I was thinking that they owned the land down to that club. It is kind of funny that I actually stayed in the little house next to the Alano Club way back in the early '80s. My friends from MSU and Kellogg Center rented the house for their last year. We named it "Howard House" They got a couch stuck in the basement stairwell and as college kids will just left it. This allowed a large group of feral cats to move into the basement. It was quite a place back then noisy and well smelly! I can't imagine what it is like today. They could put a storage place back there and it might be thought of as an improvement over those little tumbledown houses.
It's not strange they'd want to maximize the plot; it's strange that the other business is a storage facility. There is no zoning anywhere in the Lansing area that would allow this by-right and for good reason. In fact, proposing something so ridiculous should be offensive to anyone's sensibilities. Mostly just glad this seems to be dead.
I agree that approving such a business there would be wrong, especially since there is so many empty lots, already industrial just a block west that are not on Michigan Ave... I wonder why these plans even come up from time to time, it seems like it was years ago they first talked about a hotel there, and they even cleared some of the houses, so it is disappointing to keep hearing about the plans that never happen.
@MichMatters I vaguely remember reading about a hotel on Wood Rd. I think it may have been a quote from a township official in one of the stories covering other things going on in the township referring to "a new hotel on Wood Rd". Don't quote me on it though.
In my opinion, it's because these aren't hotels for tourists. The extended stays are or will become housing for those who can't afford or won't get approved to rent an apartment. Further, groups such as the Lansing Housing Commission could give vouchers for these places.
The hotels are being built because the room occupancy rate is above the threshold at which people are willing to invest in hotels (at least it was whenever they were financed), I believe it's around 60% per articles on hotel construction in the area. MSU football gamedays are a big sell, besides that you have large numbers of visiting faculty, family and contractors; along with long and short term contractors at the state, GM, insurance companies, ect...
Besides, these places are way more expensive than rent would be. At least for the first 10 or 20 years of their life.
Finally broke and got an LSJ subscription. Looks like the township has finally had something to say about the annexation proposal. They put out a legal opinion that the city proposal wording was in error - I, of course, went to read the law and their legal opinion is wrong and the county clerk said as much without saying. Anyway, the most notable part is that they finally announced they are going to fight this whtin the neighborhood, so look further to more information if the legal opinion was the first salvo of this campaign. lol
Comments
Besides, these places are way more expensive than rent would be. At least for the first 10 or 20 years of their life.
Finally broke and got an LSJ subscription. Looks like the township has finally had something to say about the annexation proposal. They put out a legal opinion that the city proposal wording was in error - I, of course, went to read the law and their legal opinion is wrong and the county clerk said as much without saying. Anyway, the most notable part is that they finally announced they are going to fight this whtin the neighborhood, so look further to more information if the legal opinion was the first salvo of this campaign. lol