I thought it was funny how the State News kept referring to the area as the "East Village", whereas that is not what any of the interviewees referred to it. The "East Village" is not in our vocabulary as the location, in fact I would expect people to refer to it as "Cedar Village" (even the area surrounding the apartment complex).
The article says that there are plans to bring it to the council in February, which should just be the start of the site plan approval process.
Currently, there are about 600 rental units in the East Village, 546 of which are in the project space. Pierce Education Properties plans to increase the number to 965 housing units, with 80 percent targeting graduate and undergraduate students. The remaining 20 percent will be used for owner-occupied housing.
The price of those apartments will be determined by the market, said Fred Pierce, president and CEO of Pierce Education Properties. The price could be lower than the cost for apartments at Campus Village, which charges $700 for a two-bedroom unit and $575 for a four-bedroom unit.
Students living in the East Village pay about $350 or more for an apartment. Prices fluctuate depending on the size of an apartment and the number of people living in it.
First, it sounds that the rents were a typo and should have read that a 2-bedroom is $575 and a 4-bedroom is $700. Increasing these apartments from affordable housing at $350 an apartment to $575 to $700 an apartment will really make it so that students with less money are forced to live further and further away from campus.
The city should mandate that a fixed percentage of around 30% of the units remain at $350 an apartment to retain the affordability of the area.
As it pertains to the "price per bedroom" in the article, they may mean that a 2-bedroom would cost $700 per person and a 4-bedroom $575 per person. You're right Jared about that putting the cost above most students, which would, of course, be a negative.
The issue about the name of the area is funny. It seems like only the developers are calling it "the east village". Using the word "east" to me says upscale/wealthy. The word "village" is exclusive/small/tight-knit. "Cedar Village" has its own connotations. Is that what people who live and work there call it? I think it's that time again that I pay them a lengthy visit.
Jared, $350 a month is a ridiculously low rent. That shows just how worthless those properties are, $350 is simply unfeasable for ANY kind of new construction unless there are subsidies. Junk apartments in Lansing bottom out at around $400, and there are very, very few apartments in that price range. I would be extremely suprised if they can get them down to $500 a month.
The East Village Project seems to be continuing to inch forward, albeit slowly. However, the LSJ's making it sound like this latest milestone is a pretty large one that will propel the Pierce Co. to putting together some final plans, and getting construction to start as early as '09.
More interesting than this State News article is actually the "comment" at the bottom by, who appears to be, Pierce Education Properties VP for marketing properties Theresa Nakata.
In the post, she claims that the article's comment that the East Village student properties rent, per person, would be around what Campus Village is now is entirely untrue. She believes that the student properties will likely be around $369 per person, comparing that price to what Chandler's Crossings is now. She also states that any rumors that the rent and Chandler's will skyrocket once the East Village project begins, and the students are "displaced," are entirely false.
Just as a side note, has anyone else noticed how the "comment" area at StateNews.com has created a lot of controversy since it's been implemented? Any articles about YAF, the daily police briefs, the article about Joan Howarth being selected as the new law dean, and the article this past football season by a MSU student who "laughed" when Drew Stanton was injured during the '04 U-M game, have all had a ton of posts sparking a lot of debate.
The comments section on both the State News, and the LSJ aren't really good for anything other than a laugh, or if you feel like getting pissed off. Otherwise they don't really serve any constructive purpose what-so-ever.
I'm showing three images about the Cedar Village (East Village) tomorrow night at SCENE Metrospace. I'd love to talk with some of you there! 6-9pm (SCENE is in the colorful parking structure).
New East Village Newsletter sent yesterday. Not nearly as much new info as the last issue had, but some interesting points that the previous e-mail in Janurary didn't touch on:
* Residential - 965 units
* 1,500 beds of Rental housing for undergraduate students
* 300 units of Rental housing for graduate students, faculty, staff & the workforce
* 190 units of For-sale housing for graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni & the workforce
* Parking - approximately 3,700 underground and above-grade parking spaces
As you can see they are now finally listing space specifcally devoted to undergrads. However, note that the undergrads number is 1,500 BEDS while the other rental housing/for-sale housing are listed as UNITS. I guess, subtracting 300 and 190 from the 965 unit total, that about 475 units would be allotted for undergrads. This isn't an incredible number, but it's actually a majority, which is positive considering it appeared at times they were looking to minimize the undergrad presence as much as possible.
