I rode my bike by the new Rotary Park area on the River Trail downtown, it is coming along nicely. I saw a big pile of sand for the beach, the fireplace looks really good, the colorful canopies were in place and the lights for the illuminated "forest" are strung through the trees, lights and other stage fixtures were being installed under the bridge. Now it will be up to the city to take care of this park and create a reason to be there. I see the fireplace out in EL and it looks like it is never used. I am hoping there be regularly scheduled personal to make and keep the fireplace going a lot of the time. If people knew they could go down and sit by the fire any time I could see lots of people gathering there if a fire is just an occasional thing then, I think people will not consider going there. We are also going to need a few more trees to call it a forest. All of this is great and I am hoping for the park to be a great success!
I am so happy about this. This is going to be great for the neighborhood and community as a whole. Couple this with Catholic Central's new stadium, and you've got quite the community assets in the middle of the Eastside. It's something Lansing can be proud of.
Not anything new in the council agenda next week, just existing things making it through the process. The old Cooley-Haze House's rezoning along Malcom X to allow it's use as a home for the owner and historic restoration/preservation store and workhouse is up for passage, as is the rezoning of the land along South Waverly and West Jolly to E-2 Local Shopping District. This zoning district allows for things like convenience stores, bars, gas stations, offices etc., but, again, was mainly chosen by the planning commission because it doesn't allow dispensaries, even by special use. The only other thing up is the establishment of an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act District for part of the Motor Wheels site to help facilitate its interior finishing.
Then there are public hearings be set for South MLK and North Grand River corridor improvement authorities (Sep. 23), which would help in the sprucing up of these commercial corridors, and then lastly a setting of a public hearing for the Farnum Building brownfiled plan (Aug 26).
Oh, and to check up on projects already under construction, here's an update:
It's some upstairs apartments at 1208 Turner. As the agenda says, it looks like the renovation was completed in 2012. Old Town was originally called "Lower Town" way back when the city began because it was downriver of Upper Town, which is what REO Town was called at the time.
I was at a neighborhood meeting for Cherry Hill this week and there's a developer proposing to build a 52 unit apartment building at the NE corner of Cherry St & St. Joe. The building is slated to be "mixed income," with 20% market rate and 80% income controlled at different levels. The neighborhoods reception was neutral to negative, many didn't like the "low income" aspect of it. My concern was mainly with the architecture, I'm happy with the materials but I'd like to see more variation in the facade and roof line. They're talking about a groundbreaking in about a year at the most optimistic.
Still waiting for a kick ass urban condo development in Old Town or another walkable neighborhood for people that want something higher end but also want to live smack dab in a cool neighborhood.
Of course they'd be negative to the "low-income" aspect. rolls eyes at 'neighbors' Every time housing comes up for people at the lower end of things anywhere in the city, the NIMBYs swarm. Hell, some of the NIMBYs are on the city council, which is a shame.
My only problem with it is the developer tearing down so many old/historic houses, though maybe none of these are technically in the historic district, because that would make them much harder to tear down and I can't see the developer starting something he knew he'd have to fight for. I guess you can only build on what you own, but there are actually quite a few vacant locations in and around the neighborhood.
I agree about the materials; they seem to be decent materials, and the whole thing would fit in nicely with Printers Row up the hill. The other good thing? It seems that these will not need a rezoning because the whole area is zoned for the highest-level of residential density, so the council can't stop this unless the developer is seeking something else from them like a special use or incentives.
They said they only approval they'd need from the city would be for a site plan. They're going for a competitive MSHDA loan (hence the mixed income), they said that the project in it's current form is contingent on that financing.
I'm torn on seeing the houses go, none of them are too special but they would be nice if really fixed up. 613 Cherry in particular may be worth saving as it's probably the most interesting house and not entirely in the way of the proposed development.
I'm sort of hoping they can save 613 Cherry and I do wish this was condos or market rate apartments but that would make the financing much more difficult. If they build a quality building they'll likely have my support.
Yeah, doing a streetview tour, it does seem that the homes aren't particularly spectacular or anything. Most of the ones on St. Joseph look like your dime-a-dozen four squares, and there aren't any bricks or stone homes being torn down. The only one that really interests me is 309 St. Joseph. It appears to be the largest of all the homes, and the most and best taken care of of the bunch. City records shows it is/was being used as an apartment building.
That said, since I found out all of these lie outside the boundaries of the historic district, I'm not too mad. I do like that density is continuing to increase in the neighborhood, which was the point of zoning it so high to begin with.
What I really want to see for the neighborhood is infill on Grand Avenue on the 500 block, and of course development on the 400 block. The block north of Lenawee is currently zoned as the downtown district, and the block south of Lenawee is a mix of commercial and professional office zoning. It appears the Eydes own the surface lot on the 500 block, and the city owns the first parking lot on the 400 block with the Bojis owning the old Davenport property.
