Looks like we rank pretty low on a list of Best Capital City where Lansing [not Greater Lansing] is ranked #39! I think maybe that is too low, but they did not ask me!
Act 33 - not every community does it Lansing's way but per Public Act 33 of 2008 (and Act 285 before that) Planning Commission is tasked with reviewing the topics Mich linked but here PC also makes recommendations for sale/purchase of real property, street vacations, and permanent easements for use of public land. Lansing used to do this for every little thing, like literally 30-60 Act reviews annually during the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Somewhere down the road the city started to allow temporary use of rights-of-way to be approved administratively with a license agreement, but permanent use still has to have Council vote. Most recently use of air rights was decided for the Anderson House Office building over Ottawa St. and Sparrow's skywalk over Michigan.
Gentilozzi's group is well aware the need for approval for their project as they publicly proposed but I can't speak to their schedule. Given the timeline for constructing only the tower that is their main focus and they are in site plan review.
It's good to hear that they're moving forward with the tower without explicitly seeking approval for the over-road garage. That would seem to mean that it's not a make or break item for their plan, I mean they'd save a lot of money not doing it and I don't think the lack of that large recreation deck would kill the desire for people to live there, they could still do it on top of the garage and connect it with a simple skywalk.
Regardless, I had gotten to the point where I had begrudgingly accepted that this structure would be built over the street. If it still happens, oh well, we still get a new tallest building. If not then Grand Ave's prospects as retail/restaurant corridor improve, as do views of the new tower. Now that Grand is 2-way I'd like to lose a northbound lane in the 100-300 blocks to build bump outs for parking and allow better pedestrian crossings, add some pedestrian islands as well. N Grand is a mess that needs a total rebuild.
This is confusing as it seems that these parcels are already part of the river trail. It would be interesting to know what they plan to do with the extra land.
I guess I don't really see what this acquisition changes. I assume the plots south of Oakland were owned by BWL and functionally the city's anyway while the lots north of Oakland don't lead to anywhere or offer much benefit without also having the RR ROW crossing Cesar Chavez and North St, which could provide some value as a trail, perhaps becoming sort of shopping/dining alley.
I didn't see the second comment. It's really odd that this property was still owned by the RR. I do hope the city can acquire the rest of this spur north of Old Town.
I guess this is a positive project, the thing I don't like about this type of inflatable building is that they can become dirty and stained by rain and pollution. There are a lot of these buildings out east, maybe they are made of better martials these days, but most of them do not age well. I would rather see a field house type building, I could see something like this near downtown maybe in the REO-town industrial park where REO used to be there are some large parcels available there, it is a good sign that someone wants to invest in Lansing.
It is just a small project that I noticed over on the corner of Kalamazoo and Pennsylvania, a long vacant eye sore convenance store is being renovated. I wonder if this area will become more attractive to developers as Sparrow grows. I hope the planned expansions of their facilities spurs developments like professional offices and housing, a long Michigan Ave, Pennsylvania, and Kalamazoo. I see a lot of that type of development over off of Jolly Rd. and Collins near the new Maclaren Hospital.
I hope so too, what I saw the other day was new insulation siding boards cladding the whole building, this may be the project finally getting underway.
Comments
Gentilozzi's group is well aware the need for approval for their project as they publicly proposed but I can't speak to their schedule. Given the timeline for constructing only the tower that is their main focus and they are in site plan review.
Regardless, I had gotten to the point where I had begrudgingly accepted that this structure would be built over the street. If it still happens, oh well, we still get a new tallest building. If not then Grand Ave's prospects as retail/restaurant corridor improve, as do views of the new tower. Now that Grand is 2-way I'd like to lose a northbound lane in the 100-300 blocks to build bump outs for parking and allow better pedestrian crossings, add some pedestrian islands as well. N Grand is a mess that needs a total rebuild.