General Lansing Development

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Comments

  • That space looks like it could be the former Mediterran's which is now adjacent to the Strange Matter Coffee on Washington.

  • Gb,

    What block were these new trees planted on? Yeah, Public Service replaces trees in certain areas as the existing ones reach the end of their life span. Glad to hear that they look like oaks.

    Lumon,

    I think you're right, and it would make since as the Gillespie Company's headquarters are in that building.

  • The new trees that I noticed where on the east side of the street a couple right in front of The Daily Bagel, there could be more up the street. I think it's true that these lotus trees had reached the end of their lifespan. I think these trees could have been planted in the late 70's or early 80's and they are not as hearty as native trees. I thought many looked stressed for years.

  • edited October 2018

    Oh, I'm feeling a rant coming on. I think I've described how much I hate honey locusts, and I'll leave it at that. So I'm glad they were replaced with something more native. lol

    BTW, not directly related to development in Lansing, but have you all been following the increase in the height and design change to the new tallest building in Michigan going up in my hometown of Detroit?

    It's now 912 feet tall and is stunning. The actual tower will include exhibition space in its lower levels and then two hotels seperated by a few levels of apartments. The "podium" building will include two levels of retail, and then a stunning events space spread across multiple floors in the middle topped by a few floors of office space with a huge atrium topped by a glass dome. There are two levels of underground parking which will have racks to store the cars; the coolest thing is the huge semi truck elevators that will service the complex and a semi truck turntable to get them back out.

    I post it because this is good for skyscraper development in Michigan as it may spur other developers to do such a thing. It's always been about getting that first big one to set off a trend. Of course we will not see anything this tall in Lansing, and I do not want to see something that tall here. But perhaps this piques the interest of some developer looking at town to make a statement so we finally get something taller than the Boji Tower. I've always thought something like this could go up down on the 500 block of South Washington where Urban Systems is looking to develop "Midtown." You know, a podium with a small retail mall-like internal layout and small tower top the podium.

  • Yes, the New Detroit is really exciting and unexpected. Only ten years ago most Americans thought Detroit was a dystopian hell-scape, never to return from the ashes. Of course, they were wrong then and would be amazed to see a building like this going up in Michigan today. One thing about being a "bit older" has been witnessing the miracle of Detroit coming out of the long painful decline that started in 1967 finally to rebound this far in 2018. Detroit Michigan USA it's a pretty great place I'd say.

  • edited November 2018

    I saw that the store at the northwest corner of Cedar and Mt. Hope was open tonight. Not sure how long it's been open, must have been very recently. Anyway, looks like Megabev down the street in that all they sell is alcoholic beverages. I was kind of surprised as it looks a bit upscale and is tastefully lit at night.

    Speaking of lighting, and it's either because I haven't been paying attention and it's been there longer than I think, or they just did it, but the LED streetlamps south of Mt. Hope are really bright and make the city look new. It makes crossing the street significantly safer for pedestrians and I imagine will deter crime, too.

  • I do not know if it is the start of construction or just utility work but there was a big backhoe pulling up the pavement behind the Lake Trust building yesterday. It would be really great if this was the start of building there.
    Just around the corner, the old Y building has been totally raised leaving only the basement and a big hole in the skyline. It is great fun to watch a new development rise out a hole in the ground, which I hope will happen soon at this site. I will really be bummed if it stalls at this point.

  • It has to be utility work or something similar. No on in this town would start on a major project without some kind of announcement, and I'd imagine that they'd be requesting some kind of tax relief for whatever is put up there, be it an OPRA (Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act) certificate or a brownfield plan or something similar. The city doesn't show any projects started for this one either.

  • edited November 2018

    Council agenda may be up tomorrow, but until then the P&D Committee next week will...

    • Consideration of the brownfield plan (#74), Midwest Self Storage, 930 West Holmes. As I said, I'm not crazy about this particular reuse of the building. But the public infrastructure improvements and grassing over significant parts of the oversized parking lot are great for this area. P&D will make its recommendation, and then it'll go to the full council for final approval. They want to complete this by fall of next year.

    • Setting a public hearing for the brownfield plan (#75), 600 East Michigan Avenue, Capital City Market. They want to have the public hearing on Nov 19, want a special meeting called of P&D committee for Nov 26 to make its recommendation to council, and want council to sign off on this at their meeting the same day. Gillespie already did the rezoning for this one, so the brownfield approval is the last step.

    • Settling a public hearing for the brownfiled plan (#54) amendment, Y-Site, Metro Place. The only new thing we find out is that there will be 154 parking spots for the 145 loft-style apartments. The amendment - originally approved by council in 2011 - will reset schedules in the original brownfield plan, including extending the time to complete the demolition and site remediation since it started later, and recognize the change in scope of the project. Reutter Park Place included 228 apartments and a parking structure; Metro Place includes 145 apartments, 7,000 sq ft of retail/commercial space, and surface parking. The good news, the amendment does not raise the reimbusment to the developer ($2.77 million) for cleaning up the site, despite a rise in construction costs since 2011.

    I will try and get some graphics from the council packet up for these later.

  • edited November 2018

    Here are some graphics of the reworking of the site of 930 West Holmes:

    Existing:

    Proposed:

    Lots of new greenspace to soak up rain.

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