Not a lot of news, but next Monday a special development & planning committee will be held to approve the brownfield plans for 600 East Michigan and Metro Places on Ruetter Park. A regular council meeting is held for the same day meaning the local incentives for these two will likely be passed next Monday. That'll be two more developments in the bag for the city.
I heard the owner of the auto service business on the radio talking about how excited he is to see this development next to his business. While it will be very "Lansing" to have a service garage next to a new hotel, I wish he would have sold his spot to the new development. The report said that all the people who attended the meeting spoke positively about the coming project.
I was happy to notice the demolition work continues at the Metro Place project, it seemed to have lapsed for a while. It always worries me when I see pauses in the progress of these developments.
Little updates from the D&P Committee for December 3 for a few projects I introduced you all to that passed the Planning Board earlier in the month:
Formal introduction & setting of public hearing for the rezoning for the hotel & apartment building proposal at 136 East Malcolm X in REO Town.
Formal introduction & setting of public hearing for the rezoning for the conversion of the single-family home at 622 Lesher on Oak Park for office use by the Neogen Corporation headquartered down the block on the park.
Formal introduction & setting of public hearing for the rezoning for the construction of a duplex unit at the NW corner of Cavanaugh in Lowcroft in southwest Lansing.
Haven't heard that rumor. There was some talk years ago of making Saginaw two-way and turning Oakland into a path (or at least part of it) west of the river, but it was never any formal proposal by the city anything.
Some unfortunate news. The QD store that was hit by a car up along Willow at Robertson in the Bassett Park neighborhood will not reopen.
Martin said the company decided to close the store permanently after the crash because the site couldn't be renovated to fit the company's new store concept.
I'm not entirely surprised. This one had been robbed quite a few times over the years, so that couldn't have helped it. Sounds like the car expedited what was the long-range trajectory of this store. I feel sorry for the neighborhood, which is already under-retailed.
This is sort of crazy. On the Planning Board for next week is yet another request for the resue of another vacant dinosaur for a self-storage facility on the southside. This time, U-Haul wants to rezone 5400 South Cedar (old Kmart ) that has sat vacant for years, to reuse the building as a storage facility.
I think I'm finally coming to the same question gb has asked. Where is all this demand coming from? This would be at least the fourth large reworking of a vacant building on a commercial corridor on the southside for self-storage. It also makes me wonder what the point of our warehouse districts are if we're going to keep converting spots along our commercial corridors to warehouse storage use.
Like, I'm happy to see these old buildings reused. It's certainly better than a vacant building. But I think the city has to, maybe, create a program where they partner with the marketer of these sites once they go out of business to even more keenly market these sites for more appropriate commercial redevelopment. Because clearly these commercial real estate agents and brokers are not accomplishing that.
Funny thing is that the planning office's own rezoning analysis says that this rezoning would not be compatible with the master plan as this area is designated as "Community Mixed-Use Center," which as the name suggests, is not for self-storage businesses. It is because of this that the office is recommending the denial of this rezoning. But we'll have to see what the planning commission decides, and if it is approved by them what the council thinks.
As most people in Lansing live in single family homes it seems kind of weird that folks have so much stuff they can not fit into their own homes. I guess people just want to keep their stuff forever. When I moved here I got rid of a ton of stuff and it was quite a relief.
Realtors are saying that many empty nesters want to downsize but their biggest issue is departing with furniture that has sentimental value. These self storage businesses allow people to downsize without having to figure out where they're going to place that large dining room table and matching buffet. The location of these is less than desirable but the buildings are built and vacant thus cheap.
Of course, there is some sense to all of these facilities, they would not be building them if not. They do not really add anything to a community, but at least these buildings will have found some use and pay taxes. It is very liberating to get rid of some of your junk more people should try it!
Comments
Not a lot of news, but next Monday a special development & planning committee will be held to approve the brownfield plans for 600 East Michigan and Metro Places on Ruetter Park. A regular council meeting is held for the same day meaning the local incentives for these two will likely be passed next Monday. That'll be two more developments in the bag for the city.
I heard the owner of the auto service business on the radio talking about how excited he is to see this development next to his business. While it will be very "Lansing" to have a service garage next to a new hotel, I wish he would have sold his spot to the new development. The report said that all the people who attended the meeting spoke positively about the coming project.
I was happy to notice the demolition work continues at the Metro Place project, it seemed to have lapsed for a while. It always worries me when I see pauses in the progress of these developments.
Some updates from yesterday:
The Belen Buildings
Metro Place
Little updates from the D&P Committee for December 3 for a few projects I introduced you all to that passed the Planning Board earlier in the month:
I can't remember if I heard this as a rumor, or just wish I did, but is\was there talk of turning Oakland and Saginaw back(?) into two way streets?
Haven't heard that rumor. There was some talk years ago of making Saginaw two-way and turning Oakland into a path (or at least part of it) west of the river, but it was never any formal proposal by the city anything.
Some unfortunate news. The QD store that was hit by a car up along Willow at Robertson in the Bassett Park neighborhood will not reopen.
I'm not entirely surprised. This one had been robbed quite a few times over the years, so that couldn't have helped it. Sounds like the car expedited what was the long-range trajectory of this store. I feel sorry for the neighborhood, which is already under-retailed.
This is sort of crazy. On the Planning Board for next week is yet another request for the resue of another vacant dinosaur for a self-storage facility on the southside. This time, U-Haul wants to rezone 5400 South Cedar (old Kmart ) that has sat vacant for years, to reuse the building as a storage facility.
I think I'm finally coming to the same question gb has asked. Where is all this demand coming from? This would be at least the fourth large reworking of a vacant building on a commercial corridor on the southside for self-storage. It also makes me wonder what the point of our warehouse districts are if we're going to keep converting spots along our commercial corridors to warehouse storage use.
Like, I'm happy to see these old buildings reused. It's certainly better than a vacant building. But I think the city has to, maybe, create a program where they partner with the marketer of these sites once they go out of business to even more keenly market these sites for more appropriate commercial redevelopment. Because clearly these commercial real estate agents and brokers are not accomplishing that.
Funny thing is that the planning office's own rezoning analysis says that this rezoning would not be compatible with the master plan as this area is designated as "Community Mixed-Use Center," which as the name suggests, is not for self-storage businesses. It is because of this that the office is recommending the denial of this rezoning. But we'll have to see what the planning commission decides, and if it is approved by them what the council thinks.
As most people in Lansing live in single family homes it seems kind of weird that folks have so much stuff they can not fit into their own homes. I guess people just want to keep their stuff forever. When I moved here I got rid of a ton of stuff and it was quite a relief.
Of course, there is some sense to all of these facilities, they would not be building them if not. They do not really add anything to a community, but at least these buildings will have found some use and pay taxes. It is very liberating to get rid of some of your junk more people should try it!