I think it borders on criminal to have torn down a historic structure like the 1861 HOUSE for a parking lot! It would be wonderful if they eventually built the project, but I doubt it will happen.
That house was hard to justify saving. it had been so heavily altered that, from what I understand, virtually nothing was left of the original house on the inside, it had also been modified on the outside quite heavily. That, coupled with it's location made it easy to see go.
This project appears to be all but dead though. They are now trying to lease space in the 3 floor building on the site that was supposed to be tore down. I just hope that this site eventually gets a worthwhile project sooner rather than later.
What would people think about converting the Grand Ave parking structure in to a mix of apartments + parking. If you split the parking ramp in half lenghtwise, the river-side half could be converted to apartments and the streetside could remain parking.
The downside of that is that the street-facing part of the apartment would be permanently dark since it's inside of the ramp. Another way this could be done is if the apartments are the full depth of the parking ramp and you split the ramp in half perpendicular to Grand Ave.
I think that's trying too hard. I'd rather them demolish the thing and building something else there (or even make it a park-like area that steps down to the river (this has awesome views down and up Allegan). Or keep the thing, as is, for use if they ever decide to build the tower.
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.
Yes, technically, there is definitely a market for high-rise (or even just mid-rise) living in downtown Lansing if someone wanted to make it happen. There just aren't any local developers with any kind of experience to unlock the last little pieces to make it happen. After you get pass a certain height (I think it might be 60'), all kinds of additional regulations (sprinklers, elevator, etc...) kick in that increase the costs of these projects. And, most developers want as quick a return as they can get on their investment. The quickest way to do that in Lansing, at the moment, is to put up these cracker boxes quickly and stuff as many apartments into them as you can, instead of taking time and going higher-end and vertical.
I think folks like Gillepsie don't see a high-end market or don't know how to make it work. It's why the original developers eventually teamed up with Grooters in Grand Rapids, since they had experience with River House, there. This project would have happened if not for the recession, and it would have been the project that would have gotten a lot of other developers off the fence.
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.
Comments
This project appears to be all but dead though. They are now trying to lease space in the 3 floor building on the site that was supposed to be tore down. I just hope that this site eventually gets a worthwhile project sooner rather than later.
The downside of that is that the street-facing part of the apartment would be permanently dark since it's inside of the ramp. Another way this could be done is if the apartments are the full depth of the parking ramp and you split the ramp in half perpendicular to Grand Ave.
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 folks like Gillepsie don't see a high-end market or don't know how to make it work. It's why the original developers eventually teamed up with Grooters in Grand Rapids, since they had experience with River House, there. This project would have happened if not for the recession, and it would have been the project that would have gotten a lot of other developers off the fence.