Lansing City Hall redevelopment and replacement
I guess I'll go ahead and get this thread started, keeping this discussion in the general thread is getting cumbersome. (for future reference this is picking up where the General Lansing thread left off on page 333/334 on 2/16/2018)
I'll save this first post for adding renderings, links, etc in the future.
Comments
I'm still not a fan of these proposals. If it were up to me I'd renovate the current City Hall and have it remain as City Hall while finding a new location for the police department, possibly as part of a larger county complex. My favorite location for a new police and/or county complex would still be in the same area as these proposals, along Washington or Grand between Kalamazoo and 496.
If the City moves forward with a new City Hall I wouldn't be unhappy with any of the locations proposed, the southern end of downtown would benefit massively from the influx of workers. I just don't want our City Hall to be an embarrassment, all of the locations proposed are far less desirable than the current one so whatever they build should at least attempt to make up for that fact.
Breitler is giving the city a deadline, stating basically that Lansing needs him but he doesn't need Lansing. hmm..
http://lansingcitypulse.com/article-16443-Clock-ticking-on-City-Hall-hotel-plan.html
Yeah, there are honestly tons of surface lots that could be bought for the right price. People only propose deals that benefit themselves, not the others. The city would be getting the short end of the stick here and honestly a little inconvenience with continual maintenance is better than throwing everything away and having half of city hall on the streets looking for a home.
This guy talks like it's 1999! It would be great to have all this workout but I think Lansing would get along just fine without him. I would like to actually see the City Hall remain where it is and build a courthouse and jail over on Lenawee next to the courts there.
Word on the street is that this project is dead on arrival, that it's not happening with this developer.
I like that spot for a new City Hall location. It would fill in a large part of the "parking crater" that Lansing has become famous for! I also like the site I saw a while back, further to the south near Hillsdale. That spot would pull downtown all the way to REOtown.
I have been reading a few comments made about parking and the Lake Trust Block made by the developer that seems to indicate that the project there is happening, although I have seen no evidence of any potential action. It will sure be great to have that block occupied, in the summer it can be like walking a couple of blocks of desert past there. I hope they are planning to plant some trees!
My understanding of the development near Lake Trust block is that it's starting in the spring. This is based on a casual conversation I had recently, but I don't have anything to support that...300 apartments or something like that. That seems like a huge project.
Thanks for the information. It seems like there will be a lot of folks living on the south side of downtown in a year or two! I think it would be cool to create a linear park from Kalamazoo down to Malcome X along S. Washington. The street is so wide there it would be easy to use one lane for a green line which would join up with the new walkway next to the substation wall offering a pleasant walk from Downtown and REOtown.
Those comments by Breitler are pretty laughable. I liked this one: “If I build, I build. If I don’t, I don’t,” Breitler declared. “It won’t be the end of the world for me, but it will likely be the end of the world for the city of Lansing..."
I'll be glad to see this project die and for the city to wise up and do a proper restoration of City Hall. There's many, many potential locations for hotels throughout downtown including several sites adjacent to the Capitol. Potential hotel sites adjacent to the Capitol include the Constitution Hall lot, the old Tower ramp, the Catholic Diocese site and the NW corner of Walnut & Ottawa. Both the Farnum Building and Boji Building could also potentially be renovated into hotels. That's six potential sites directly adjacent to the Capitol Building, that being said my two favorite sites for a hotel would be the SW corner of Grand & Michigan or the Grandview Plaza site.
gbd - Great idea!
hood - Yes; SW Grand & Michigan would be perfect. I'd love to see this coupled to a book-ended development at Kzoo and Grand to help spur infill along the bleak parking lot crater between the two (along the north side of Grand).
The Grandview site has interested me for some time, as it sits along the riverside, and is obvious need of an updating to its facade (unless you're Darth Vader, or otherwise partial to the dark side of the force, that is...). It could be good as an apt. or mixed-use building, with one or two lower-level restaurants leading down to the riverfront.