I wonder if the Lansing Housing Commission a block to the east even plans to move, again?
Comments
I rode my bike by the new Rotary Park area on the River Trail downtown, it is coming along nicely. I saw a big pile of sand for the beach, the fireplace looks really good, the colorful canopies were in place and the lights for the illuminated "forest" are strung through the trees, lights and other stage fixtures were being installed under the bridge. Now it will be up to the city to take care of this park and create a reason to be there. I see the fireplace out in EL and it looks like it is never used. I am hoping there be regularly scheduled personal to make and keep the fireplace going a lot of the time. If people knew they could go down and sit by the fire any time I could see lots of people gathering there if a fire is just an occasional thing then, I think people will not consider going there. We are also going to need a few more trees to call it a forest. All of this is great and I am hoping for the park to be a great success!
The LSJ gave a sneak-peek at the Eastern's new stadium:
I am so happy about this. This is going to be great for the neighborhood and community as a whole. Couple this with Catholic Central's new stadium, and you've got quite the community assets in the middle of the Eastside. It's something Lansing can be proud of.
Not anything new in the council agenda next week, just existing things making it through the process. The old Cooley-Haze House's rezoning along Malcom X to allow it's use as a home for the owner and historic restoration/preservation store and workhouse is up for passage, as is the rezoning of the land along South Waverly and West Jolly to E-2 Local Shopping District. This zoning district allows for things like convenience stores, bars, gas stations, offices etc., but, again, was mainly chosen by the planning commission because it doesn't allow dispensaries, even by special use. The only other thing up is the establishment of an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act District for part of the Motor Wheels site to help facilitate its interior finishing.
Then there are public hearings be set for South MLK and North Grand River corridor improvement authorities (Sep. 23), which would help in the sprucing up of these commercial corridors, and then lastly a setting of a public hearing for the Farnum Building brownfiled plan (Aug 26).
Oh, and to check up on projects already under construction, here's an update:
https://lansingmi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08022019-2719
I was wondering which project is called the "Lower Town Lofts"?
It's some upstairs apartments at 1208 Turner. As the agenda says, it looks like the renovation was completed in 2012. Old Town was originally called "Lower Town" way back when the city began because it was downriver of Upper Town, which is what REO Town was called at the time.
Still waiting for a kick ass urban condo development in Old Town or another walkable neighborhood for people that want something higher end but also want to live smack dab in a cool neighborhood.
Of course they'd be negative to the "low-income" aspect. rolls eyes at 'neighbors' Every time housing comes up for people at the lower end of things anywhere in the city, the NIMBYs swarm. Hell, some of the NIMBYs are on the city council, which is a shame.
My only problem with it is the developer tearing down so many old/historic houses, though maybe none of these are technically in the historic district, because that would make them much harder to tear down and I can't see the developer starting something he knew he'd have to fight for. I guess you can only build on what you own, but there are actually quite a few vacant locations in and around the neighborhood.
I agree about the materials; they seem to be decent materials, and the whole thing would fit in nicely with Printers Row up the hill. The other good thing? It seems that these will not need a rezoning because the whole area is zoned for the highest-level of residential density, so the council can't stop this unless the developer is seeking something else from them like a special use or incentives.
https://lansingmi.gov/DocumentCenter/View/439/Cherry-Hill-Historic-District-Study-Committee-Final-Report-PDF
Looks like this lies JUST outside of the Cherry Hill Historic District.
I'm torn on seeing the houses go, none of them are too special but they would be nice if really fixed up. 613 Cherry in particular may be worth saving as it's probably the most interesting house and not entirely in the way of the proposed development.
I'm sort of hoping they can save 613 Cherry and I do wish this was condos or market rate apartments but that would make the financing much more difficult. If they build a quality building they'll likely have my support.
Yeah, doing a streetview tour, it does seem that the homes aren't particularly spectacular or anything. Most of the ones on St. Joseph look like your dime-a-dozen four squares, and there aren't any bricks or stone homes being torn down. The only one that really interests me is 309 St. Joseph. It appears to be the largest of all the homes, and the most and best taken care of of the bunch. City records shows it is/was being used as an apartment building.
That said, since I found out all of these lie outside the boundaries of the historic district, I'm not too mad. I do like that density is continuing to increase in the neighborhood, which was the point of zoning it so high to begin with.
What I really want to see for the neighborhood is infill on Grand Avenue on the 500 block, and of course development on the 400 block. The block north of Lenawee is currently zoned as the downtown district, and the block south of Lenawee is a mix of commercial and professional office zoning. It appears the Eydes own the surface lot on the 500 block, and the city owns the first parking lot on the 400 block with the Bojis owning the old Davenport property.
I wonder if the Lansing Housing Commission a block to the east even plans to move, again?