Interesting little renovation in the stadium district. Across from Holy Cross/VOA shelter, the old warehouse that has most recently housed Ellis Cleaning (and before that Inline Design) is being refurbished. I was suprised to find that there was an old, solid-brick warehouse below the facade; I'd always figured it was just an old wood-framed and/or concrete-block building. Looking up the old property, it appears it's going to be a grow facility, and apparently a very nice one at that. lol
@MichMatters I made it by there today and I'm surprised at what it looks like underneath there as well, I'll never understand why someone paid thousands of dollars to put ugly, relatively high-maintenance wood paneling over attractive and low maintenance brick. Regardless of the use, I'm always happy to see life breathed into an attractive old building.
There is an article about the plans for the City Market building on the LSJ.com, there has been a refinement of the renovation that has moved the shuffle boards courts from a second level to an indoor outdoor patio on the riverfront side and the whole interior will be a food and bar court. They also plan an outdoor shuffle board court on the north side overlooking the beach area. I guess it does sound better to have the activity areas on the riverfront which will animate the building with people playing shuffle board [?]. A lot of folks play these "cornhole"[that used to mean something quite different when I was a kid!:}] and "beer pong" games and even this new one where all the kids do is bounce a dice off the old beer pong table and score that somehow. If people find those games entertaining I think they will like drinking and playing a slightly more sophisticated game. The depictions are not real inspiring. Please make it less warehouse pole barn.
I'm not really sure about this plan with the City Market building but I am glad they didn't sell it off yet. In my mind, if the Lansing Center stays where it is then the City Market site would be best suited to a hotel, hopefully a proper high-rise. I'd like to see the city hold onto the property and continue to lease until they're very confident they can get some favorable responses in an RFP scenario, I certainly don't want to see another building of the scale/quality of Marketplace there.
It all seems like kind of weird to me that this city owned building is going to be the site of a private enterprise, granted they will be paying rent and bringing people downtown, I would have rather seen the pole barn removed, it never was and may never be a pleasant place to be or look at, so why hang on to this mistake? It would make a perfect site for a hotel/apartment mid sized tower. I would like to see a public facility maybe like a year round ice rink, or a greenhouse/winter garden, something like that built on the parkland there and not put that space back into private hands.
Yeah, the whole situation with kicking out the successful restaurant that had been there for years for this somewhat odd proposal is a bit of a head scratcher. I'd guess there's something going on behind the scenes, maybe or maybe not nefarious, that lead to a giant shuffle board bar in the former city market pole barn. I just hope the city still tries to establish a new city market, they just have to do it right.
I like the idea of a winter garden, I've always loved those sorts of things. For over 20 years a student group has been trying to build a sort of winter garden, a 150' diameter biodome near Farm & Shaw. I just checked back on their page for the first time in years and they're still at it trying to get it built.
It wasn't really anything behind the scenes; it was right out in the open. They had a fight over back-rent and healthcode violations; it played out publicly in the courts and Waterfront lost. And there were plans between that fight and the shuffleboard project, so it's not as if one was kicked out for the other.
The problem just seems to be that LEPFA just isn't a very savy/professional outfit; they just don't have the manpower or there skill to actually manage businesses; just kind of small-town incompetence. I give the shuffleboard thing a year or two tops, to be honest.
I am sorry to say you may be right about that. Why the city has to a fit a business into that building is what bugs me, just get over that it was a mistake in the first place and tear it down. This is another example of Lansing trying to do something, but doing it half-assed wasting money doing so. I think the city is giving something like 3/4 million to get this private business started and that business is going to try to do something they have never tried. The LSJ story said the developer had fun one day playing shuffle board and that is where he got the idea. I think we can do better with this site and Lansing never needed a barn in the middle of downtown.
@MichMatters I didn't remember all that, it makes more sense now. I tend to agree on the timeline for the shuffleboard place, unless they do something really unique there I don't see how they survive. I could possibly see it working if they had diverse enough activities, maybe add in a nice arcade, axe throwing, all of that kind of stuff.
Their concept in Detroit seems to work, but they just have a lot more people and money to work with in a big city. Detroit Shipping Company is a competent business model, I'm just not sure it fits with Lansing.
What I do think some people are misunderstanding is that the shuffleboard is kind of the sideshow. Detroit Shipping Company is primarily a food hall kind of concept with the entertainment being whatever they think will work in the area. My belief is that pretty much nothing is going to work at the city market site until they take down that barn. There's just nothing redeeming about the building no matter how much lipstick they try to put on that pig.
Comments
I like the idea of a winter garden, I've always loved those sorts of things. For over 20 years a student group has been trying to build a sort of winter garden, a 150' diameter biodome near Farm & Shaw. I just checked back on their page for the first time in years and they're still at it trying to get it built.
Student Greenhouse Project website: http://sgp.msu.edu/home/index.php
The problem just seems to be that LEPFA just isn't a very savy/professional outfit; they just don't have the manpower or there skill to actually manage businesses; just kind of small-town incompetence. I give the shuffleboard thing a year or two tops, to be honest.
What I do think some people are misunderstanding is that the shuffleboard is kind of the sideshow. Detroit Shipping Company is primarily a food hall kind of concept with the entertainment being whatever they think will work in the area. My belief is that pretty much nothing is going to work at the city market site until they take down that barn. There's just nothing redeeming about the building no matter how much lipstick they try to put on that pig.