The City Council approved the proposal from Convexity, along with a $19.6 million brownfield plan. The city has yet to agree on a development agreement. Convexity hopes to start construction by May 2018.
Seriously with the start of construction a full year from now? lol Even when it's good news, it's not the best news. We've seen this show before; I'd feel a bit more comfortable if they'd set a more ambitious date.
Well, I imagine much of the coordination and project management couldn't start until the City Council was on board with it. However the lack of tenants should allow this project to start sooner than most.
"East Lansing’s City Planning staff failed to promptly take care of critically-important paperwork in the Park District redevelopment deal, and the consequence of their mistake is that the demolition of the blighted buildings downtown will be further delayed. The mistake also means the entire $150 million redevelopment project could now fail because of the significant delays caused by the mistake."
...
"At Tuesday’s meeting, Council repeatedly agreed to follow City staff’s wishes to let staff, the City attorney, and Mayor Mark Meadows take care of remaining key details in that deal—even after a citizen pointed out a mistake in the development agreement that would have cost the City millions of dollars in lost income that wasn’t caught by staff or the City attorney."
Why is this so difficult? Maybe there is some sort of curse on that building and it does not want to be torn down! Every time they get close to actually to doing it some kind of problem pops up. I really hope they can figure out how to get this development started, it is not really a sign of competent people in charge.
Reading the article, the excerpts seem kind of alarmist. It does indeed look like the project might miss next month's Michigan Strategic Fund board meeting to apply for the $10 million tax credit. But, the project has until 2021 to be completed, more than enough time even with this possible delay. How often the board meets, I'm not sure, but if they have to push back the schedule a few months it's not the end of the world.
So, I see a mistake that shouldn't have been made, but the idea that this represents an existential crisis for the project is overdramatic.
I agree, MichMatters. I appreciate the dedication and information provided by eastlansinginfo, but they tend to sensationalize development news. Everybody wants a scoop, and these stories spread quickly on social media.
But, yes, there seem to be some serious issues at City Hall.
This is the more important of the two big projects, and probably the most important in modern EL history. Don't screw it up! We need the whole team working from the same playbook on this one.
Comments
The City Council approved the proposal from Convexity, along with a $19.6 million brownfield plan. The city has yet to agree on a development agreement. Convexity hopes to start construction by May 2018.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2017/04/26/east-lansing-oks-154m-park-district-project/100910632/
Seriously with the start of construction a full year from now? lol Even when it's good news, it's not the best news. We've seen this show before; I'd feel a bit more comfortable if they'd set a more ambitious date.
Well, I imagine much of the coordination and project management couldn't start until the City Council was on board with it. However the lack of tenants should allow this project to start sooner than most.
Better rendering of the current proposal from the city website:
https://www.cityofeastlansing.com/ImageRepository/Document?documentID=6000
Looks great let's build it!
If the city council signs off on the development agreement tomorrow night, then it requires the developers to apply for demolition permits by the end of June with the developers scheduled to bring the existing buildings down in August.
All that can be said is - eeeeeeek: http://eastlansinginfo.org/content/city-planning-staff-mistake-delays-blight-demolition-could-jeopardize-park-district-plans
"East Lansing’s City Planning staff failed to promptly take care of critically-important paperwork in the Park District redevelopment deal, and the consequence of their mistake is that the demolition of the blighted buildings downtown will be further delayed. The mistake also means the entire $150 million redevelopment project could now fail because of the significant delays caused by the mistake."
...
"At Tuesday’s meeting, Council repeatedly agreed to follow City staff’s wishes to let staff, the City attorney, and Mayor Mark Meadows take care of remaining key details in that deal—even after a citizen pointed out a mistake in the development agreement that would have cost the City millions of dollars in lost income that wasn’t caught by staff or the City attorney."
Why is this so difficult? Maybe there is some sort of curse on that building and it does not want to be torn down! Every time they get close to actually to doing it some kind of problem pops up. I really hope they can figure out how to get this development started, it is not really a sign of competent people in charge.
Reading the article, the excerpts seem kind of alarmist. It does indeed look like the project might miss next month's Michigan Strategic Fund board meeting to apply for the $10 million tax credit. But, the project has until 2021 to be completed, more than enough time even with this possible delay. How often the board meets, I'm not sure, but if they have to push back the schedule a few months it's not the end of the world.
So, I see a mistake that shouldn't have been made, but the idea that this represents an existential crisis for the project is overdramatic.
But, yes, there seem to be some serious issues at City Hall.
This is the more important of the two big projects, and probably the most important in modern EL history. Don't screw it up! We need the whole team working from the same playbook on this one.