The Cherry Hill plan looks OK, with a bit of imagination I wonder if they could use the houses there that all must be over 100 years old, as part of the new buildings. Out east they would take a little house and strip it down the bare walls and incorporate the old facade into a much larger building, developers did this because the homes were in a historic district and this would preserve the residential look of the street but get around the "you can't tear down a historical building rules". I see that this outside the district but it would be nice if they could keep the neighborhood looking like an old neighborhood while increasing the density of people living there. I know that this will not happen as we tear down first and ask questions later around here! It is also true that there many open lots and surface parking lots down there that would be easy to build on. I would be nice to see those areas developed before they start tearing down more houses in that area.
A country development, but Love's Travel Stop & Country Stores is building an $8 million truck stop where I-69 and I-96 meet at Grand River literally in between all of the ramps.
WATERTOWN TWP. - Not far from Pilot Flying J Travel Center in Watertown Township, construction has begun on a new truck stop at the northwest corner of the intersection of Francis Road and West Grand River Highway.
Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores - originally founded in Oklahoma City - has purchasedthe nearly 21-acre parcel for $2 million and began work near where Interstates 96 and 69 meet.
The business will include a 9,000 square foot store with 103 truck and 82 car parking spots, Love's spokesperson Caitlin Campbell said in an email.
The truck stop is expected to open in January 2020, although the project's timetable is "weather dependent," she said.
The truck stop will have 185 total parking spots, as compared to the Pilot Flying J just west on Grand River that has 145 public spaces total.
The new Love's Travel Stop will contain two major buildings.
One building will house the Love's Country Store & Travel Stop, eight showers and a laundromat along with Subway and Hardee's stores that will each have separate entrances. The other building will contain the Love's Tire Care Center.
The tire shop will be approximately 10,000 square feet.
I almost can't imagine the size given the site. It's going to be located specifically between the westbound on-ramp to I-96, and the eastbound on-ramp on Francis Road, since this isn't a full interchange. Anyway, this up past the airport in Watertown Township.
An end of an era in my old neighborhood: Roma Bakery is closing next month after 50 years in business. They say that someone will buy the building but not the business. The Gillespie Group has practically bought up every property in the area, so I wouldn't be surprised if they are assembling land, here. The Eydes also own about half the block. So far, the city property website isn't showing any sale, so I guess we'll have to wait and see who buys it.
I'll miss this place. We used to go here are children and get all of what we saw as super-fancy baked goods. My family still goes there when they are making Italian food as they have a lot of authentic Italian ingredients it's really difficult to find at the big grocers. The couple who currently owns it are in their 70's, and Mena is just tired of running the place. Our family knew one of their sons in passing, and of course this younger generation doesn't want the work of having to run a bakery.
I am very sorry to hear about Roma, to me it really was like going to a shop in the North End of Boston. We get a couple of slices of "Grand Ma" pizza a week over there and often go on Wednesday for two for one bread-day. Is there any place else like this in Lansing? I chef-ed in a very busy deli-bakery in Mass. for many years and it is hard work to keep the shelves full of fresh food every day. I am glad I did not have to do it for 50 years!
Darklink mentioned that someone was renovating the old Bonnie's Plan bar at the northwest corner of Cedar and Saginaw. Looks like new windows went in the other day.
Really, it just needs to come down and them building something more substantial, there. It's crazy that anything at this intersection is as small as that building and/or is single-use. The lot is literally a bit over half-an-acre in size, and the total square foot of the building is a measly...2,136 square feet; and that is the TOTAL square foot of both the first floor and basement. That is a gross underuse of this site.
At the same time, the floor zone of the Grand River extends just east past the intersection (though it misses the Quality Dairy store since it's elevated), so maybe it's not smart to build anything substantial here, at all. This is the furthest east along the downtown portion of the river that a 100 year flood would inundate.
Looking at the agenda for the Planning & Development Committee for next week and the minutes from their last meeting we learn that...
They recommeded approval for the rezoning of the land annexed into the city at the northwest corner of Waverly and Jolly, and it'll be for local convience stores. The city council approved the rezoning at their meeting.
