Hood, I'd actually asked you awhile back, but are you able to find the development agreement? That would clear a lot of this up. I think it was amended from the original one right before they started the first phase of Marketplace, but I can't remember if the amendment kept the required Cedar Street building(s) in or out. I do know for sure that the original/unamended plan definitely include a building/buildings on Cedar Street, and it would have required them to have ground floor retail.
I think these developers should be building some services for what will soon be even more people living downtown. Maybe they could get someone like Horrocks to run the city market and fill they place with merchandise and people.
If they actually wanted a farmer's market, they wouldn't have forced out the actual farm vendors. The vision can always change for the market with a new mayor, and now they are seeing the error of their ways and talking about bringing back a produce day. But it seems they are aways off from turning it back into an actual market.
@MichMatters No, I couldn't find it. I think it was under "documents placed on file" before, making it easy to find. I don't see it there anymore. It might be possible to find it if you knew the date of the council agenda it'd be in.
As for City Market, I really don't think it'll ever work in it's current building or location for a lot of reasons, I think two of the biggest problems are that it's too small and there's not enough parking. I'd still really like to see an expanded market with an expanded focus, I really like what I see in Detroit's Eastern Market and Grand Rapids' City Market. I'm kinda partial to my own vision for the market that I've shared before but regardless I'd really like to see some serious attention and investment paid to the market, if done right it may be able to fund itself or even turn a profit.
I think the location could work for the City Market eventually. I agree that it does feel small. It was designed for a second floor mezzanine that could help but that was a future task if the demand was there...so I can't see them doing that anytime soon without a push to embrace more vendors and a variety. I stopped going as often when it was mostly produce. I mean, how many options did I need for produce? I would have loved to replace trips to Meijer with a trip to the City Market but it was tough when the only options seemed like veggies and cheese.
Again with Columbus, Ohio, they have a great City Market in the Short North with such a variety that is thriving. I believe they just completed another expansion. Boston had another I was at about a year ago which had just opened. They've got variety along with narrow aisles which make them seem busy even when they aren't. I think visually there are some tricks that could be had to revitalize Lansing's.
That said, I believe both are not owned and operated by the cities...
Got this this morning, and just noticed that the two phases aren't exactly symmetrical:
BTW, heard that Lansing postal workers are being stretched so thin with all of these new downtown apartments. Since they aren't hiring new workers, they've had to double or triple up on the route that covers downtown.
Was doing a search on this development to see if I could find the original development agreement. I couldn't, but I did find a mention of it back in a March 2015 agenda item (the 2014 Comprehensive Annual Finance Report for the city) and they speak of the construction of the first phase and say that two additional phases will be completed in five years. I guess that means we should be seeing the Cedar Street building by 2020, though I'm not sure if that was pushed back (or if it could be depending on the development agreement). Anyway, that's confirmation that there is definitely a third planned phase of this.
As I walked by the Intrigue storefront in REOtown I noticed a depiction of the Outfield Apartments built out to the corner of Cedar and Shiawassee dated 2017. Are they going to build out the area next to the street soon? It looks "colorful" but great.
Do you mean built out into the parking lot of Lansing Brewing Company? I was kind of disappointed to see the brewing company move in there, because it pretty much meant the end of the original plant that would have built the ballpark apartments out to the corner.
I'd love it if that is still in consideration, but Gillespie seems pretty dead-set on surface parking for his properties. Before the recession hit he tried to get the city to building a parking garage north of the stadium. And even before that he tried to get them to build one for the Stadium District apartments and condos.
For whatever reason, the city has not treated the parking problem east of the river as a priority. But if they don't want the area to get "stuck," they'll need to seriously start looking at a parking garage somewhere. In my mind, the most obvious space is the Chief Kart rental lot north of Roma. Though in use, they've had the property up for sale for years now.
Anyway, it goes without saying that in my vision, any parking garage they build should have storefronts lining the streets.
@gbdinlansing That's interesting about the rendering at Studio Intrigue, I'll have to try to take a peek.
I agree that the city needs to do something about the parking in the Stadium District area. I think that rental lot is a little far north to be of much help to what's already been built but it may be the only option since Gillespie owns all the land that you'd really like to see a ramp on.
