I'm very much hoping to see that property redeveloped, I'd be happy to see something similar to what was originally proposed.
City Council denied the sale of the Grand & Lenawee lot to Boji. One thing I was not aware of was that these apartments are also to be managed by the housing commission. With that information I'm with the councilmembers denying this plan, the LHC is horribly mismanaged and for them to control an entire block of apartments downtown, with the potential for a third building across Cherry St, is sure to be a net negative. I had been hopping that the Riverview 220 would ultimately be managed by someone other than LHC but it's sounding as if it will be under their direct control.
On the other hand, they passed the Ovation brownfield so we should be getting a decent version of this.
Lots of new the past week or so of the Granger's old Walter Neller Building at Allegan and Grand facing the wrecking ball, again. The Grangers are mad the city didn't take their city hall proposal and wrote some ridiculous letter to the city. And the city has put the them back through a make-safe-or-demolish process again. The depressing thing is that nothing else is planned. Media make conjecture that it will end up a grass lot, but I can't imagine the Grangers not wanting to expand their parking lot next door. This is all so sad and depressing.
I actually went to school with Gary Granger, I don't remember that he was a jerk then but it seems like he has grown up to be one. Of course, the $40 million pecked his interest, while he let his downtown properties to fall into the worst disrepair of any downtown, and his parking lot sits on one of the most visible corners downtown. One question they could ask is why this has been going on for decades.
The issue with (big) Lansing developers is that almost none of them live and/or spend time in the urban core - or even in Lansing-East Lansing - and this results in them having a complete lack of an imagination or vision. So the ONLY thing they can imagine is development where the city, county or state is the major tenant. The Granger, the Bojis, the Eydes...just a utter lack of vision for anything that doesn't involve leeching off the public sector.
I think Gentilozzi may be the first big step in changing this, and as critical as I am of their developments, the Gillespies were the forerunners of this new movement. But the rest of them are net negatives on downtown. If you can't figure out after decades how develop some of the most prime downtown locations in an area of half-a-million residents, you weren't ever really trying and you don't have any place in demanding anything from anyone. If an out-of-state developer owned the Walter Neller Building and adjacent surface parking lot, it'd have been redeveloped at least a decade ago.
The Granger debacle is an absolute joke. Their proposal for city hall is unexciting, but not offensive itself. The fact that they'd ask for an exclusive agreement to develop the old city hall and the Lansing Center (!?) is dumbfounding. Why is the Lansing Center even being brought up? Is the city trying to offload it behind the scenes? I hope not.
I think the statements about the Walter Neller building being a grass field implies the city won't allow a surface parking lot there. I imagine surface lots aren't allowed by-right in that zoning?
Yes, parking is a "special use" in all commercial-mixed use differences under the current code. Ironically, the city years ago basically talked them down from demolishing the building by basically telling them that they couldn't turn it into parking (how legal that threat was at the time, I have no idea). My concern is, of course, that the opposition wouldn't necessarily hold. And in any case, I'm just depressed and mad that we're going to have yet another empty lots on the west side of Grand Avenue whatever else happens, because the Grangers will not build on this land or sell it.
Did I scare @citykid away? I wanted to ask him if he could sum up what they did with the sign ordinance? I'm looking at the packet for the planning commission next week, but I'm not reading all that. lol
Not sure if I've said it before, but Granger does have huge plans for that site that would (maybe) surprise you. They have for at least a decade. I really can't say much more than that or my connection, but its credible. The biggest issue is that they want the city, and everyone else, to pay for a significant chunk, along with that fact that they're a terrible developer that can't get anything significant off the ground in years.
IF their proposed project ever happened, it would be significant for the area. I was surprised the Gentilozzi project didn't push them to release something.
Gary is always trying to make a deal and pay for nothing, so combining city hall and the Lansing center wasn't a surprise. Gary is something else...
I mean, every developer has a plan; hell, the Eydes have always had big "plans" for the westside of downtown. It's not a real plan if it involves a tenant or partner who has made it clear they are never going to partner with you. Otherwise, it's just a pie-and-the-sky concept. A real developer's plans don't take multiple decades and a literal tree growing in the middle of one of their fully abandoned buildings.
I really do hope that Granger actually makes his plans happen, hopefully without another 30 years going by, but as Michmatters said: everyone has plans. Their stewardship of this property has been embarrassing and the public back and forth with the mayor moreso. Maybe it's a wake up call? If they're financially able to make their grand plans come to fruition and they don't do it they're hurting themselves at least as much as they're hurting the city. That abandoned building hasn't made them any money and I can't imagine that lot is doing much for them anymore either. Maybe they don't have the ability to do anything? They aren't closely (at all??) related to the construction company or garbage dump Granger's, are they?
Comments
City Council denied the sale of the Grand & Lenawee lot to Boji. One thing I was not aware of was that these apartments are also to be managed by the housing commission. With that information I'm with the councilmembers denying this plan, the LHC is horribly mismanaged and for them to control an entire block of apartments downtown, with the potential for a third building across Cherry St, is sure to be a net negative. I had been hopping that the Riverview 220 would ultimately be managed by someone other than LHC but it's sounding as if it will be under their direct control.
On the other hand, they passed the Ovation brownfield so we should be getting a decent version of this.
I think Gentilozzi may be the first big step in changing this, and as critical as I am of their developments, the Gillespies were the forerunners of this new movement. But the rest of them are net negatives on downtown. If you can't figure out after decades how develop some of the most prime downtown locations in an area of half-a-million residents, you weren't ever really trying and you don't have any place in demanding anything from anyone. If an out-of-state developer owned the Walter Neller Building and adjacent surface parking lot, it'd have been redeveloped at least a decade ago.
I think the statements about the Walter Neller building being a grass field implies the city won't allow a surface parking lot there. I imagine surface lots aren't allowed by-right in that zoning?
IF their proposed project ever happened, it would be significant for the area. I was surprised the Gentilozzi project didn't push them to release something.
Gary is always trying to make a deal and pay for nothing, so combining city hall and the Lansing center wasn't a surprise. Gary is something else...