MSP Headquarters

hood

It looks like this plan may be moving forward, on a smaller scale than origionally proposed.

State police proposal revived

I have no clue how tall it will be, being 148,000 sq ft would point to something shorter, but the $45 million price tag points to something taller. I think were going being that they say there will be 150 surface parking spots I think we're going to see somthing with about the footprint of Grand Tower, and between 10 and 14 floors.

Jared

thats kind of what i expect, and i would hope that they build it closer to the river, allowing leaving the surface parking lot near the curb for more infill. or maybe building it near the corner, and leaving a lot of greenspace near the river.

Jared

hood, do you think adding 148,000 sq ft will fill the class A office space that you have been saying Lansing could use? I remember you talking about the vacancy rate for class A office space, and that it is low enough for another building. Will this fill the void?

Jared

I didn't know how much the MSP would occupy of the 148,000 sq ft.

hood

This structure is actually leased, so it will count in the office market vacancy reports. However since the majority, if not all the employees moving here will be from State-owned space, it will actually lower the vacancy rate further, but won't have any real affect on the market (besides probably raising land value of the surrounding area and further improving the perception of downtown.)

Also I do beleive they mean surface parking spaces, but I'm sure Ferguson wouldn't mind arranging the site so hea can build more there in future, making him more money. And if not him then the state may look at the site for a future office building.

Jared

I hope the development will be incorporating the river. I don't think I can put enough emphasis on how important it is for a project like this to start shifting the focus towards the river.

hood

My dad heard at work last week that this was approved by the capitol outlay comittee last Thursday, they also passed a timeline with completion set for 2009 or 20 months.

Jared

20 months would be pretty quick for completion if they haven't started doing basic site preparation work yet. I'd like to see what the design looks like.

hood

I asked my dad to try to find out more, besides that I don't think there are many more places to look for info.

Lmich, what was that link to, it's just coming up with a login screen.

Jared

LMich, what did you find at that link?

Jared

That is entirely disappointing with everything that the city has been talking about trying to do. Can we get any development to focus on the river?

I read an article in the New York Times a while back about how new office buildings (public and private) are building in anti-terrorism mechanisms like this 7-foot security wall, but the article talked about how architects were designing the walls to appear as part of the design of the structure and not just a wall. Some of these examples used many steel benches and/or stairs surrounding the buildings with large planters near the road.

The use of a 7-foot wall may just be asking for vandalism and a worse perception of downtown Lansing. Lansing doesn't need any walls, there's nobody we need to keep out. If the architects are worried about a terrorist threat, couldn't they have spent a LITTLE more time and came up with a creative solution?