Michigan Ave would be a great spot for Schulers, but is there an available building with a big enough footprint for them to set up shop? Perhaps if they took over most of the new commercial space at the Venue?
The Venue already is signing tenants. But, it wouldn't be nearly enough room, anyway. Schulers said it couldn't function because they were going to go from 24,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet. Guess how much retail space there is in The Venue, total? 15,000 square feet, and it's divided between multiple storefronts.
Even in the case that there was enough space, Schulers is a suburban kind of store. There is no way they'd accept that much lost parking to move somewhere more urban. It's just not that kind of store. It's a big-box bookstore.
Nice find, Quackerrock. I was happy to find out this:
“This is a tremendous new program designed to fill a gap in the housing market for people with moderate incomes,” said Tom Lapka, board chair of the Capital Area Housing Partnership. “The income limits are designed to attract individuals and families who make a good wage, like police officers, nurses and other professionals, but find the high end rental market outside of their budget.”
We need a lot more middle-range housing instead of everything being low-income housing, student housing, or high-end lofts and such. I was kind of worried by the name they were going to turn this into low-income housing, and there are better places for it than that corner.
LANSING - The building that once housed Walter French Junior High School is set to become a mixed-use residential development.
The families of Louis and George Eyde, founders of the Eyde Company, are donating the long-vacant building at the corner of Mt. Hope Avenue and Cedar Street to the Capital Area Housing Partnership, a non-profit that works to develop affordable housing.
The Eyde Company purchased the building from the Lansing School District in 1983 for $942,000.
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Droste said the Capital Area Housing Project has been looking for a site to do housing development for some time. It was among the two agencies that bid for Eastern High School, which the Lansing School District ultimately sold to the other bidder, Sparrow Health Systems.
Droste said the rest of 2018 will be spent assessing the building and cleaning up the inside, studying the best use for it and finding money for the project.
This is a bit concerning to me. They sound like they aren't exactly flush with enough cash or have experience with anything this large, which is probably why Eyde decided to donate it in the first place. The good thing is that they are looking to preserve it, though. I just don't want this to be more of the same, like how Eyde has been saying forever "next year" and then it just sits there and continues to rot. And the Eydes had the money to make it work. The city needs to stay on the new owners to keep this school secure and keep the grounds looking nice. At least the Eydes did that, mostly.
I will hope for the best, but like you say, we should wait until it actually has funding plans and shovels in the ground before we celebrate. This company seems like real estate holders, not developers sometimes. We have seen a lot of these projects announced and then it's years before anything happens. It will be great if they do get this project underway and when it's done there will be hundreds of new residents in that neighborhood.
Very nice to hear the news about Walter French! Having a concentration of residents right at the south end of REO town will hopefully spur even more redevelopment of the commercial areas down there.
Mich Matters - thanks for the figures on Schuler's and the Venue... Perhaps the Frandor (or future Red Cedar) areas would be a better fit? Sears is hanging on to 2018 by a thread after all...
I think that if Schuler's opens a new location to replace Eastwood it would more likely be in West Lansing/ Delta Twp or South Lansing/ Delhi. From what I know from a few of their employees, there are no concrete plans yet. Downtown isn't too feasible - parking and accessibility are some of the issues,
I don't know how to feel about that Walter French news. The fact that Eyde chose to donate the building has me worried as to how feasible it will be to reuse. I suppose it is worth noting that the Eyde's don't seem too interested in residential projects and the fact that the Walter French building could only support low to mid range housing probably makes it less desirable for them.
I really hope that the new owners can properly rehab the building's exterior. The brick seems to be in excellent shape so my only real concern is that they put in good quality windows of the right style. I'm worried that a non profit like this may sit on the building for a long time while not making anything happen, it's equally likely that they complete the project but don't have the ability to manage or maintain the property adequately.
A restored Walter French building full of residents would be beyond fantastic for the surrounding neighborhood and the Cedar St corridor, I truly hope they can make it happen and in good time.
I was reading that the new mayor is planning to announce some "exciting new projects" that will get underway in 2018, in a February 8th speech. I wonder if it will be about long-planned developments actually starting or maybe something new we have not heard about?
LANSING — Although Thomas Buschert just wrapped his first year as Quality Dairy Company's CEO, he's still a bit of an outsider.
He isn't from Lansing. And his last name isn't Martin.
Quality Dairy co-owner and President Ken Martin, the son of one of the company's founders, sees that as a good thing.