* March 2008 - February 2009: MOU Phase II – Design/Development Agreement
* Programming
* Design
* Land Assembly
* Leasing/Marketing
* Financing
* City Approval & Permitting
* 2009-2011 : Phase Three Project Development:
* Construction (estimated for late summer 2009)
* Leasing/ Marketing
* Operation
Someone needs to tell these students that they're not doing themselves any favors by causing riots like these if they want to save Cedar Village. Events like this just reinforce to the surrounding community that something should change in that part of town.
EAST LANSING - Police fired off several rounds of tear gas after a crowd of about 3,000 at Cedar Fest early this morning turned violent.
The event, which police said had been simply a peaceful gathering at the corner of Cedar Street and Waters Edge Drive for much of the evening, began to turn ugly shortly after 1 a.m.
Dozens of arrests were made as police broke up fights and detained girls who flashed their breasts. As the night wore on toward 2 a.m., the officers who entered the mob found themselves dodging an increasingly more frequent barrage of glass, cans and beer.
Comments
The article says that there are plans to bring it to the council in February, which should just be the start of the site plan approval process. First, it sounds that the rents were a typo and should have read that a 2-bedroom is $575 and a 4-bedroom is $700. Increasing these apartments from affordable housing at $350 an apartment to $575 to $700 an apartment will really make it so that students with less money are forced to live further and further away from campus.
The city should mandate that a fixed percentage of around 30% of the units remain at $350 an apartment to retain the affordability of the area.
In the post, she claims that the article's comment that the East Village student properties rent, per person, would be around what Campus Village is now is entirely untrue. She believes that the student properties will likely be around $369 per person, comparing that price to what Chandler's Crossings is now. She also states that any rumors that the rent and Chandler's will skyrocket once the East Village project begins, and the students are "displaced," are entirely false.
Just as a side note, has anyone else noticed how the "comment" area at StateNews.com has created a lot of controversy since it's been implemented? Any articles about YAF, the daily police briefs, the article about Joan Howarth being selected as the new law dean, and the article this past football season by a MSU student who "laughed" when Drew Stanton was injured during the '04 U-M game, have all had a ton of posts sparking a lot of debate.
* Residential - 965 units
* 1,500 beds of Rental housing for undergraduate students
* 300 units of Rental housing for graduate students, faculty, staff & the workforce
* 190 units of For-sale housing for graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni & the workforce
* Parking - approximately 3,700 underground and above-grade parking spaces
As you can see they are now finally listing space specifcally devoted to undergrads. However, note that the undergrads number is 1,500 BEDS while the other rental housing/for-sale housing are listed as UNITS. I guess, subtracting 300 and 190 from the 965 unit total, that about 475 units would be allotted for undergrads. This isn't an incredible number, but it's actually a majority, which is positive considering it appeared at times they were looking to minimize the undergrad presence as much as possible.
* March 2008 - February 2009: MOU Phase II – Design/Development Agreement
* Programming
* Design
* Land Assembly
* Leasing/Marketing
* Financing
* City Approval & Permitting
* 2009-2011 : Phase Three Project Development:
* Construction (estimated for late summer 2009)
* Leasing/ Marketing
* Operation
Cedar Fest turns violent
Lansing State Journal
EAST LANSING - Police fired off several rounds of tear gas after a crowd of about 3,000 at Cedar Fest early this morning turned violent.
The event, which police said had been simply a peaceful gathering at the corner of Cedar Street and Waters Edge Drive for much of the evening, began to turn ugly shortly after 1 a.m.
Dozens of arrests were made as police broke up fights and detained girls who flashed their breasts. As the night wore on toward 2 a.m., the officers who entered the mob found themselves dodging an increasingly more frequent barrage of glass, cans and beer.
Continued at the link above...