Yeah, my background is retail, not food service, so I'm not really the person to do it, but I think it's an idea that definitely has legs.
The market has always been a mess, even before the pole barn. It's just not a convenient location for one. I'd much rather see it in a place that is more accessible to shoppers -not on a one way road, and with a higher population density. Investing in Allen Street would be another way to go. There is already really nice traffic there and it has the real potential to be a bigger market. I've also been a big advocate of centralized checkout in the markets. Easier for shoppers and easier for vendors too.
From the article: "Schor said all options are on the table, including selling the building and leasing its land."
It looks to me like the City Market is being sold or leased to a developer, if the city were smart it would put out a request for proposals to get a better quality project. I'd love to see a high rise here and it would make a good location for a hotel. I think this is potentially for the better as long as the city gets behind the building of a bigger better City Market elsewhere.
I think it would be good for the city to study what went wrong if they want to continue to have a "city market". I think it would provide a story in which the city even in desperate times finds it is important to consider everything from the number of potential costumers for this type of market to the design of the space inside and out. Even though this building cost a lot of money it was just wrong from the start and seems to have had no thought put into the design of that space at all, it has the look and feel of something built on the cheap. Lansing has to get away from "building a half-assed development is better than nothing" idea because in the this case it was not.The city should sell that space and use the proceeds to improve all downtown parks.
As is to be expected with this council leadership, the agendas continue to be sparse with development-related stuff. Anyway, there were a few things for Monday's meeting that caught my eye.
After making it through the Planning Board, it appears the council agenda has more information on the sell of the old LBWL subtation at Larch and North street beneath the viaduct over North Street. Drew LLC of Lansing (2547 W Main) wants to reuse this beautiful building for office space. I've always loved this one and am happy to see that it's being saved. The 2-story building was built in 1936.
The owners of the old "homeless hotel" are requesting a rezoning for the vacant property to reuse it as a self-storage facility and small show room for U-Haul. In the report on this one, the city seems to be as confused as I was why these two parcels are zoned DM-4 (highest density residential) given that the surrounding area is all zoned for warhousing (G-2).
Some infill housing is proposed along Gleburne Boulevard in Lansing-Eaton west off of Waverly. The city is selling off four parcels it got through foreclosure for the development of four, affordable single-family homes. The four parcels are not contiguous, but are on the last "block" of Glenburne.
I'd brought it up late last month, but the City Pulse has an article specifically on the sprucing up around Motor Wheels Lofts. I had no idea Hepler was this kind of guy, and apparently he wants to do more:
Hepler praised the city of Lansing and the state of Michigan for greasing the skids so he could adopt the rights of way.
The project started a few years ago with a modest stand of 200 to 300 mums near the entrance. About 800 more will go in soon.
About 300 arbor vitae trees, humansized cones of dark evergreen that line up like shark teeth, help to soften the concrete wall and do a surprisingly good job of muffling traffic noise of 15,000 cars a day on Oakland and 19,000 a day on Saginaw.
Now the whole thing is just out of hand.
Besides the 9,000 day lilies, Stiles and his crew have been deploying hibiscus, daisies, astilbe, ornamental grass, geraniums and a dozen other types of flowering plants.
The arbor vitaes are what I really noticed, and what will look even better than they do, now, when they mature a bit. Though, to bring this back to development, it does make me wonder when he's going to start on his other Prudden phase.
This looks great, and kind of goes along with the public/private idea of enhancing the public space around the private development to create business for the development. I have said before maybe private businesses could sponsor street and sidewalk replacement in the neighborhoods where they are located, adopt the whole street from the pavement up. This could free up city funds for areas that do not have sponsors. For instance, Sparrow could sponsor paving all of Pennsylvania Avenue. Maybe GM sponsoring Malcome X and St. Joesph. There could be a small ad sign every block telling drivers who along with the city takes care of this street. Just a thought!
This piece of land always catches my eye, maybe because it's rare to have a greenfield that looks to have never had any permanent structures on it on this busy street, but I notice the land at the corner of Cedar and Syringa on the south side has been enclosed with a nice, black fence. The land was recently bought last November, and was rezoned specifically for retail use a few years ago.
