Another interesting article in The City Pulse talking about a study that is being funded for a new performing arts center somewhere downtown. It noted there is one developer all ready to jump in on this. It also noted a couple of PAC's that have been built in other cities. I am hoping that this will be a high-class building like the ones pointed out in the article. Also that PAC's can become the core of nearby neighborhood development and civic pride, rather like our old Civic Center.
Just a rumor I've heard, so it remains to be confirmed, but I hear that the old school at Pleasant Grove and Holmes is going to be torn down for a small medical office building and some townhomes. Given how few historical commercial or institutional buildings there are in this neighborhood, I'd really hate to see them tear down something that could be renovated given how many other old school buildings in Lansing has been repurposed. But that's what I'm hearing. The old school was built in 1929, and was most recently a charter school, I think. Does anyone remember the name when it was a Lansing Public School? I can't seem to recall the name. Anyway, it's been owned by the land bank since 2014 with a few failed proposals for reuse along the way. Looks like they've found a developer if the rumor's true.
Interesting to see in any case how much redevelopment is taking place along Holmes west of Logan Square, though.
Yes, Pleasent Grove was a Lansing public elementary school k-6. A lot of kids I went to Dwight Rich JHS with came from Pleasent Grove. Students who lived in Church Hill Downs and that area went there. It was kind of the edge of town back than past Holmes down to Jolly the country began.
Returning to Lansing after 30 some years I found the changes to this area surprising and depressing. I believe that closing the neighborhood school was one of the things that took away the neighborhood's identity and pride. It is really great that the city and developers are going to rebuild this four corner area. It could be a nice village/neighborhood center and I can think of a couple more outlying neighborhoods that would benefit from the same sort of redevelopment if this one is successful.
I thought it was called Pleasant Grove Elementary, but was confused as most of the listings of it places it and confuse it with the Pleasant View Elementary (4501 Pleasant Grove Road) further down the road.
Apparently, Pleasant Grove is where Malcolm X attended elementary school. Here he is in third grade (back row, fifth from right) in the 1935-36 school year, which would only have been a few years after the school was built:
And his class photo from that year:
Kind of a shame if they tear this old building down. I hope what I heard if wrong; though if they are planning to build a medical office building it have to be handicap accessible, and most of these old schools aren't.
Speaking of Holmes, it looks like Bull'x Eye Axe Throwing, which occupies part of the old factory at Washington and Mt. Hope is moving down the street to Washington in Holmes. I believe this is the old multi-bay auto repair shop that was most recently home to Lansing Party Bus:
LANSING — Mid-Michigan's lone ax-throwing business has plans to to move into a 10,000-square-foot space and to add knife-throwing facilities and indoor disc golf.
Bull's Eye Axe Throwing owner Rich Baker said people have responded so well since it opened less than a year ago that it's time to occupy a bigger space.
“For about the last six months, we were booked out about every Friday and Saturday night," Baker said. "We were actually turning people away."
Baker intends to move Bull's Eye from its 4,000-square-foot facility near REO Town to a building that's 6,000 square feet bigger at Washington Avenue and Holmes Road.
In addition to ax-throwing, Bull's Eye's new facility at 3232 S. Washington Ave. would offer knife throwing and fowling, a football-bowling hybrid. There would also be space for indoor disc golf.
They've already closed their 111 West Mt. Hope location, so this appears to be a done-deal. With the old EDS Building in line to be renovated and the site greened next door, Logan Square having been sold, and the development planned or taking place along West Holmes, it seems like development is finally moving down to the southside.
Great news, that building is really an eyesore right now. I think it is great fun and interesting to watch these buildings, one by one, businesses and developers are finding new uses for buildings that seemed beyond usefulness. The southside is were a huge percent of Lansing's population lives so it would seem to be a good place to reimagine and redevelop. Rebuilding the main streets that lead to South Lansing make them bike and pedestrain friendly beautifie the corridors with new lighting trees and landscaping, signage codes, help small business to remodel their storefronts and parking areas, South Lansing circle bus routes that allow riders to get around the area without going downtown. And one place that seems really a mess to me is the Cedar/Pennsylvaina Edgewood area. Reconfigure the streets there into a less confusing less landwasting less ugly grid plan of streets and highway acesses. Of course I know that I am just dreaming about that one.
