building(s). I was kind of surprised as I kind of figured we'd see something that covered more of the large site. I guess that means more room for future developments on the site?
I'm genuinely confused - and this isn't specific to this project either - why the developer is seeking a special land use permit for this site zoned "heavy industrial" instead of just requesting a rezoning of the site. Either requires a council hearing, so why not simply asking for a more appropriate rezoning? This said, apparently, that entire area is still zoned heavy industrial, so everything there has gottena special land use permit. What's weird, though, is that the document even states that if the site was to be used as its zoned that that would actually be out of sync with the area. lol
Out at Frandor tonight I noticed they've extended the decorative street lighting on Michigan Avenue to under the US 127 bridge. If I counted correctly, it's three on each side of the road and it really illuminates better than the overhead lamps. They differ than the lamps west of Howard in that they are white in color. Either way, I'd love to see them complete the entire avenue all the way to the eastern border, finally.
It is great to hear about the Michigan Ave under the bridge project is getting underway, anything would be better than what it's like now.
gb,
The Lansing State Journal did a piece on the new-construction house you told us about in REO Town some months back:
Why this funky house could redefine your neighobrhood
Okemos-based TA Forsberg Inc. pushes an "attainable housing" plan that's already turning heads. Rents could be as low as $600 monthly.
Something like this could really be game-changing and replicated across the cheaper neighborhoods in town, as it seems to me that you could market them as starter houses to younger people and more permanent housing for working folks who want need quality housing. So you could both attract new residents to town and retain the ones you already have with something like this.
And, look at that, reading down, that sounds like the plan:
Thank you for the post. I am impressed at how nice it looks inside. This house went up so fast, and I think many parts were pre-fabricated off site. I was thinking Habitat for Humanity might have been building this house, it is interesting to hear that it is a private company with a big plan doing this. I really like the idea of simple housing, I am hoping to see the building painted and landscaped soon, then it will fit in to the neighborhood a bit better. I wonder where they are going next. There are lots of missing teeth along the streets of REOtown it would be so cool to see them filled in with new housing. It would be good to also have a program that helped people fix up the existing homes. There are some that must be among the oldest houses in town in the area, and some really big nice old houses too.
I don't want to be a downer here, but I'd rather not see houses like that built in Lansing neighborhoods. I agree, the inside looks nice and I don't mind simple housing, but this has a post foundation and plywood for siding. It looks like a hunting shack, not something that should be built in the city.
I have to some what agree, I am hoping they doll it up a bit, I think it is OK for some areas that may never see anything built on the empty lots. I know that we are not like Detroit in that we will recover our population to it's high point so one day these lots will be redeveloped perhaps. So maybe we could contact this company to offer some advice on the design, some windows in the front, maybe clap board or cedar shingle siding would not add too much to the cost and make it look less shack like!
It still has to be painted and gussied up, of course. I'm not talking about putting these things next to historic brick homes or anything, but I do not mind at all seeing this type of infill in the neighborhoods with non-descript wood-framed housing.
The city council will be setting a public hearing for 700 East Oakland (Motor Wheels/Prudden expansion) for June 12th, tonight. The hearing is on the rezoning of the property, in this case the approval of a special land use permit. Still no public details on this aside from council pack back on the 24th of April, but it's good to see this moving foward so quickly.
A public hearing is also being set for May 22nd for the brownfield plan for the Belen buildings redevelopment ("513 and 515 W. Ionia Street") and 221 W. Saginaw Street redevelopment.
Lastly, Central United Methodist Church at Capitol and Ottawa is being granted Historict District status.
This happened a few days ago - and I've wondered why these buildings remained standing - but the Gillespie's finally demoed the old Bonnie's bar building in front of the brewing company on Cedar. They'd continued to market this building and the other one to the south for years now, and it was always weird since the land is way more valuable and leaving them standing made it harder to redevelop that Cedar frontage. I imagine they'll use the space in the interim for more parking for the bar, but this also makes it easier to develop this streetfront in the future.