East Lansing over-regulates the hell out of everything, particularly in the city center, so I can't say I'm surprised. I hate how much they've sabotaged what East Lansing could have become. I'm all for demanding quality projects, but the city is a perfect example of the other unwanted extreme. If Lansing has often allowed too much low quality development, or development opposed to its master plan, then East Lansing has not allowed nearly enough city center development for a college town. Ann Arbor is another city that asks a lot of its developers, but somehow they still manage to get these projects done.
The cause is a requirement buried in an ordinance on building heights that the City Council adopted in February. For any multi-family rentals built in B-3 zones downtown, 50% of the development must be owner-occupied condos or apartments for senior citizens.
He's the crazy thing. It has always been hard to develop in downtown East Lansing because of all the restrictions. This wasn't stopped by some ordinance someone forgot. This was an additional ordinance passed this year. The crazy thing is that while this proposal may have been marketed toward students, the project was a luxury one and half of it was a hotel.
Mayor Pro Tem Ruth Beier said the city's goal isn't to push out the students. Though she believes there is enough student housing, if only student developments keep getting proposed, the market won't be sustainable anymore, she said.
Tell me how this makes sense. And, of course it's Ruth Beier, because of course. If the market won't sustain them, then developers will stop proposing them. More to the point, if the supply ever gets to the point of where you start getting half-filled buildings, an owner could always renovate them into for-sale units. This isn't rocket science.
East Lansing should be happy to push students into higher density developments downtown, nearer campus. Then maybe the single family housing could return to being owner-occupied and/or family neighborhoods. That would seem like a much more realistic and noble goal for the city planners. Instead they want shoot themselves in the foot, shutting out the only market that's guaranteed to see investment. East Lansing needs to embrace it's status as a college town in major way, it's long overdue. Their disdain for students is hurting this area.
Yeah, East Lansing Info's reporting is more optimistic, but it's not too far off from the LSJ report. The news here is that the developers are still trying to push forward and hope to submit plans to the Planning Commission in the next two weeks. I think the LSJ article helped pressure the City to make quicker changes here.
@hood, I think that is a very strong point and one that I hadn't considered before. Instead of trying to restrict what can be built in downtown East Lansing, loosening the restrictions might free up more housing in the "student neighborhoods" to become more owner occupied. Thanks for sharing that idea.
@hood and Jared, I though that was the plan all along. Move students closer to downtown so other neighborhoods stay/become owner-occupied. It makes a lot of sense in many ways: reduce many problems of students in neighborhoods (noise, etc) and concentrate them in downtown so their presence will attract businesses, make it a more vibrant place, etc. The current market is based on students.
Still, I believe that the city has good intentions. Owners would bring a more mature and year-round economically stable downtown. But currently I don't think that there is such a market for downtown East Lansing. Maybe it could grow if things move along with BRT and the city creates some housing incentives for people who buy properties downtown.
Also, personally, why don't they build a few smaller but more architecturally and aesthetically oriented buildings? That could allow for the developer-desired student building and the city-desired owner occupied building. East Lansing does not anything big but rather a more diverse and interesting landscape.
Finally, I don't know if this goes on this thread, but why does EL insists on more parking space? I don't know the occupancy rate of parking downtown, but I think that there are enough parking structures and valuable downtown space dedicated for parking. I would even close the Albert Ave lot and convert it into a park. Maybe the city should look into reaching an agreement with MSU so they can share revenues from University parking structures on Grand River.
All the actions of the City seem to indicate that they do not want students downtown, or much of anywhere besides the norther tier. There's a quote in that article from a former EL planning commission member stating: "Everyone doesn't remember because they won't tell you the honest truth," "The continuing policy of East Lansing is to push the students out of the downtown area."