I'm super curious about what the plans are for the site, but it's nothing that's made the media yet. The rezoning rezoned it to E-2 Local Shopping, which is a more stringent zoning than the typical F-Commercial. "Local Shopping" really only allows small convenience stores, gas stations, bars and restaurants, and some types of offices, while F-Commercial allows almost any commerical and retail use under the sun. I imagine it'll be another fast-food joint.
I also drove by 515 Ionia/Belen Buildings. I don't see much work done on this one. The insides look a mess, which is evidence of them doing something, but they've done nothing to the facades, yet.
The city passed its budget, tonight. Some key figures:
$400,000 more has been apropriated for roads, and $300,000 for sidewalks. While the sidewalk money will make a dent, with a total reconstruction of a road averaging over $1 million a mile, this won't do much. Though, a lot of projects are simple milling and repaving and some are just repavings.
While the hardliners on council wanted to totally eliminate the subsidy to the City Market, they compromised by splitting it in half. The market will receive $40,000 in the new fiscal year, which will get it through the summer season. After that, it will close. Mayor Andy is being tight-lipped about what he has planned for the building, but seems to have something definite in mind.
The cut in the subsidy for the market will allow for one additional code enforcement officer. This has been pretty much consensus across all factions of council for years, now. They want to be able to inspect more residential properties and tackle blight better. This will bring the number of officers to one for each of the city's four wards in addition to the existing one who will focus on the city's commercial corridors. The council thinks that the fees for non-compliance might help pay for this new position.
A full-time social worker has also been hired for the police department.
Your comment says "A full-time social worker has also been fired for the police department." but I think you meant "hired", not "fired".
Another new position will be a full-time social worker in the police department. Lansing Police Chief Michael Yankowski requested the social worker position because police frequently interact with residents who have mental health challenges.
It looks like we must elect lawmakers[Democrates] that will change the mindset in our legislator and with our Governor towards really addressing our urban streets and infrastructure. It almost seems like adding planks to the end of a bridge that is falling into the river, or a waste of money to patch each pothole only to have the patch be thrown out of the hole the next time it rains or snows. Most of our streets need a complete rebuilding not a bit of asphalt thrown into a pothole, they do not even pack it down. I swear up north they have the best roads in the state, just the other day they were repaving the whole length of a small county road in the middle of the woods. While I understand they give more money to the out state or rural roads system and it is nice to drive on those roads, you just get the feeling that if Roscommon County can find a way to repave their roads properly Lansing should be able to find a way as well.
Comments
Yeah, my background is retail, not food service, so I'm not really the person to do it, but I think it's an idea that definitely has legs.
The market has always been a mess, even before the pole barn. It's just not a convenient location for one. I'd much rather see it in a place that is more accessible to shoppers -not on a one way road, and with a higher population density. Investing in Allen Street would be another way to go. There is already really nice traffic there and it has the real potential to be a bigger market. I've also been a big advocate of centralized checkout in the markets. Easier for shoppers and easier for vendors too.
From the article: "Schor said all options are on the table, including selling the building and leasing its land."
It looks to me like the City Market is being sold or leased to a developer, if the city were smart it would put out a request for proposals to get a better quality project. I'd love to see a high rise here and it would make a good location for a hotel. I think this is potentially for the better as long as the city gets behind the building of a bigger better City Market elsewhere.
I think it would be good for the city to study what went wrong if they want to continue to have a "city market". I think it would provide a story in which the city even in desperate times finds it is important to consider everything from the number of potential costumers for this type of market to the design of the space inside and out. Even though this building cost a lot of money it was just wrong from the start and seems to have had no thought put into the design of that space at all, it has the look and feel of something built on the cheap. Lansing has to get away from "building a half-assed development is better than nothing" idea because in the this case it was not.The city should sell that space and use the proceeds to improve all downtown parks.
As is to be expected with this council leadership, the agendas continue to be sparse with development-related stuff. Anyway, there were a few things for Monday's meeting that caught my eye.
After making it through the Planning Board, it appears the council agenda has more information on the sell of the old LBWL subtation at Larch and North street beneath the viaduct over North Street. Drew LLC of Lansing (2547 W Main) wants to reuse this beautiful building for office space. I've always loved this one and am happy to see that it's being saved. The 2-story building was built in 1936.
