I've had family go only to find they were literally out of meat. It's been enough of a problem that they actually say on their website homepage that they close early if they run out of food! lol So I'm happy to hear they are taking over more space and hiring more employees. That will go a long way in making for a better expecience.
LANSING — The city is growing — in population and also vertically.
Tomatoes, greens, squash and more sprout in garden plots and small farms across Lansing.
More than 100 community gardens are tucked into vacant lots sitting in Lansing neighborhoods, their use coordinated by the Ingham County Land Bank, which owns them.
There were only nine such gardens in 1983 that were managed through the Garden Project, a Greater Lansing Food Bank program that's partnered with the land bank.
"(It's) growing every year," said Dilli Chapagai, 31, a liaison to immigrants and refugees through the Garden Project.
A really interesting one is Half Barn Farms. It's really noticeable, because it's near the foot of Clemens were it goes over the freeway, railroad tracks, and river, so you see it going or coming across the bridge. A lot of these farms seem to be seem to be on the Eastside between the freeway and Kalamazoo, which makes sense since it's the floodplain.
On next week's council agenda is the setting of a public hearing for the creation of two new Corridor Improvement Authorities (CIAs): one for North Grand River Avenue from basically the Larch Street viaduct all the way to Waverly, and one for South MLK from Victor to I-96. There are TIF districts, which allow for the capture of certain property taxes to reuse within the district for capital improvements (streetscaping and such). Lansing currently has them on East Michigan and West Saginaw.
The other big piece of news is the transfer in ownership of The Wing (735 Hazel). It doesn't look like a new developer, but that they created a different LLC for it. In order to receive the incentives already granted to the project by brownfield redevelopment authority, the state and the city, those entities will have to approve the transfer of those to the new LLC.
That is good news that there are things going on to get the Wing underway. I have been wondering about the Red Cedar project, has there been anything said about a starting date? They were saying late this summer, so here we are and no news. It would be so great to get that one started.
Looks like a BBQ new restaurant is going in at 427 E Oakland Ave, right at the Cedar/Oakland intersection. There was a "you buy we fry" place there for a couple years that closed last winter, and it had been sitting vacant save for a BBQ food truck for a while now.
I drive by that intersection every day for work and noticed that they'd been painting it and removing signage, but this is the first day I've seen the new sign. The place looks like it is going to be called 517 BBQ, but I can't find anything online about it so far.
Not that Lansing needs another BBQ joint but at least the space isn't going unused. I have always thought the one-ways made it detrimental to restaurants at this intersection, but that Rally's across the street seems to be surviving.
The turnover is weird considering that Rally's has been successful at that corner for years. Before the recent round of turnovers, the southeast corner had been an Arby's for many years and the northwest an A&W for many years. Having grown up near that area, I chalk it up to changing tastes more than anything else.
The southeast corner had been a well-kept dispensary for awhile. I'd noticed it looked empty recently, and the City Pulse did a little "eyesore" piece on it a few weeks ago saying that it'd been closed since last fall! I'd have never guessed. The owner said he still wants to reopen it, but that's dependent upon whether he's able to get a state license, which is why it was shut down. It was such a shame, because it was one of the better ran and more professional ones from my understanding.
Speaking of another building I drive by every day, it looks like 415 E Saginaw St, the location where Bonnie's Place used to be, is having some work done on it. At first I thought maybe someone was opening something there too, but I pulled it up on the assessors website and it looks like they are doing some upgrades to make the place more palatable for potential lessors.
Now THIS is a weird intersection if I ever saw one. I can't say I'm too surprised that this hasn't gotten leased yet. It's ugly too, basically a mini-frandor where everything is paved over with chaotic traffic patterns. Now obviously I hope someone leases it so it is one less empty building, but the area isn't exactly the most welcoming looking.
LANSING — Twenty years after its founding, the Allen Neighborhood Center is planning a major rebuild.
A $10 million project — called Allen Place — will include 29 units of mixed-income housing, as well as commercial space at the center's current site at 1611 E. Kalamazoo St. in Lansing.
Really cool! I didn't see an ETA in the article, but I hope they move sooner rather than later on this one. It looks like they are keeping the old facade and just repainting it per the image in the article.
I'd written about the project sometime last year, I think, fromt the city council agendas. It's good to see that they look like they are starting it. I do hope they keep the facade as is, there is nothing wrong with it. The rendering is low-quality, though, so you can't really tell what they are doing to it:
The 36,000-square-foot redevelopment project will include 15,000 square feet of commercial space as well as 20,000 square feet of residential.
The income levels will be a mix, which is good:
The "age-friendly" project will include 29 apartment units. The units will be mixed-income, and Nelson said she expects a mix of people to take up space in the new development. She said she already has an informal waiting list of people in the area who have expressed interest in living there.
BTW, the article does say they will begin the project his fall, and wrap up by the end of next year.
