That's why I said "essentially". Gillespie's control over the area surrounding the city market gave him too much control over the access and visibility of the market, guaranteeing that he could diminish the value of the market with the long term goal of placing his own business inside of the city-owned building.
Has Gillespie ever even hinted he was looking at putting his own business in the market? In any case, that doesn't seem to be the city's direction with the site, anyway. It seems his goal was simply to get the (larger) site the market was on for his development, which he got.
I'm not seeing some grand conspiracy to takeover the market building. He simply needed the market's land and didn't really care what happened to the market after that. And that seems to have been Bernero's focus, too. Then you stack on top of that that the city had for years been wanting to pull the subsidy for the market, and that's how we got to where we are.
I had heard a rumor that Gillespie was going to be moving in to the City Market building but after further research online I can't find anything to back it up, which is where I was coming from.
Park Place developer 'out' for now, but prepared to try again in downtown East Lansing
EAST LANSING – The developers of Park Place are prepared to likely try again after city officials axed their site plan Tuesday night.
The East Lansing City Council unanimously voted down plans from Vlahakis Development and Royal Properties to construct a nine-story, multi-use building at the corner of Evergreen Avenue and Albert Street at the edge of downtown.
City officials said they didn't see enough public benefit in the project and expressed concerns about whether developers could bring the project to fruition. One attributed his doubt to multiple revisions since developers first signed a purchase agreementon the property in December.
Kind of weird they'd not pulled the project from the agenda given that the council had justed voted down the rezoning of the site. Now off to an RFP for the site, but the city is not specifying when they plan to do that.
The first depictions of this project were much better than this current one. I guess these are just to give an idea of a building in that spot because the drawings now show a very unattractive apartment block. I can understand why these revisions that keep downgrading the project at least on paper are a problem for the city. I believe they will be looking for higher quality design and propose for this important space. The food hall/city market concept, in this case, seems like a bone they are throwing in for the council, similar to Gillespie. How many restaurants are in a six-block circle from this spot? Add the Union and other MSU dining halls that is a lot! The whole downtown is already a "food hall". I do not really like the idea of MSU being involved with a private developer staffing some kind of concept restaurant space with MSU paid students. It seems like a cheap way to have a restaurant in a development project. I would rather see a real restaurant offer internships and job opportunities for students. A Green/Farmers market has to be a space that is affordable and profitable for vendors and an attractive interesting space to draw costumers. The Lansing City Market was none of those things.
Looks like both the city and MSUFCU are on the same page for this Park Place West proposal, which should mean that this one won't see any delays on the city site:
EAST LANSING – Michigan State University Federal Credit Union hopes a proposal for an office building downtown can help spark a new kind of development, CEO April Clobes said.
East Lansing Mayor Ruth Beier said she has that same hope.
City officials have been asking for office developments for years and have always been told there isn't enough profit in it, Beier said.
So Beier was "beside myself with joy" when the city received a proposal from Michigan State University Federal Credit Union to build a five- to eight-story building in what's currently a city parking lot.
MSUFCU seems to be doing better than the average bank/credit union, which is why they are expanding. Anyway, the land sale goes on the ballot on March 10, and I imagine will pass very easily.
When is the deadline to add items to the ballot? I just got my absentee ballot in the mail for my municipality (not EL) so the cut off should have already happened.
Comments
I'm not seeing some grand conspiracy to takeover the market building. He simply needed the market's land and didn't really care what happened to the market after that. And that seems to have been Bernero's focus, too. Then you stack on top of that that the city had for years been wanting to pull the subsidy for the market, and that's how we got to where we are.
Kind of weird they'd not pulled the project from the agenda given that the council had justed voted down the rezoning of the site. Now off to an RFP for the site, but the city is not specifying when they plan to do that.
MSUFCU excited for possible presence, different kind of development in downtown East Lansing
MSUFCU seems to be doing better than the average bank/credit union, which is why they are expanding. Anyway, the land sale goes on the ballot on March 10, and I imagine will pass very easily.