They recommended approval for the rezoning of the Cooley Haze House to allow for its use as a salvage store and demonstration renovation center for historic preservationists. The city council also approved this one.
They recommended approval for the OPRA district for the remaining part of the Motor Wheels site to aid in its redevelopment. City council approved this one.
Contrary to what I said the other week, apparently The Wing down on Hazel was sold and no one seems to know who it was sold, too.
Now, the agenda up for next week is...
The the recommedation of approval or denial of the rezoning of the old Genesee School in the Genesee neighborhood to turn it into 36 apartments and a special permit to reuse the gym as a community space. This is up for the full council next week, too.
Mostly, just house-keeping of projects that have been making it through the process. I'm always bewildered how many times these items have to bounce back between committees and boards before they get to a full vote of the council. lol
Someone has been fixing up two old buildings at 909 and 913 West Saginaw, recently. They are both owned by a guy in Laingsburg. I don't see any projects listed for these historic buildings, but he'd been painting them and fixing windows and such. I've been waiting forever for someone to fix this area up.
909 is a one-story building built in 1947, and was a storefront church for a time not that many years ago. 913 is a two-story building with arched windows built in 1929; it was very clearly built as an old bank building. It appears according to city records that the new owner purchased the property back nearly a year ago.
The area is part of the recently formed Saginaw Street Corridor Improvement Authority (the SSCIA) and the Saginaw Oakland Commercial Association (SOCA). The SSCIA, which stretches from Pennsylvania in the east to Stanely in the west, has a taxable value of $9 million. The authority is currently coming up with a TIF plan and looking into transit-oriented development (TOD) along the corridor. They took this over from SOCA, the commercial neighborhood association, and they have more formal power to do this because of legislation passed last year for corridor improvement authorities (http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(hgvx1mjogzqzkkgpwaly0rju))/mileg.aspx?page=shortlinkdisplay&docname=mcl-57-2018-6).
It's weird, when I was younger, my family used to get furniture from Park's Furniture. I've been baffled for years how one of the few occupied spaces along that stretch of road looks nearly abandoned from the street, and how they were allowed to get away with that.
I'm really excited that the SSCIA is looking into transit-oriented development. That by itself means they are thinking big about this stretch of road. However, it will be imperative for MDOT to be super-responsive. It took way too long for them to allow for the city to put in the buffered bike lane along the street. They will also be developing plans for traffic-calming measures and streetscape improvements. Years ago, now, there was serious talk when they were planning the bike lane to change Saginaw back to two-way, but it required more planning than the spearheaders of the initiative were willing to do, and MDOT was an obstacle.
I wonder what this will be? I was always convinced he'd tear down this non-descript old building. Kind of glad to see him repurpose even the less spectacular stuff, though, I'd like to see him develop on all of the empty lots. Anyway, good seeing this in my old neighborhood:
Comments
The Cherry Hill plan looks OK, with a bit of imagination I wonder if they could use the houses there that all must be over 100 years old, as part of the new buildings. Out east they would take a little house and strip it down the bare walls and incorporate the old facade into a much larger building, developers did this because the homes were in a historic district and this would preserve the residential look of the street but get around the "you can't tear down a historical building rules". I see that this outside the district but it would be nice if they could keep the neighborhood looking like an old neighborhood while increasing the density of people living there. I know that this will not happen as we tear down first and ask questions later around here! It is also true that there many open lots and surface parking lots down there that would be easy to build on. I would be nice to see those areas developed before they start tearing down more houses in that area.
A country development, but Love's Travel Stop & Country Stores is building an $8 million truck stop where I-69 and I-96 meet at Grand River literally in between all of the ramps.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2019/08/13/loves-truck-stop-development-lansing-clinton-county-michigan/1942600001/
I almost can't imagine the size given the site. It's going to be located specifically between the westbound on-ramp to I-96, and the eastbound on-ramp on Francis Road, since this isn't a full interchange. Anyway, this up past the airport in Watertown Township.