What a sad state of affairs out there, first what are they trying to protect downtown? I think it looks like kind of a mess, dirty sidewalks and potholed streets, empty shops, tree space with no trees. Add towering and ugly parking structures, well I think this is one place that really was better in the 70's. Families lived in most of the single houses that are directly behind downtown, there were all kinds of shops, services, and department stores as well as student oriented businesses. Almost all students could drink in those days so there was more and better night life, dance clubs, live music, there were two movie theaters as well. So now it would seem that the powers of E.L. find themselves in the place they were for some reason trying to avoid, a downtown filled with nothing but students and student serving businesses. It could be that the leaders still see the East Lansing of old when they look out their windows, and that is what the are think they are protecting. Get with the 21st century already! Downtown is full of students and that is a good thing that is were they should be. more won't really hurt, give the business people a listen in this case. On the other hand I live in a building that rents to students as well as adults, families etc. and it seems like everyone gets along.
Convexity’s updated site plan still places a 12-story hotel and apartments on the corner of Abbot Road and Grand River Avenue, at the current site of the abandoned Citizens Bank building. There would be retail space on the first floor, a ballroom on the second floor and a rooftop bar on the 12th floor. It would include 153 hotel rooms and 179 mixed-market apartments with one-, two- and three-bedroom units. An underground parking level with more than 100 spaces would accommodate the hotel guests.
Behind it on Evergreen Avenue at the former site of Evergreen Arms Apartments, the company is proposing an eight-story building that would include senior housing or condos or both, a total of 175 apartments. The plan also includes a seven-story parking deck that would accommodate nearly 600 cars.
Very Big! This sure will fill up those spaces. I am hoping this is the plan the E.L. folks have been waiting for. I am happy the parking structure is behind the hotel not part of it. The structure seems to have a finished facade, that helps too. I would have never thought that it would take something like 35 years to develop this area. It's going to be so "fancy" up and down Michigan and Grand River with the BRT and all these new developments. Let all visualize it actually happening!
The City Council has been busy these past few meetings passing ordinances that were requested by the Park District developers. It seems that the city is finally at the point where they will relax some of the zoning requirements and let something get built here. They've made the city look really inept these past 10+ years by having some of the most highly visible real estate sit vacant and become an eyesore.
When the bank building at the corner of Abbot and Grand River went vacant back in the day, it was in pretty good shape on the interior. Then the city's firefighters used the interior as a training facility and destroyed various parts of the building as parts of their training exercises in how to deal with fires in large buildings. After the training, the building was now "blighted" and able to accept brownfield credits.
Comments
He's the crazy thing. It has always been hard to develop in downtown East Lansing because of all the restrictions. This wasn't stopped by some ordinance someone forgot. This was an additional ordinance passed this year. The crazy thing is that while this proposal may have been marketed toward students, the project was a luxury one and half of it was a hotel.
Tell me how this makes sense. And, of course it's Ruth Beier, because of course. If the market won't sustain them, then developers will stop proposing them. More to the point, if the supply ever gets to the point of where you start getting half-filled buildings, an owner could always renovate them into for-sale units. This isn't rocket science.
/smh
@hood, I think that is a very strong point and one that I hadn't considered before. Instead of trying to restrict what can be built in downtown East Lansing, loosening the restrictions might free up more housing in the "student neighborhoods" to become more owner occupied. Thanks for sharing that idea.
Still, I believe that the city has good intentions. Owners would bring a more mature and year-round economically stable downtown. But currently I don't think that there is such a market for downtown East Lansing. Maybe it could grow if things move along with BRT and the city creates some housing incentives for people who buy properties downtown.
Also, personally, why don't they build a few smaller but more architecturally and aesthetically oriented buildings? That could allow for the developer-desired student building and the city-desired owner occupied building. East Lansing does not anything big but rather a more diverse and interesting landscape.
Finally, I don't know if this goes on this thread, but why does EL insists on more parking space? I don't know the occupancy rate of parking downtown, but I think that there are enough parking structures and valuable downtown space dedicated for parking. I would even close the Albert Ave lot and convert it into a park. Maybe the city should look into reaching an agreement with MSU so they can share revenues from University parking structures on Grand River.
When the bank building at the corner of Abbot and Grand River went vacant back in the day, it was in pretty good shape on the interior. Then the city's firefighters used the interior as a training facility and destroyed various parts of the building as parts of their training exercises in how to deal with fires in large buildings. After the training, the building was now "blighted" and able to accept brownfield credits.