Oh, forgot to mention that the minutes of the May planning board meeting are included in this month's agenda.
It looks like the board approved of the rezoning request for the old "homeless hotel" down on Pierpont off on Pennsylvania for reuse as a major U-Haul facility. We got a few more specific details such as that U-Haul plants to knock out the interior walls on reach floor for the storage units. The grounds will hold a truck-and-trailer sharing lot, and the first floor of the hotel building will be a retail spot for U-Haul.
They also unanimously approved the sell of the old BWL substation on Larch under the viaduct in North Lansing for reuse as office space. I looked up the name of the company (Drew, LLC) and its address and it appears to be a salvage yard, so I guess this would be the headquarters for the operation.
Now that this year is already nearly half over, I was wondering about a few projects that were said to be starting this year. The river trail repaving project, has it begun? I see the signs saying it is going to happen but I have not heard of any part of the trail that is being worked on. The old Y, I see the demolition start and stop, it seems to be stopped now. The new hotel on the REOTOWN sign lot, they cut down most of the trees, is something happening there? St. Joe and S. Washington and the Lake Trust Block are those areas still being developed? Perhaps there is no news about these project, I would just like to see some of them go from paper to reality and I am hoping maybe someone knows more than I do. [that would not be surprising!]
It would seem like the market for self storage units most be very strong. They are still working on that huge facility on Hosmer and now they are turning a hotel in to a U-haul and self storage business! Well in this case[on S. Penn.] something really is better than nothing.
Meanwhile over on Hosmer and Kalamazoo the new Art's is looking really great and may be opening soon.
I have noticed some of the river trail signs. I noted that several of them are the same ones that were up or have not been taken down for several years. I have not heard any news about it but it would be really great to have it repaved.
@MichMatters I haven't been up that way since I posted that picture of the progress, now that you reminded me I really am curious to see how it's shaping up.
As for the former superintendents house becoming a rehab center, I'm not 100% against it but I'm certainly not in favor of it. The only way I'd say they should allow it to be used as such is if it's been vacant for a little while and they've had a serious lack of interest from "better" tenants. There's plenty of places to put a rehab center or halfway house, I'd rather not see the city encourage them to take up space in areas that are struggling to make a comeback.
LANSING -- The first phase of an Indianapolis developer's $24.4 million plan to pump life back into one of the city's largest, most historic parcels of idle land is ahead of schedule.
And in about a month, people interested in living on the former Michigan School for the Blind's campus can find out if the first $12 million project, called Walnut Park, suits their needs.
TWG also has plans to redevelop the school's former administration building, known as The Abigail or "Old Main," and the former high school. The entire campus is expected to be redeveloped by the end of 2019.
They hope to have occupancy certificates for Walnut Park by October 1.
I'm surprised by how much it looks like the renderings. Very good quality for a building that's almost all income-restricted apartments. Looks even better than almost anything GG has put up in recent years. lol
I agree that there must be a better place for a half-way house type facility, but having people working and living there is good. The new building looks great, I wish they would pave the streets leading to it. Chavez/Grand River past Washington is a bombed out mess along with Seymour, Willow all of the streets up there could use at least a patch job.
Hey all, I've been away for a while, so sorry if my comments are redundant with others!
Mich - Re:Ann Arbor growth vs Lansing. I'd wager that part of this is due to the fact that housing is ridiculously expensive in Ann Arbor, relative to the rest of the midwest...
gbd - Glad you're keeping an eye on local development! I was wondering about the REO sign lot development as well. I'd also like to see a schedule or some forward movement on repaving Saginaw in EL...
Comments
Oh, forgot to mention that the minutes of the May planning board meeting are included in this month's agenda.
It looks like the board approved of the rezoning request for the old "homeless hotel" down on Pierpont off on Pennsylvania for reuse as a major U-Haul facility. We got a few more specific details such as that U-Haul plants to knock out the interior walls on reach floor for the storage units. The grounds will hold a truck-and-trailer sharing lot, and the first floor of the hotel building will be a retail spot for U-Haul.
They also unanimously approved the sell of the old BWL substation on Larch under the viaduct in North Lansing for reuse as office space. I looked up the name of the company (Drew, LLC) and its address and it appears to be a salvage yard, so I guess this would be the headquarters for the operation.
Now that this year is already nearly half over, I was wondering about a few projects that were said to be starting this year. The river trail repaving project, has it begun? I see the signs saying it is going to happen but I have not heard of any part of the trail that is being worked on. The old Y, I see the demolition start and stop, it seems to be stopped now. The new hotel on the REOTOWN sign lot, they cut down most of the trees, is something happening there? St. Joe and S. Washington and the Lake Trust Block are those areas still being developed? Perhaps there is no news about these project, I would just like to see some of them go from paper to reality and I am hoping maybe someone knows more than I do. [that would not be surprising!]
It would seem like the market for self storage units most be very strong. They are still working on that huge facility on Hosmer and now they are turning a hotel in to a U-haul and self storage business! Well in this case[on S. Penn.] something really is better than nothing.
Meanwhile over on Hosmer and Kalamazoo the new Art's is looking really great and may be opening soon.
I have noticed some of the river trail signs. I noted that several of them are the same ones that were up or have not been taken down for several years. I have not heard any news about it but it would be really great to have it repaved.
@MichMatters I haven't been up that way since I posted that picture of the progress, now that you reminded me I really am curious to see how it's shaping up.
As for the former superintendents house becoming a rehab center, I'm not 100% against it but I'm certainly not in favor of it. The only way I'd say they should allow it to be used as such is if it's been vacant for a little while and they've had a serious lack of interest from "better" tenants. There's plenty of places to put a rehab center or halfway house, I'd rather not see the city encourage them to take up space in areas that are struggling to make a comeback.
Speak of the devil, an update from the LSJ, this morning:
They hope to have occupancy certificates for Walnut Park by October 1.
I'm surprised by how much it looks like the renderings. Very good quality for a building that's almost all income-restricted apartments. Looks even better than almost anything GG has put up in recent years. lol
I agree that there must be a better place for a half-way house type facility, but having people working and living there is good. The new building looks great, I wish they would pave the streets leading to it. Chavez/Grand River past Washington is a bombed out mess along with Seymour, Willow all of the streets up there could use at least a patch job.
I saw where they are working on the Michigan Ave. Bridge, is this just a maintenance?
Yes, preventative maintenance.
Hey all, I've been away for a while, so sorry if my comments are redundant with others!
Mich - Re:Ann Arbor growth vs Lansing. I'd wager that part of this is due to the fact that housing is ridiculously expensive in Ann Arbor, relative to the rest of the midwest...
gbd - Glad you're keeping an eye on local development! I was wondering about the REO sign lot development as well. I'd also like to see a schedule or some forward movement on repaving Saginaw in EL...