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Hood, I'd actually asked you awhile back, but are you able to find the development agreement? That would clear a lot of this up. I think it was amended from the original one right before they started the first phase of Marketplace, but I can't remember if the amendment kept the required Cedar Street building(s) in or out. I do know for sure that the original/unamended plan definitely include a building/buildings on Cedar Street, and it would have required them to have ground floor retail.
I think these developers should be building some services for what will soon be even more people living downtown. Maybe they could get someone like Horrocks to run the city market and fill they place with merchandise and people.
If they actually wanted a farmer's market, they wouldn't have forced out the actual farm vendors. The vision can always change for the market with a new mayor, and now they are seeing the error of their ways and talking about bringing back a produce day. But it seems they are aways off from turning it back into an actual market.
@MichMatters No, I couldn't find it. I think it was under "documents placed on file" before, making it easy to find. I don't see it there anymore. It might be possible to find it if you knew the date of the council agenda it'd be in.
As for City Market, I really don't think it'll ever work in it's current building or location for a lot of reasons, I think two of the biggest problems are that it's too small and there's not enough parking. I'd still really like to see an expanded market with an expanded focus, I really like what I see in Detroit's Eastern Market and Grand Rapids' City Market. I'm kinda partial to my own vision for the market that I've shared before but regardless I'd really like to see some serious attention and investment paid to the market, if done right it may be able to fund itself or even turn a profit.
I think the location could work for the City Market eventually. I agree that it does feel small. It was designed for a second floor mezzanine that could help but that was a future task if the demand was there...so I can't see them doing that anytime soon without a push to embrace more vendors and a variety. I stopped going as often when it was mostly produce. I mean, how many options did I need for produce? I would have loved to replace trips to Meijer with a trip to the City Market but it was tough when the only options seemed like veggies and cheese.
Again with Columbus, Ohio, they have a great City Market in the Short North with such a variety that is thriving. I believe they just completed another expansion. Boston had another I was at about a year ago which had just opened. They've got variety along with narrow aisles which make them seem busy even when they aren't. I think visually there are some tricks that could be had to revitalize Lansing's.
That said, I believe both are not owned and operated by the cities...
Got this this morning, and just noticed that the two phases aren't exactly symmetrical:
BTW, heard that Lansing postal workers are being stretched so thin with all of these new downtown apartments. Since they aren't hiring new workers, they've had to double or triple up on the route that covers downtown.
Was doing a search on this development to see if I could find the original development agreement. I couldn't, but I did find a mention of it back in a March 2015 agenda item (the 2014 Comprehensive Annual Finance Report for the city) and they speak of the construction of the first phase and say that two additional phases will be completed in five years. I guess that means we should be seeing the Cedar Street building by 2020, though I'm not sure if that was pushed back (or if it could be depending on the development agreement). Anyway, that's confirmation that there is definitely a third planned phase of this.
As I walked by the Intrigue storefront in REOtown I noticed a depiction of the Outfield Apartments built out to the corner of Cedar and Shiawassee dated 2017. Are they going to build out the area next to the street soon? It looks "colorful" but great.
Do you mean built out into the parking lot of Lansing Brewing Company? I was kind of disappointed to see the brewing company move in there, because it pretty much meant the end of the original plant that would have built the ballpark apartments out to the corner.
I'd love it if that is still in consideration, but Gillespie seems pretty dead-set on surface parking for his properties. Before the recession hit he tried to get the city to building a parking garage north of the stadium. And even before that he tried to get them to build one for the Stadium District apartments and condos.
For whatever reason, the city has not treated the parking problem east of the river as a priority. But if they don't want the area to get "stuck," they'll need to seriously start looking at a parking garage somewhere. In my mind, the most obvious space is the Chief Kart rental lot north of Roma. Though in use, they've had the property up for sale for years now.
Anyway, it goes without saying that in my vision, any parking garage they build should have storefronts lining the streets.
@gbdinlansing That's interesting about the rendering at Studio Intrigue, I'll have to try to take a peek.
I agree that the city needs to do something about the parking in the Stadium District area. I think that rental lot is a little far north to be of much help to what's already been built but it may be the only option since Gillespie owns all the land that you'd really like to see a ramp on.