An end of an era in my old neighborhood: Roma Bakery is closing next month after 50 years in business. They say that someone will buy the building but not the business. The Gillespie Group has practically bought up every property in the area, so I wouldn't be surprised if they are assembling land, here. The Eydes also own about half the block. So far, the city property website isn't showing any sale, so I guess we'll have to wait and see who buys it.
I'll miss this place. We used to go here are children and get all of what we saw as super-fancy baked goods. My family still goes there when they are making Italian food as they have a lot of authentic Italian ingredients it's really difficult to find at the big grocers. The couple who currently owns it are in their 70's, and Mena is just tired of running the place. Our family knew one of their sons in passing, and of course this younger generation doesn't want the work of having to run a bakery.
I am very sorry to hear about Roma, to me it really was like going to a shop in the North End of Boston. We get a couple of slices of "Grand Ma" pizza a week over there and often go on Wednesday for two for one bread-day. Is there any place else like this in Lansing? I chef-ed in a very busy deli-bakery in Mass. for many years and it is hard work to keep the shelves full of fresh food every day. I am glad I did not have to do it for 50 years!
Darklink mentioned that someone was renovating the old Bonnie's Plan bar at the northwest corner of Cedar and Saginaw. Looks like new windows went in the other day.
Really, it just needs to come down and them building something more substantial, there. It's crazy that anything at this intersection is as small as that building and/or is single-use. The lot is literally a bit over half-an-acre in size, and the total square foot of the building is a measly...2,136 square feet; and that is the TOTAL square foot of both the first floor and basement. That is a gross underuse of this site.
At the same time, the floor zone of the Grand River extends just east past the intersection (though it misses the Quality Dairy store since it's elevated), so maybe it's not smart to build anything substantial here, at all. This is the furthest east along the downtown portion of the river that a 100 year flood would inundate.
Looking at the agenda for the Planning & Development Committee for next week and the minutes from their last meeting we learn that...
Now, the agenda up for next week is...
Mostly, just house-keeping of projects that have been making it through the process. I'm always bewildered how many times these items have to bounce back between committees and boards before they get to a full vote of the council. lol
Someone has been fixing up two old buildings at 909 and 913 West Saginaw, recently. They are both owned by a guy in Laingsburg. I don't see any projects listed for these historic buildings, but he'd been painting them and fixing windows and such. I've been waiting forever for someone to fix this area up.
909 is a one-story building built in 1947, and was a storefront church for a time not that many years ago. 913 is a two-story building with arched windows built in 1929; it was very clearly built as an old bank building. It appears according to city records that the new owner purchased the property back nearly a year ago.
The area is part of the recently formed Saginaw Street Corridor Improvement Authority (the SSCIA) and the Saginaw Oakland Commercial Association (SOCA). The SSCIA, which stretches from Pennsylvania in the east to Stanely in the west, has a taxable value of $9 million. The authority is currently coming up with a TIF plan and looking into transit-oriented development (TOD) along the corridor. They took this over from SOCA, the commercial neighborhood association, and they have more formal power to do this because of legislation passed last year for corridor improvement authorities (http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(hgvx1mjogzqzkkgpwaly0rju))/mileg.aspx?page=shortlinkdisplay&docname=mcl-57-2018-6).
Nice to see that happen, I'd love that area to become a viable business district again
It's weird, when I was younger, my family used to get furniture from Park's Furniture. I've been baffled for years how one of the few occupied spaces along that stretch of road looks nearly abandoned from the street, and how they were allowed to get away with that.
I'm really excited that the SSCIA is looking into transit-oriented development. That by itself means they are thinking big about this stretch of road. However, it will be imperative for MDOT to be super-responsive. It took way too long for them to allow for the city to put in the buffered bike lane along the street. They will also be developing plans for traffic-calming measures and streetscape improvements. Years ago, now, there was serious talk when they were planning the bike lane to change Saginaw back to two-way, but it required more planning than the spearheaders of the initiative were willing to do, and MDOT was an obstacle.
I wonder what this will be? I was always convinced he'd tear down this non-descript old building. Kind of glad to see him repurpose even the less spectacular stuff, though, I'd like to see him develop on all of the empty lots. Anyway, good seeing this in my old neighborhood: