It looks like a very preliminary drawing, I like that the building will have a nice facade facing Michigan on the south and the also on the west side, not crazy about the surface lot but it is depicted as having nice landscaping. I would think the east side on Penn. will be similar perhaps with the north side being the service entrance/dock area.
This may have been already happening and I just noticed, but I saw several dumpsters full of debris behind Old Eastern High School yesterday, which might mean the renovation of that building is starting.
I'm happy to see Sparrow expanding, the additional jobs will be nice and I'm glad they're not tearing down Eastern for this. That being said I'm still not a fan of the surgical center project, I don't like the vacating of a street and I don't like the design of the building.
I guess it is the large amount of land we have to build on that is the reason most building don't make it beyond five or six stories in Lansing, it may be cheaper to build horizontally! Some bolder design should be considered, and buildings fronting the street would be better, as pointed out, than parking lots. The McLaren building is good example of nicer than it has to be, these drawings are just OK but seem to be "outback buildings" like an industrial park not a nice downtown design. What are the planning for the area where they demolished a large building near 8th Ave and Michigan Ave.? I am hoping a parking lot is not what they are planning.
I have nothing to complain about here. The Penn side of the new surgical center isn't as bad as I thought it would be, at least it's built up relatively close to the street and the design is bland but unoffensive.
I'm all for Sparrow using the building if they can but if they can't I hope they're at least willing to keep the Penn facing section of the building along with the auditorium and sell it, it'd only amount to about 1.5 acres or so out of the 18 or 19 acres of developable land they own north of Jerome. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1YOgEMiIIMHEYpYrlDRVMc4sdJKh_8O8&usp=sharing
Comments
I'm all for Sparrow using the building if they can but if they can't I hope they're at least willing to keep the Penn facing section of the building along with the auditorium and sell it, it'd only amount to about 1.5 acres or so out of the 18 or 19 acres of developable land they own north of Jerome.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1YOgEMiIIMHEYpYrlDRVMc4sdJKh_8O8&usp=sharing