The owners of the old "homeless hotel" are requesting a rezoning for the vacant property to reuse it as a self-storage facility and small show room for U-Haul. In the report on this one, the city seems to be as confused as I was why these two parcels are zoned DM-4 (highest density residential) given that the surrounding area is all zoned for warhousing (G-2).
Some infill housing is proposed along Gleburne Boulevard in Lansing-Eaton west off of Waverly. The city is selling off four parcels it got through foreclosure for the development of four, affordable single-family homes. The four parcels are not contiguous, but are on the last "block" of Glenburne.
I'd brought it up late last month, but the City Pulse has an article specifically on the sprucing up around Motor Wheels Lofts. I had no idea Hepler was this kind of guy, and apparently he wants to do more:
The arbor vitaes are what I really noticed, and what will look even better than they do, now, when they mature a bit. Though, to bring this back to development, it does make me wonder when he's going to start on his other Prudden phase.
This looks great, and kind of goes along with the public/private idea of enhancing the public space around the private development to create business for the development. I have said before maybe private businesses could sponsor street and sidewalk replacement in the neighborhoods where they are located, adopt the whole street from the pavement up. This could free up city funds for areas that do not have sponsors. For instance, Sparrow could sponsor paving all of Pennsylvania Avenue. Maybe GM sponsoring Malcome X and St. Joesph. There could be a small ad sign every block telling drivers who along with the city takes care of this street. Just a thought!
This piece of land always catches my eye, maybe because it's rare to have a greenfield that looks to have never had any permanent structures on it on this busy street, but I notice the land at the corner of Cedar and Syringa on the south side has been enclosed with a nice, black fence. The land was recently bought last November, and was rezoned specifically for retail use a few years ago.
I'm super curious about what the plans are for the site, but it's nothing that's made the media yet. The rezoning rezoned it to E-2 Local Shopping, which is a more stringent zoning than the typical F-Commercial. "Local Shopping" really only allows small convenience stores, gas stations, bars and restaurants, and some types of offices, while F-Commercial allows almost any commerical and retail use under the sun. I imagine it'll be another fast-food joint.
I also drove by 515 Ionia/Belen Buildings. I don't see much work done on this one. The insides look a mess, which is evidence of them doing something, but they've done nothing to the facades, yet.
http://www.515ionia.com/
The city passed its budget, tonight. Some key figures:
$400,000 more has been apropriated for roads, and $300,000 for sidewalks. While the sidewalk money will make a dent, with a total reconstruction of a road averaging over $1 million a mile, this won't do much. Though, a lot of projects are simple milling and repaving and some are just repavings.
While the hardliners on council wanted to totally eliminate the subsidy to the City Market, they compromised by splitting it in half. The market will receive $40,000 in the new fiscal year, which will get it through the summer season. After that, it will close. Mayor Andy is being tight-lipped about what he has planned for the building, but seems to have something definite in mind.
The cut in the subsidy for the market will allow for one additional code enforcement officer. This has been pretty much consensus across all factions of council for years, now. They want to be able to inspect more residential properties and tackle blight better. This will bring the number of officers to one for each of the city's four wards in addition to the existing one who will focus on the city's commercial corridors. The council thinks that the fees for non-compliance might help pay for this new position.
A full-time social worker has also been hired for the police department.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2018/05/21/lansing-city-council-approves-2019-budget-slight-road-funding-increase/629549002/
Your comment says "A full-time social worker has also been fired for the police department." but I think you meant "hired", not "fired".
It looks like we must elect lawmakers[Democrates] that will change the mindset in our legislator and with our Governor towards really addressing our urban streets and infrastructure. It almost seems like adding planks to the end of a bridge that is falling into the river, or a waste of money to patch each pothole only to have the patch be thrown out of the hole the next time it rains or snows. Most of our streets need a complete rebuilding not a bit of asphalt thrown into a pothole, they do not even pack it down. I swear up north they have the best roads in the state, just the other day they were repaving the whole length of a small county road in the middle of the woods. While I understand they give more money to the out state or rural roads system and it is nice to drive on those roads, you just get the feeling that if Roscommon County can find a way to repave their roads properly Lansing should be able to find a way as well.