Counting the current parking spaces from Google Maps satellite view, it looks like there is currently 72 parking spaces so the relatively large surface lot will stay. It would have been nice to see the Gannon Ramp at LCC become more accessible to the surrounding businesses so they could share the ramp and design the new one to be more accessible for those uses.
It looks quite dynamic there is a lot going on for a small building. The buildings this will replace are unremarkable but relatively modern so I am happy to see this will be a teardown and building something new, not repurposing the old buildings. With the landscaping and rooftop parking! , it is going to be a very nice urban building. It is interesting that there are developments being built in all directions surrounding downtown, I hope we get to see something like this being built somewhere like the corner of Grand Ave and Kalamazoo someday soon.
I was reading where the Capitol View Apartments building is nearly finished, I really like the rehab. The rents are kind of high for Lansing, there must be a market at those rates, but one could pay a mortgage on a $200k house for $1,200 to$1,500 a month!
Yes, as I said, it appears the new building will extend from Saginaw north to where the first curb cut is on Washington (and then overhang the driveway). I assume, then, that everything else will be parking and landscaping. The "site" is actually six different parcels, but more simply it's the half of the block fronting Washington between Saginaw and Madison. What I really like, though, is the streetscaping along Washington and a redefining of the intersection.
I was at another board recently, and found out something that people have been noticing, lately. Apparently, apart from QD having sold their plastic molding operation, they've shut down/outsourced dairy, juice/cider, ice cream and wholesale grocery divisions? I'd like to be able to confirm this. It would make sense given how many people I've heard said their milk tastes different the past year or so, and not in a good way.
To shut down or outsource these key components of the business doesn't make sense to me if QD's strong suit has always been that it's a "hometown" convenience store. If they are just going to become another 7-11, what's the point, really? I know they've gone through presidents/CEOs like toilet paper the last few years. If anyone has any additional insight or anything, please feel free to add.
I have spoken to QD about the change in the flavor of the milk. They said that yes they closed the bottling plant on S Washington but did not say where they now bottle the milk, he just said it was Michigan milk. I go to QD for two reasons the MSUFCU ATM and the milk. The fellow said to try it again and let them know if the taste was still off. I am not going to try and convince QD that their milk tastes bad I think they should have someone who tastes the product for which their stores are named not me! My husband did buy some QD milk and served it to me without saying it was from QD and at the first sip, I could taste it was the new QD milk, blaa it is so bad I can not believe the QD had not noticed this change. The other day I went in there and all the milk was gone and the clerk said they had mixed the wrong formula and pulled all the milk that day. So I don't know much more than that, and I have given up on their milk, Koger's milk taste right so I buy milk there now.
Yeah, QD is a bit perplexing. On one hand, they are sprucing up some stores (like the one in Holt) and bringing their retail model up to date, but broadly their properties are really outdated (and dilapidated...), and don't seem to offer much more than any other convenience store. Some of their properties look so bad, inside and out, that I avoid using them!
Since they are local and have been in the game for quite a while, many of these stores sit on prime retail sites, so I guess this is why they've been able to hang on as long as they can. But once they get any serious competition, they fold, like the dumpy location on near Fresh Thyme on Trowbridge that is getting turned into a Biggbys. I hope they stay in business, but unless they start making some of the right decision that have been mentioned earlier in this thread, they're going to continue to erode.
They do need to clean up their stores and parking lots. I think the relay on the employees in each store to do these cleaning chores and no one ever checks to see if the work has been done. Some locations like Kalamazoo and Penn. Ave store the employees are so nice but the lots and sidewalks are always a dirty mess. Many places it is kind of a ritual each morning to totally scrub to sidewalks in front of the store with soap and hot water. Maybe QD could start that tradition here in Lansing. :}
Comments
I was reading where the Capitol View Apartments building is nearly finished, I really like the rehab. The rents are kind of high for Lansing, there must be a market at those rates, but one could pay a mortgage on a $200k house for $1,200 to$1,500 a month!
Not quite as polished as in the council agenda, but an improvement of the site nonetheless.
To shut down or outsource these key components of the business doesn't make sense to me if QD's strong suit has always been that it's a "hometown" convenience store. If they are just going to become another 7-11, what's the point, really? I know they've gone through presidents/CEOs like toilet paper the last few years. If anyone has any additional insight or anything, please feel free to add.
Since they are local and have been in the game for quite a while, many of these stores sit on prime retail sites, so I guess this is why they've been able to hang on as long as they can. But once they get any serious competition, they fold, like the dumpy location on near Fresh Thyme on Trowbridge that is getting turned into a Biggbys. I hope they stay in business, but unless they start making some of the right decision that have been mentioned earlier in this thread, they're going to continue to erode.