There was a proposal that stalled a few years back that would have put residential above the car wash. Might even be a rendering somewhere in the East Lansing general thread.
It is hard to see behind the tree in google maps. There's not much ornamentation left, but it is should be one of the oldest houses in East Lansing. My EL history book shows the platting was done in 1895, and there was a structure there by at least 1913.
Thanks, that was the _one_ part of the block I didn't look at lol. I do remember that house. I'm fine with the visitor center where it is, being near the Broad museum. Could we convert that old house to an East Lansing Historical Museum? Now that would be cool!
Clearly the developer knows that they have the city over a barrel on those underwater DDA properties. Not only are they planning very tall buildings that exceed the current zoning regs, they are asking to turn a city street into greenspace, and put their stormwater treatment area into the neighboring city-owned park. I personally think EL downtown could handle buildings up to around the 20 story mark before they'd feel out-of-scale, but I really don't like private developers parasitizing public resources to up their profits.
Also, I'm starting to come around on the demolition of Dublin square. It is not a very remarkable building, all things considered, and the few nice original architectural details it has could be saved and reused elsewhere.
I love this everything about this project. Glad they are pushing the height restriction. I'll be glad to see Dublin square go. That building has been an embarrassment to EL since that gaudy restaurant moved in. Good riddance. Anyways, it looks like they are preserving the front door frame as the sculptural piece at the corner of Abbott and Albert --- this is a smart move The AT&T building next door to Dublin Sq is actually pretty interesting. I have never paid ANY attention to it. I hope with this project that AT&T does something to spruce up this property. I'm also glad that this development stops short of the co-op house to the north of those steps -- this was always a great place for parties and sort of a cool property in the way it fits into the hillside. I also think this project will give more framing to the little plaza (next to the blood place) and make this public space feel more appropriate in it's setting.
I believe as this one looks like it will be a glass-sided it will be reflecting a lot of sunlight into the neighborhood. This may help to mitigate the shadow canyon effect that we are going to find on Albert and Abbot streets area.
My apartment faces east and the building across the street facing west where the sun reflects off the windows in the later afternoon filling my building with afternoon sunlight on the east side. This light is very nice to have. Perhaps sunlight reflectors could be positioned at other points and buildings to help with the shadows. Albert is already dark in the afternoon in many places.
Comments
There was a proposal that stalled a few years back that would have put residential above the car wash. Might even be a rendering somewhere in the East Lansing general thread.
Yeah, I remember that. At first I thought it was weird, and then I found it to be a really compelling idea. I hope they bring it back to the table.
Jared - the house is at 243 W Grand River:
https://goo.gl/maps/8xeELtScGjt
It is hard to see behind the tree in google maps. There's not much ornamentation left, but it is should be one of the oldest houses in East Lansing. My EL history book shows the platting was done in 1895, and there was a structure there by at least 1913.
That would be a great idea as well!
Here's a few more historical details on that house, which was built in 1902 and apparently is known as the Landon-May house:
http://kevinforsyth.net/ELMI/landon-may.htm
and the delta:
http://kevinforsyth.net/ELMI/delta.htm
Also, to keep on topic, ELi published an article detailing the current plans for Park Place:
https://eastlansinginfo.org/content/park-place-plan-surprises
I have few thoughts on this...
Clearly the developer knows that they have the city over a barrel on those underwater DDA properties. Not only are they planning very tall buildings that exceed the current zoning regs, they are asking to turn a city street into greenspace, and put their stormwater treatment area into the neighboring city-owned park. I personally think EL downtown could handle buildings up to around the 20 story mark before they'd feel out-of-scale, but I really don't like private developers parasitizing public resources to up their profits.
Also, I'm starting to come around on the demolition of Dublin square. It is not a very remarkable building, all things considered, and the few nice original architectural details it has could be saved and reused elsewhere.
I love this everything about this project. Glad they are pushing the height restriction. I'll be glad to see Dublin square go. That building has been an embarrassment to EL since that gaudy restaurant moved in. Good riddance. Anyways, it looks like they are preserving the front door frame as the sculptural piece at the corner of Abbott and Albert --- this is a smart move
The AT&T building next door to Dublin Sq is actually pretty interesting. I have never paid ANY attention to it. I hope with this project that AT&T does something to spruce up this property. I'm also glad that this development stops short of the co-op house to the north of those steps -- this was always a great place for parties and sort of a cool property in the way it fits into the hillside. I also think this project will give more framing to the little plaza (next to the blood place) and make this public space feel more appropriate in it's setting.
It's shocking how quickly the skyline of EL will have changed.
I believe as this one looks like it will be a glass-sided it will be reflecting a lot of sunlight into the neighborhood. This may help to mitigate the shadow canyon effect that we are going to find on Albert and Abbot streets area.
My apartment faces east and the building across the street facing west where the sun reflects off the windows in the later afternoon filling my building with afternoon sunlight on the east side. This light is very nice to have. Perhaps sunlight reflectors could be positioned at other points and buildings to help with the shadows. Albert is already dark in the afternoon in many places.