I heard the end of a radio news program Sunday am in which a fellow from I assume to be from Urban Systems [I think that's the company name] talking about the developments they are planning for the Lake Side block and beyond. I only caught the end of it but he was talking about 300 units of housing being built in two stages rehabilitating the office building and including retail along S. Washinton Ave. There was a bit about "connectivity" connecting Downtown to REOtown and Cherry Hill. He spoke of the plan to turn many one way streets to two way. He said that this is a very good idea for creating a place where people have a good experience, two-way streets tame traffic and encourage people to stop and take a look if getting traffic out of the city center is the object [which it was]then one-way streets are best. The program was on WLNX 1180 AM[the best old lady station!:} I have not found a site to see if the program can be rebroadcast. The Urban Systems guy said there will be announcements soon.
Good news that GM is planning on building the model Cadillac here at the Grand River Plant. I was surprised to hear that it would be a passenger car, not an SUV or crossover. I guess that GM to still wants to build cars, so there still must be a market for this luxury level passenger car.
Sabatoa brought up last August that Tannin, a restaurant in Okemos, was moving to where Tabooli's was until recently on East Michigan Avenue at Shepard Street. I'd completely forgotten it until a few weeks ago when I saw some work going on inside the building and looked up the property on the assessment website. Lo and behold they pulled permits for an interior tear-out in late-November and an interior build-out/renovation in January. The permit for the later expires in September, so it should be ready before then. Rockwood Design out of East Lansing appears to be the project architect. In the city of Lansing, I'd say Rockwood's most notable work was Printer's Row in Cherry Hill, downtown.
Tannin bills themselves as a "contemporary Italian" restaurant, for what it's worth. Never been, but their Okemos location has always looked a bit upscale, particularly in relation to stuff you find along the avenue.
In my perfect scenario, they'd take out the drive through lane along Shepard and extend the building to the street. Then, they could either tear down a bit of the western part of the building for more parking, or simply have a larger restaurant. I've grew up around this area to see the problem with restaurants here, quite frankly, is the drive-thru function of the property. It's why there is only other one drive-thru on the avenue (save for the unique case of Stadium District). It's always tried fitting a suburban function in a semi-urban environment. I think a restaurant at this size would be wise to consider this in the future for the property, making it more of a walk-up kind of feel and market it to the surrounding neighborhoods. , because this isn't Saginaw or MLK with the volumes of traffic you need to drive a really successful drive-thru restaurants.
The city is set to power all of its facilities on 100% renewable energy, according to the mayor. It's contigent upon the council approving this part of the budget, though. The city would purchase energy credits, and any customer in the BWL's service area can opt into the program, too. On average if a BWL residential customer opts in, it's only an extra $7.14 a month for 100% renewable energy.
Comments
Another interesting article in The City Pulse talking about a study that is being funded for a new performing arts center somewhere downtown. It noted there is one developer all ready to jump in on this. It also noted a couple of PAC's that have been built in other cities. I am hoping that this will be a high-class building like the ones pointed out in the article. Also that PAC's can become the core of nearby neighborhood development and civic pride, rather like our old Civic Center.
Just a rumor I've heard, so it remains to be confirmed, but I hear that the old school at Pleasant Grove and Holmes is going to be torn down for a small medical office building and some townhomes. Given how few historical commercial or institutional buildings there are in this neighborhood, I'd really hate to see them tear down something that could be renovated given how many other old school buildings in Lansing has been repurposed. But that's what I'm hearing. The old school was built in 1929, and was most recently a charter school, I think. Does anyone remember the name when it was a Lansing Public School? I can't seem to recall the name. Anyway, it's been owned by the land bank since 2014 with a few failed proposals for reuse along the way. Looks like they've found a developer if the rumor's true.
Interesting to see in any case how much redevelopment is taking place along Holmes west of Logan Square, though.
Yes, Pleasent Grove was a Lansing public elementary school k-6. A lot of kids I went to Dwight Rich JHS with came from Pleasent Grove. Students who lived in Church Hill Downs and that area went there. It was kind of the edge of town back than past Holmes down to Jolly the country began.
Returning to Lansing after 30 some years I found the changes to this area surprising and depressing. I believe that closing the neighborhood school was one of the things that took away the neighborhood's identity and pride. It is really great that the city and developers are going to rebuild this four corner area. It could be a nice village/neighborhood center and I can think of a couple more outlying neighborhoods that would benefit from the same sort of redevelopment if this one is successful.
I thought it was called Pleasant Grove Elementary, but was confused as most of the listings of it places it and confuse it with the Pleasant View Elementary (4501 Pleasant Grove Road) further down the road.
