It's too bad that the building on the People's Church parking lot is no longer planned, along with the redesign of the streets. I like the public open space at Abbott and Grand River though.
I hope the renderings on Strathmore's pages go through. It looks like a quality building, they are using limestone and looks modern but not too radical like it looked before. The other buildings that they plan to build look nice too, but is there enough market demand for these upscale condos and apartments? Maybe if a new corporation moves to the area or more graduate school students move to this area rather than various scattered apartments in the area. This, combined with the East Village project will definitely change the face of East Lansing.
Local residents still mad, as evidenced by this State News article, about City Center II development. Resident/planner feuds are likely to go a long way in delaying this project.
Looking at the plans by Strathmore, the proposed structures seem out of proportion with the surrounding community. Re-making collegetown into corporatetown may have its limits. This is what happened with the East Village pie-in-the-sky plans that came crashing down. I applaud development in this era of economic woe, but developers
need to switch from Starbucks to half-caff in their zeal to paint the town concrete.
The other angle is, would Museum Place augment or replace the aging Kellogg Center?
On one hand, I'd like to see more large impressive buildings go anywhere in the Lansing area, it also gives an area more clout when it has two strong downtowns. On the other hand, I worry that maybe these projects in EL could put a dent in the demand for housing in downtown Lansing. I wish EL the best, but my heart lies with Lansing.
On the subject of Museum Place being out of sync with the surrounding neighborhood, I agree that it is. But I think they are trying to expand the boundries of downtown in that direction anyways.
Per the State News, discussion @ 8pm today regarding City Center II @ the Hannah Community Center. I understand the concerns that those living in the immediate area have about the project, but I would LOVE to see this one go through. That particular area badly needs it.
Well, I guess we can switch the name of this thread back to City Center II. The State News is now reporting that MSU, apparently, has decided not to move the history museum into the development, meaning that it should be smaller in scale.
I'm so sick of students complaining. Maybe if they stayed in the area after graduation they would have a right to complain. But students are not permanent residents and they don't deserve any voice on issues like this. I understand resident's concerns, but I'm sick and tired of hearing this argument about losing affordable student housing. Theres plenty, their called dorms.
Comments
Looking at the plans by Strathmore, the proposed structures seem out of proportion with the surrounding community. Re-making collegetown into corporatetown may have its limits. This is what happened with the East Village pie-in-the-sky plans that came crashing down. I applaud development in this era of economic woe, but developers
need to switch from Starbucks to half-caff in their zeal to paint the town concrete.
The other angle is, would Museum Place augment or replace the aging Kellogg Center?
On the subject of Museum Place being out of sync with the surrounding neighborhood, I agree that it is. But I think they are trying to expand the boundries of downtown in that direction anyways.