This will be awesome!! That movie theater would be a total hit! I'm glad, as Jared notes, that they seem to be paying attention to and designing for a nice sequence of public spaces to guide people between the park and downtown. The two places feel so separate right now that I hadn't even considered how easy it would be to connect the two. This will make for a more cohesive and holistic downtown. EL is at a very exciting point!! Can't wait to come home for a couple days and see the construction progress
The only downside of this development is that we'll lose a nice building (the one that has the opening in the center with outdoor staircase, used to have a bike shop in it). I always liked that bldg.
Yeah that's a nice and unique building for East Lansing. The commercial areas of that building never seemed to do so well for impulse shopping due to them being hidden from the road a bit. The biggest loss will be the loss of the old post office. I wish they could keep the facade and just extend the design of the post office up.
Incidentally, every time I see progress being made downtown, I start to wonder when the delta is going to be built up. It seems to be one of the most under utilized parcels in the central downtown area. Does anyone have any info on factors that might be affecting development of that area?
The delta got some good infill in 2010 and 2013 but hasn't had much attention since then. My guess is that the property owners are just complacent. Hopefully the new buildings under construction will increase competition and the we'll see the delta properties update in the next 5-10 years.
I'd love to see the city move the last victorian house on that block right up to the intersection of Michigan/Grand river and turn in into a visitor's center for the area. And then build the heck out of the lots behind it up to around Beal St.!
The next frontier of downtown. I love the idea of replacing the perpetual party store with a victorian house open to the public. I could see some 5-8 story buildings clustered in here, mixed with the many 3-4 story existing buildings this would be a really dense little hamlet. I could see that supporting a lot of retail along Mich or GR or even better - in small doses along that small street that winds through.
I like the new building next to Bigby's quite a bit!!
I also hope the car detailing place decides again to try to build residential above. I think this would be a great location for a really sleek building - contemporary design, 5- or 6-stories, tall and thin and elegant. Make it high-end apartments or boutique hotel.
Comments
This will be awesome!! That movie theater would be a total hit! I'm glad, as Jared notes, that they seem to be paying attention to and designing for a nice sequence of public spaces to guide people between the park and downtown. The two places feel so separate right now that I hadn't even considered how easy it would be to connect the two. This will make for a more cohesive and holistic downtown. EL is at a very exciting point!! Can't wait to come home for a couple days and see the construction progress
The only downside of this development is that we'll lose a nice building (the one that has the opening in the center with outdoor staircase, used to have a bike shop in it). I always liked that bldg.
Yeah that's a nice and unique building for East Lansing. The commercial areas of that building never seemed to do so well for impulse shopping due to them being hidden from the road a bit. The biggest loss will be the loss of the old post office. I wish they could keep the facade and just extend the design of the post office up.
EastLansingInfo got access to the site plan for Center City. They've posted links to it here, https://eastlansinginfo.org/content/have-look-site-plan-application-park-place
Lots to dig through!
Interesting design, very different.
Incidentally, every time I see progress being made downtown, I start to wonder when the delta is going to be built up. It seems to be one of the most under utilized parcels in the central downtown area. Does anyone have any info on factors that might be affecting development of that area?
The delta got some good infill in 2010 and 2013 but hasn't had much attention since then. My guess is that the property owners are just complacent. Hopefully the new buildings under construction will increase competition and the we'll see the delta properties update in the next 5-10 years.
2010: https://develop.metrolansing.com/discussions/discussion/comment/5506/#Comment_5506
2013: https://develop.metrolansing.com/discussions/discussion/comment/6046/#Comment_6046
I'd love to see the city move the last victorian house on that block right up to the intersection of Michigan/Grand river and turn in into a visitor's center for the area. And then build the heck out of the lots behind it up to around Beal St.!
Ratchetwrench I like that idea a lot
The next frontier of downtown. I love the idea of replacing the perpetual party store with a victorian house open to the public. I could see some 5-8 story buildings clustered in here, mixed with the many 3-4 story existing buildings this would be a really dense little hamlet. I could see that supporting a lot of retail along Mich or GR or even better - in small doses along that small street that winds through.
I like the new building next to Bigby's quite a bit!!
I also hope the car detailing place decides again to try to build residential above. I think this would be a great location for a really sleek building - contemporary design, 5- or 6-stories, tall and thin and elegant. Make it high-end apartments or boutique hotel.