Apparently, Pleasant Grove is where Malcolm X attended elementary school. Here he is in third grade (back row, fifth from right) in the 1935-36 school year, which would only have been a few years after the school was built:
And his class photo from that year:
Kind of a shame if they tear this old building down. I hope what I heard if wrong; though if they are planning to build a medical office building it have to be handicap accessible, and most of these old schools aren't.
Speaking of Holmes, it looks like Bull'x Eye Axe Throwing, which occupies part of the old factory at Washington and Mt. Hope is moving down the street to Washington in Holmes. I believe this is the old multi-bay auto repair shop that was most recently home to Lansing Party Bus:
Bull's Eye Axe Throwing wants to go big, offer fowling, knife-throwing, disc golf at new home
They've already closed their 111 West Mt. Hope location, so this appears to be a done-deal. With the old EDS Building in line to be renovated and the site greened next door, Logan Square having been sold, and the development planned or taking place along West Holmes, it seems like development is finally moving down to the southside.
Great news, that building is really an eyesore right now. I think it is great fun and interesting to watch these buildings, one by one, businesses and developers are finding new uses for buildings that seemed beyond usefulness. The southside is were a huge percent of Lansing's population lives so it would seem to be a good place to reimagine and redevelop. Rebuilding the main streets that lead to South Lansing make them bike and pedestrain friendly beautifie the corridors with new lighting trees and landscaping, signage codes, help small business to remodel their storefronts and parking areas, South Lansing circle bus routes that allow riders to get around the area without going downtown. And one place that seems really a mess to me is the Cedar/Pennsylvaina Edgewood area. Reconfigure the streets there into a less confusing less landwasting less ugly grid plan of streets and highway acesses. Of course I know that I am just dreaming about that one.
I heard the end of a radio news program Sunday am in which a fellow from I assume to be from Urban Systems [I think that's the company name] talking about the developments they are planning for the Lake Side block and beyond. I only caught the end of it but he was talking about 300 units of housing being built in two stages rehabilitating the office building and including retail along S. Washinton Ave. There was a bit about "connectivity" connecting Downtown to REOtown and Cherry Hill. He spoke of the plan to turn many one way streets to two way. He said that this is a very good idea for creating a place where people have a good experience, two-way streets tame traffic and encourage people to stop and take a look if getting traffic out of the city center is the object [which it was]then one-way streets are best. The program was on WLNX 1180 AM[the best old lady station!:} I have not found a site to see if the program can be rebroadcast. The Urban Systems guy said there will be announcements soon.
Good news that GM is planning on building the model Cadillac here at the Grand River Plant. I was surprised to hear that it would be a passenger car, not an SUV or crossover. I guess that GM to still wants to build cars, so there still must be a market for this luxury level passenger car.
Sabatoa brought up last August that Tannin, a restaurant in Okemos, was moving to where Tabooli's was until recently on East Michigan Avenue at Shepard Street. I'd completely forgotten it until a few weeks ago when I saw some work going on inside the building and looked up the property on the assessment website. Lo and behold they pulled permits for an interior tear-out in late-November and an interior build-out/renovation in January. The permit for the later expires in September, so it should be ready before then. Rockwood Design out of East Lansing appears to be the project architect. In the city of Lansing, I'd say Rockwood's most notable work was Printer's Row in Cherry Hill, downtown.
Tannin bills themselves as a "contemporary Italian" restaurant, for what it's worth. Never been, but their Okemos location has always looked a bit upscale, particularly in relation to stuff you find along the avenue.
In my perfect scenario, they'd take out the drive through lane along Shepard and extend the building to the street. Then, they could either tear down a bit of the western part of the building for more parking, or simply have a larger restaurant. I've grew up around this area to see the problem with restaurants here, quite frankly, is the drive-thru function of the property. It's why there is only other one drive-thru on the avenue (save for the unique case of Stadium District). It's always tried fitting a suburban function in a semi-urban environment. I think a restaurant at this size would be wise to consider this in the future for the property, making it more of a walk-up kind of feel and market it to the surrounding neighborhoods. , because this isn't Saginaw or MLK with the volumes of traffic you need to drive a really successful drive-thru restaurants.
The city is set to power all of its facilities on 100% renewable energy, according to the mayor. It's contigent upon the council approving this part of the budget, though. The city would purchase energy credits, and any customer in the BWL's service area can opt into the program, too. On average if a BWL residential customer opts in, it's only an extra $7.14 a month for 100% renewable energy.