By the end of the year, he hopes to have firmed up plans for the 600 block of Michigan Avenue, where he says a grocery store and additional housing could crop up. He expects there to be a hotel in the area in the next three to four years.
LANSING — A rental property management company is hoping to move into a vacant Lansing Board of Water & Light substation near Old Town sometime next year.
Lansing-based Drew LLC has made a purchase offer on the Larch Substation at 1609 N. Larch, according to city documents. Owner Adam Brewer, who also owns Brewer Salvage, said he plans to move his rental business' offices into the space.
"A soon as we buy it, we’ll gut it out and start right away," Brewer said. “It’s basically a shell."
I've always really liked how the city and the BWL have been keen on saving these old substation and pumping stations all around the city. It's rare for a city this size to have all of these still standing; most cities either never designed nice utility facilities in the first place, or removed them as soon as they outlived their usefulness.
Does anyone have info regarding the building renovations at 701 E South Street? This building on the river has been under renovation for some time and it looks like it is complete or nearly complete. I think it is a great site on the river and, other than the floodplain issues and the heavy vehicle neighbors.
It's a really interesting reuse, and an architecturally interesting one, as well.
In other news, GM announced plans for the future of Lansing Grand River (LGR), downtown. The $175 million retooling will expand the life of the plan, which will drop the ATS and CTS sedans will be phased out for new Cadillac products. Good news for the region's economies that the LGR has shown itself to be so nimble; this is a credit to the local Lansing workforce at the plant; it's very well managed.
I'm up over the Larch viaduct quite a bit, and noticed a few things around the intersection at Lake Lansing that surprised me. First, though vacant for years, now, the old Tim Hortons shop on the northwest corner had been immaculately maintained. I'd never seen a vacant property kept up that well. It also had some of the best landscaping I'd ever seen on a small, suburban property like that. Well, I noticed they'd cut down all of the trees on the perimeter. It was striking, and not in a good way. So, I went to see from city records that they were fined last month for "construction work without a permit." A note was made that said the contractor told the city that a Dominos was going here. Not sure why they had to cut down all of the trees, though.
Just two properties north, I was shocked to see the property at 2119 Larch was demolished. Man, that was quick. I wasn't up there that long ago. While nothing special, this was another very well maintained strip of retail establishments (a tanning place, a phone store, a printing place, and one vacant storefront) and never had any occupancy issues. City records show the building was only 28 years old. I see also that they filed for a demolition permit exactly a month ago, today. I find no projects planned for this one, so this is a mystery. I'd really be interested to hear the story behind this one.
In between the two is a car wash I often use. In reality, It'd be nice to see these three parcels developed as a single one, I think a nice-looking strip mall would work here. North Pointe Plaza across the street is a similar concept, but horribly executed, architecturally. I'd like to see something with nicer aesthetic on both corners with maybe a level of affordable apartments above, but really nothing taller than that given the street layout and location.
As for the former Otto Middle School bordering all of this, this would be perfect for some higher-density, market-rate residential usage like what's going on at the School for the Blind site if they don't plan to reopen the old school as a school. Keep some of the field open for open/park space and build on limited parts of it, while putting apartments in the school building, itself, for use by the residents. Maybe add a retail spot or two for local/neighborhood retail.
In other small, neighborhood retail news, the building at 200 South MLK kitty-corner from the Hall of Justice is finally being redone. Demolition started about two ago for what will be a reconstruction and 988-square-foot addition added to turn this tiny property into a small neighborhood grocer. This ugly little property had been a nuisance for years and racked up all kinds of fines. It was always an embarrassment on this corridor, and I've been lamenting for years that this poor neighborhood needed retail on this major corridor.
Looks like the building permit last until the beginning of December, so I expect this to be open in the fall.
That has been a dumpy little store for at least 40 years, it must have been a filling station at one time. There was once a really great little supermarket at Kalamazoo and Logan/MLK which was very busy all the time. It will be good to have a market back in the neighborhood.
Comments
Little hints Gillespie dropped in a profile piece on him in the Journal, today:
Looks like the Journal has picked up on this one:
I've always really liked how the city and the BWL have been keen on saving these old substation and pumping stations all around the city. It's rare for a city this size to have all of these still standing; most cities either never designed nice utility facilities in the first place, or removed them as soon as they outlived their usefulness.
Does anyone have info regarding the building renovations at 701 E South Street? This building on the river has been under renovation for some time and it looks like it is complete or nearly complete. I think it is a great site on the river and, other than the floodplain issues and the heavy vehicle neighbors.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2016/02/05/25m-project-rehab-former-knapps-warehouse/79870372/
Thanks for the info.
It's a really interesting reuse, and an architecturally interesting one, as well.
In other news, GM announced plans for the future of Lansing Grand River (LGR), downtown. The $175 million retooling will expand the life of the plan, which will drop the ATS and CTS sedans will be phased out for new Cadillac products. Good news for the region's economies that the LGR has shown itself to be so nimble; this is a credit to the local Lansing workforce at the plant; it's very well managed.
I will have to walk over that way, I have not been there in a while. Have they done any landscaping?
I'm up over the Larch viaduct quite a bit, and noticed a few things around the intersection at Lake Lansing that surprised me. First, though vacant for years, now, the old Tim Hortons shop on the northwest corner had been immaculately maintained. I'd never seen a vacant property kept up that well. It also had some of the best landscaping I'd ever seen on a small, suburban property like that. Well, I noticed they'd cut down all of the trees on the perimeter. It was striking, and not in a good way. So, I went to see from city records that they were fined last month for "construction work without a permit." A note was made that said the contractor told the city that a Dominos was going here. Not sure why they had to cut down all of the trees, though.
Just two properties north, I was shocked to see the property at 2119 Larch was demolished. Man, that was quick. I wasn't up there that long ago. While nothing special, this was another very well maintained strip of retail establishments (a tanning place, a phone store, a printing place, and one vacant storefront) and never had any occupancy issues. City records show the building was only 28 years old. I see also that they filed for a demolition permit exactly a month ago, today. I find no projects planned for this one, so this is a mystery. I'd really be interested to hear the story behind this one.
In between the two is a car wash I often use. In reality, It'd be nice to see these three parcels developed as a single one, I think a nice-looking strip mall would work here. North Pointe Plaza across the street is a similar concept, but horribly executed, architecturally. I'd like to see something with nicer aesthetic on both corners with maybe a level of affordable apartments above, but really nothing taller than that given the street layout and location.
As for the former Otto Middle School bordering all of this, this would be perfect for some higher-density, market-rate residential usage like what's going on at the School for the Blind site if they don't plan to reopen the old school as a school. Keep some of the field open for open/park space and build on limited parts of it, while putting apartments in the school building, itself, for use by the residents. Maybe add a retail spot or two for local/neighborhood retail.
In other small, neighborhood retail news, the building at 200 South MLK kitty-corner from the Hall of Justice is finally being redone. Demolition started about two ago for what will be a reconstruction and 988-square-foot addition added to turn this tiny property into a small neighborhood grocer. This ugly little property had been a nuisance for years and racked up all kinds of fines. It was always an embarrassment on this corridor, and I've been lamenting for years that this poor neighborhood needed retail on this major corridor.
Looks like the building permit last until the beginning of December, so I expect this to be open in the fall.
That has been a dumpy little store for at least 40 years, it must have been a filling station at one time. There was once a really great little supermarket at Kalamazoo and Logan/MLK which was very busy all the time. It will be good to have a market back in the neighborhood.