I drove by the site this morning and noticed that it looks like they are swapping out the fencing that is currently up for taller fence further in from the road. Perhaps this is a positive sign of things to come?
Probably not. I really think you're trying to read tea leaves, here. Until something else is announced, movement on the site is almost assuredly not for some secret (positive) surprise.
If anything it's a negative sign as they're putting up a more permanent fence, it will be telling to see how good of quality it is. If it looks really well built with nice gates or anything it may be a sign they don't expect much to happen for awhile.
Definitely wishful thinking (and a lack of patience for moving this project forward...) on my part. I was also encouraged by this tidbit at the bottom of an ELi article about the Center City project:
"At the huddle, Mayor Mark Meadows said the City had looked into renting the now-empty lot at the northwest corner of Abbot Road and Grand River Avenue to provide additional parking while parking downtown is disrupted by construction. A vacated old bank building was demolished at that spot in early October.
But the owners of that property, Meadows said, are not interested in dealing with the liability issues that might ensue, and they might be ready to develop the property relatively soon. At the present time, there are no active plans for that site, which forms part of the area known as “the Park District.”
@ratchetwrench If it's true that the owners aren't interested in using property as a parking lot then I'd think that that is pretty promising, I just wonder how soon "relatively soon" will be.
One interesting and important note reported by ELi... the developers are no longer planning a single megabuilding to span the two vacated sites. They are looking at building two separate buildings, and keeping the curvy bit of Evergreen Street intact:
I have to say, I'm in favor of that plan, simply because I think two buildings would provide a much more interesting skyline and pedestrian experience along that part of downtown.
Great news. I really haven't been anxious about this, especially with Center City going up. I was really just glad they got rid of the bank building. But it's good to see they are being fairly quick about coming back to take another bite at this apple. So long as what's at the corner of Abbot and Grand River is at least as substantial as what they demolished, I'll be happy.
It sounds like there is definitely still a hotel component, and there is only so much you can shrink a hotel down before it's not viable, so what I imagine is that they'll take out a lot of the residential mixed in at the corner building. So I'm guessing we'll still get a substantial corner building, maybe something that's still at least 6 or 7 stories if you take off the residential component.
I like the sound of leaving Evergreen and breaking up the block, based on that I'd bet that I'll like the layout of the next proposal better than any of the previous ones over the years. I'm still not betting on this being a significantly downsized proposal either, if anything they may just break it up into more phases, for instance they may only build on the site of the bank initially. If they can swing the financing they're going to build the largest development EL will let them.
Comments
I drove by the site this morning and noticed that it looks like they are swapping out the fencing that is currently up for taller fence further in from the road. Perhaps this is a positive sign of things to come?
Probably not. I really think you're trying to read tea leaves, here. Until something else is announced, movement on the site is almost assuredly not for some secret (positive) surprise.
If anything it's a negative sign as they're putting up a more permanent fence, it will be telling to see how good of quality it is. If it looks really well built with nice gates or anything it may be a sign they don't expect much to happen for awhile.
Definitely wishful thinking (and a lack of patience for moving this project forward...) on my part. I was also encouraged by this tidbit at the bottom of an ELi article about the Center City project:
http://eastlansinginfo.org/content/center-city-district-financing-complete-construction-begin
"At the huddle, Mayor Mark Meadows said the City had looked into renting the now-empty lot at the northwest corner of Abbot Road and Grand River Avenue to provide additional parking while parking downtown is disrupted by construction. A vacated old bank building was demolished at that spot in early October.
But the owners of that property, Meadows said, are not interested in dealing with the liability issues that might ensue, and they might be ready to develop the property relatively soon. At the present time, there are no active plans for that site, which forms part of the area known as “the Park District.”
Never let them put down a parking lot there! It will take 35 years to remove it! Plant grass!
@ratchetwrench If it's true that the owners aren't interested in using property as a parking lot then I'd think that that is pretty promising, I just wonder how soon "relatively soon" will be.
I've seen nothing yet, but I would hope that since the holidays are past we'll be seeing something soon.
Actual news now... apparently DRW/Convexity will be submitting a new development plan to EL next month:
http://statenews.com/article/2018/01/el-city-council-meeting-jan-9
One interesting and important note reported by ELi... the developers are no longer planning a single megabuilding to span the two vacated sites. They are looking at building two separate buildings, and keeping the curvy bit of Evergreen Street intact:
http://eastlansinginfo.org/content/new-plans-coming-lots-cleared-downtown-corner
I have to say, I'm in favor of that plan, simply because I think two buildings would provide a much more interesting skyline and pedestrian experience along that part of downtown.
Great news. I really haven't been anxious about this, especially with Center City going up. I was really just glad they got rid of the bank building. But it's good to see they are being fairly quick about coming back to take another bite at this apple. So long as what's at the corner of Abbot and Grand River is at least as substantial as what they demolished, I'll be happy.
It sounds like there is definitely still a hotel component, and there is only so much you can shrink a hotel down before it's not viable, so what I imagine is that they'll take out a lot of the residential mixed in at the corner building. So I'm guessing we'll still get a substantial corner building, maybe something that's still at least 6 or 7 stories if you take off the residential component.
I like the sound of leaving Evergreen and breaking up the block, based on that I'd bet that I'll like the layout of the next proposal better than any of the previous ones over the years. I'm still not betting on this being a significantly downsized proposal either, if anything they may just break it up into more phases, for instance they may only build on the site of the bank initially. If they can swing the financing they're going to build the largest development EL will let them.