I don't see this ramp doing anything other than serving out another 15 years or less of life as a parking ramp, hopefully by then someone will have a better use for the property. The low floor height of ramps makes them practically useless as anything, many have angled floors (not this one though) adding to their uselessness as anything else.
As for a park, if anything there's already too much park/open-space along the river in this area, I certainly don't think we need another blocks worth.
While the Capitol Club is a no go, it makes me wonder when a similar project may happen in the future. In watching the gradual progress on the Marketplace development, if would seem that, given the building's length, it could easily be half as long, but twice the height (from 5 floors to 10), with same number of units. Even then, the building would still seem "squatty" (somewhat wide). I'm not saying a building that height is best at the Marketplace site (behind the City Market). But perhaps at the Capital Club Tower site, or the old Davenport site? Seems like Lansing could support this, given Marketplace, Stadium District, and proposed Outfield project? It wouldn't be bigger than the aforementioned, in terms of number of units, just a taller building with less footprint.
Yup, just look at how Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor are taking off. There's no reason why Lansing/East Lansing couldn't keep up with or outpace Ann Arbor in terms of development. I'm sure Lansing's time is coming, especially given the amount of interest in urban developments and the fact that loans are becoming easier to come by at all levels. I'd be pretty surprised if a high-rise comparable to Capitol View isn't at least seriously proposed within the next few years.
As much as I'd like to see a high rise go up, I'd rather see more infill throughout downtown first. This way we can have proper distribution of retail+entertainment/office/residential throughout instead of several anchor points.
I think the State really could have done a much better job including the downtown core instead of building the Hall of Justice and the Michigan Historical Museum so far away from Washington Square and Grand Ave. Imagine if the museum was on the surface parking lot at the corner of Grand and Michigan Ave? And if the Hall of Justice was at the corner on the surface parking lot between the Cooley Library and the Knapps Center? They could have even been built with ground-floor retail to help bring activity to the area outside of regular business hours.
As much as the recession has hurt, i actually think it's the state government planning that has done more damage.
I would love to see infill also, but I believe a high-rise would do so much for morale, it would prove the market to developers, banks and residents. Tall buildings have always been symbolic of prosperity, they're truly a sign of a healthy real estate market.
As for the State, the damage was done when they bulldozed the neighborhoods for parking lots. I'm happy with the location of the Hall of Justice specifically, it caps off the west end of the Capitol Complex and fits perfectly where it's at. It would be nice if the museum was somewhere with more foot traffic though. Here's to hoping that they actually convert the land between Hall of Justice and the Ottawa/Hannah buildings to park land like they're talking about. That, coupled with the State consolidating their parking would be the best thing to ever happen to downtown Lansing.
Thanks for all the responses. I'm not necessarily thinking a of 16-story tower at this point, but considering that the Stadium District, Marketplace, Midtown, and proposed Outfield are 4-5 stories, it would be nice to see a 6-8 story residential/mixed use development as a next step. There are not a lot of examples of this happening yet in Greater Lansing, but the new HopCat building is East Lansing is 8 stories (sorry, I don't recall the building's actual name), and the Capital View tower in Lansing -- though not residential -- is 9 stories. The proposed Park District and Red Cedar Renaissance projects have buildings in the 8-10 story range. Then perhaps a decade from now, 6-8 story developments in/near downtown Lansing can grow to something 10-14 stories? That may be wishful thinking...
As a followup, what do you think will be the next development announcement in Lansing? (Given that Knapps and Accident Fund are completed; Market Place and Midtown are in progress; Outfield, Casino and Red Cedar, etc. are proposed.)
These recent posts have gotten pretty far off-topic from the Capital Club Tower's original thread. I'm going to try to circle it back and redirect to the proper thread, so I'll post my reply in the General East Lansing discussion thread since that is what my prediction is for.
I guess I thought this related to the original thread as we were discussing possible future developments similar to the Capitol Club Tower. Sorry, my mistake I think was asking about thoughts on the next development at the end. It probably should have gone on the general Lansing or East Lansing thread. Even then, over the course of discussion on those general threads, specific topics will be mentioned (those that may already have their own threads). So it can be confusing as to whether a conversation should jump threads or remain on the same thread. For instance, the general Lansing thread has some posts on the airport, which itself has its own thread. While it is important to be organized here, I don't think we want to discourage discussion.
Comments
As for a park, if anything there's already too much park/open-space along the river in this area, I certainly don't think we need another blocks worth.
I think the State really could have done a much better job including the downtown core instead of building the Hall of Justice and the Michigan Historical Museum so far away from Washington Square and Grand Ave. Imagine if the museum was on the surface parking lot at the corner of Grand and Michigan Ave? And if the Hall of Justice was at the corner on the surface parking lot between the Cooley Library and the Knapps Center? They could have even been built with ground-floor retail to help bring activity to the area outside of regular business hours.
As much as the recession has hurt, i actually think it's the state government planning that has done more damage.
As for the State, the damage was done when they bulldozed the neighborhoods for parking lots. I'm happy with the location of the Hall of Justice specifically, it caps off the west end of the Capitol Complex and fits perfectly where it's at. It would be nice if the museum was somewhere with more foot traffic though. Here's to hoping that they actually convert the land between Hall of Justice and the Ottawa/Hannah buildings to park land like they're talking about. That, coupled with the State consolidating their parking would be the best thing to ever happen to downtown Lansing.
As a followup, what do you think will be the next development announcement in Lansing? (Given that Knapps and Accident Fund are completed; Market Place and Midtown are in progress; Outfield, Casino and Red Cedar, etc. are proposed.)