The intersection Saginaw/Cedar and Saginaw/Larch is horrible, and there can't be better development and development patters around there until the state gives the roads over to the city, or at least they agree upon something. Apart from the public entities, QD is just generally a horrible property owner. Their entire property is too large; the parking lot behind the store is only ever used for event parking and isn't kept up. The only part of the property landscaped is that ridiculous little corner at Saginaw and Cedar. The tiny sidewalk along Cedar literally feels like you're walking in the street.
Comments
I've had family go only to find they were literally out of meat. It's been enough of a problem that they actually say on their website homepage that they close early if they run out of food! lol So I'm happy to hear they are taking over more space and hiring more employees. That will go a long way in making for a better expecience.
Neat article on all of the urban gardens that have sprouted up in Lansing in the past decade or so:
Got dirt? Grow food cheap. How urban farms and gardens thrive in Lansing
A really interesting one is Half Barn Farms. It's really noticeable, because it's near the foot of Clemens were it goes over the freeway, railroad tracks, and river, so you see it going or coming across the bridge. A lot of these farms seem to be seem to be on the Eastside between the freeway and Kalamazoo, which makes sense since it's the floodplain.
On next week's council agenda is the setting of a public hearing for the creation of two new Corridor Improvement Authorities (CIAs): one for North Grand River Avenue from basically the Larch Street viaduct all the way to Waverly, and one for South MLK from Victor to I-96. There are TIF districts, which allow for the capture of certain property taxes to reuse within the district for capital improvements (streetscaping and such). Lansing currently has them on East Michigan and West Saginaw.
The other big piece of news is the transfer in ownership of The Wing (735 Hazel). It doesn't look like a new developer, but that they created a different LLC for it. In order to receive the incentives already granted to the project by brownfield redevelopment authority, the state and the city, those entities will have to approve the transfer of those to the new LLC.
That is good news that there are things going on to get the Wing underway. I have been wondering about the Red Cedar project, has there been anything said about a starting date? They were saying late this summer, so here we are and no news. It would be so great to get that one started.
We're just over a month into summer; summer doesn't end until the last half of September. We've got a bit more time before we have to hear something.
Looks like a BBQ new restaurant is going in at 427 E Oakland Ave, right at the Cedar/Oakland intersection. There was a "you buy we fry" place there for a couple years that closed last winter, and it had been sitting vacant save for a BBQ food truck for a while now.
I drive by that intersection every day for work and noticed that they'd been painting it and removing signage, but this is the first day I've seen the new sign. The place looks like it is going to be called 517 BBQ, but I can't find anything online about it so far.
Not that Lansing needs another BBQ joint but at least the space isn't going unused. I have always thought the one-ways made it detrimental to restaurants at this intersection, but that Rally's across the street seems to be surviving.
The turnover is weird considering that Rally's has been successful at that corner for years. Before the recent round of turnovers, the southeast corner had been an Arby's for many years and the northwest an A&W for many years. Having grown up near that area, I chalk it up to changing tastes more than anything else.
The southeast corner had been a well-kept dispensary for awhile. I'd noticed it looked empty recently, and the City Pulse did a little "eyesore" piece on it a few weeks ago saying that it'd been closed since last fall! I'd have never guessed. The owner said he still wants to reopen it, but that's dependent upon whether he's able to get a state license, which is why it was shut down. It was such a shame, because it was one of the better ran and more professional ones from my understanding.
Speaking of another building I drive by every day, it looks like 415 E Saginaw St, the location where Bonnie's Place used to be, is having some work done on it. At first I thought maybe someone was opening something there too, but I pulled it up on the assessors website and it looks like they are doing some upgrades to make the place more palatable for potential lessors.
Now THIS is a weird intersection if I ever saw one. I can't say I'm too surprised that this hasn't gotten leased yet. It's ugly too, basically a mini-frandor where everything is paved over with chaotic traffic patterns. Now obviously I hope someone leases it so it is one less empty building, but the area isn't exactly the most welcoming looking.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2019/08/06/allen-neighborhood-center-residential-kalamazoo-street-egle-grants/1889663001/
Really cool! I didn't see an ETA in the article, but I hope they move sooner rather than later on this one. It looks like they are keeping the old facade and just repainting it per the image in the article.
I'd written about the project sometime last year, I think, fromt the city council agendas. It's good to see that they look like they are starting it. I do hope they keep the facade as is, there is nothing wrong with it. The rendering is low-quality, though, so you can't really tell what they are doing to it:
The income levels will be a mix, which is good:
BTW, the article does say they will begin the project his fall, and wrap up by the end of next year.
The intersection Saginaw/Cedar and Saginaw/Larch is horrible, and there can't be better development and development patters around there until the state gives the roads over to the city, or at least they agree upon something. Apart from the public entities, QD is just generally a horrible property owner. Their entire property is too large; the parking lot behind the store is only ever used for event parking and isn't kept up. The only part of the property landscaped is that ridiculous little corner at Saginaw and Cedar. The tiny sidewalk along Cedar literally feels like you're walking in the street.