A little more than a year into his position as CEO, Buschert is leading plans to renovate and upgrade the company's 30 stores, the newest of which was built in 1999.
He's restructured the company's board by adding two members to the now six-member group and has started gleaning feedback from customers through surveys.
I've said it before, but even just some simple upkeep and landscaping on a few stores would make me happy. One store that needs a complete rebuild in my opinion, however, is there big downtown store at Cedar and Saginaw. This is the one I grew up near. It wastes and incredible amount of space. Not necessarily their responsibility, but I'd like to see the sidewalk along Saginaw widened, and the entire perimeter propertly landscaped. Possibly push the building closer to the corner and create a small outdoor seating area on the north side of the building for the summer months.
Comments
Michigan Ave would be a great spot for Schulers, but is there an available building with a big enough footprint for them to set up shop? Perhaps if they took over most of the new commercial space at the Venue?
Great news about the Walter French Building! https://www.capitalareahousing.org/properties
The Venue already is signing tenants. But, it wouldn't be nearly enough room, anyway. Schulers said it couldn't function because they were going to go from 24,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet. Guess how much retail space there is in The Venue, total? 15,000 square feet, and it's divided between multiple storefronts.
Even in the case that there was enough space, Schulers is a suburban kind of store. There is no way they'd accept that much lost parking to move somewhere more urban. It's just not that kind of store. It's a big-box bookstore.
Nice find, Quackerrock. I was happy to find out this:
We need a lot more middle-range housing instead of everything being low-income housing, student housing, or high-end lofts and such. I was kind of worried by the name they were going to turn this into low-income housing, and there are better places for it than that corner.
EDIT: It appears the LSJ has a story on this:
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This is a bit concerning to me. They sound like they aren't exactly flush with enough cash or have experience with anything this large, which is probably why Eyde decided to donate it in the first place. The good thing is that they are looking to preserve it, though. I just don't want this to be more of the same, like how Eyde has been saying forever "next year" and then it just sits there and continues to rot. And the Eydes had the money to make it work. The city needs to stay on the new owners to keep this school secure and keep the grounds looking nice. At least the Eydes did that, mostly.
I will hope for the best, but like you say, we should wait until it actually has funding plans and shovels in the ground before we celebrate. This company seems like real estate holders, not developers sometimes. We have seen a lot of these projects announced and then it's years before anything happens. It will be great if they do get this project underway and when it's done there will be hundreds of new residents in that neighborhood.
Very nice to hear the news about Walter French! Having a concentration of residents right at the south end of REO town will hopefully spur even more redevelopment of the commercial areas down there.
Mich Matters - thanks for the figures on Schuler's and the Venue... Perhaps the Frandor (or future Red Cedar) areas would be a better fit? Sears is hanging on to 2018 by a thread after all...
I think that if Schuler's opens a new location to replace Eastwood it would more likely be in West Lansing/ Delta Twp or South Lansing/ Delhi. From what I know from a few of their employees, there are no concrete plans yet. Downtown isn't too feasible - parking and accessibility are some of the issues,
I don't know how to feel about that Walter French news. The fact that Eyde chose to donate the building has me worried as to how feasible it will be to reuse. I suppose it is worth noting that the Eyde's don't seem too interested in residential projects and the fact that the Walter French building could only support low to mid range housing probably makes it less desirable for them.
I really hope that the new owners can properly rehab the building's exterior. The brick seems to be in excellent shape so my only real concern is that they put in good quality windows of the right style. I'm worried that a non profit like this may sit on the building for a long time while not making anything happen, it's equally likely that they complete the project but don't have the ability to manage or maintain the property adequately.
A restored Walter French building full of residents would be beyond fantastic for the surrounding neighborhood and the Cedar St corridor, I truly hope they can make it happen and in good time.
I was reading that the new mayor is planning to announce some "exciting new projects" that will get underway in 2018, in a February 8th speech. I wonder if it will be about long-planned developments actually starting or maybe something new we have not heard about?
I'll be hoping for a bit of both...
We were just kind of talking about this, but it looks like QD got some outside blood:
I've said it before, but even just some simple upkeep and landscaping on a few stores would make me happy. One store that needs a complete rebuild in my opinion, however, is there big downtown store at Cedar and Saginaw. This is the one I grew up near. It wastes and incredible amount of space. Not necessarily their responsibility, but I'd like to see the sidewalk along Saginaw widened, and the entire perimeter propertly landscaped. Possibly push the building closer to the corner and create a small outdoor seating area on the north side of the building for the summer months.