Capitol Park Center (formerly SOBI Square, Ottawa & Butler)

hood

Finally this development is announced: Gold Coast Revival

The renderings are too small to tell much from but they look decent and the siteplan is dense and should really help the area.

Jared

Looks good. It's always nice to hear of another unused piece of land being developed. The renderings would be nice to see, but I wouldn't get too attached to them, as they will most definitely change with the market. The next step is to work on getting rid of the surface lots nearby.

hood

LSJ story from today: Developer set to build housing near downtown Lansing

It says he hopes to begin construction in the spring with phased construction being completed in 2011. I hope he starts with the mixed use building and other structures along Ottawa.

I scanned the siteplan & elevations out of city pulse:

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MichMatters

Well, they finally admit that Gene was the one looking at this land, and I'm so happy to here that it's him. You can always count on Townsend to develop the absolute best in quality for whatever particular price-range he happens to develop within. Like his other developments, this one looks urban-minded unlike some developers who've tried to recreate suburban Okemos in downtown Lansing...

I've always been a believer that the redevelopment and infill of our inner-city neighborhoods is just as important if not more important than anything that happens in between Pere Marquette and Capitol.

Adieoz

This area must have been quite something to see when it was built...just take a drive by the homes that are still there. Does anybody have any old photos? I am excited to hear that the developer is considering how the development will connect with the existing neighborhoods. I think overall the design in quite good.

hood

I've had problems trying to find old photos of this area, but I still need to look at the CADL's collection of historic photos. Looking at fire maps though, there were quite a few rowhouses, low rise apartments and pretty large houses in the area that is now the Captiol Complex and Capitol Commons.

MichMatters

Yeah, a lot of the rest of the old city of Lansing is covered in old photos, but the area west of the Capitol seems to be a mystery as far as pictures are concerned. I do remember seeing a few old areas that showed that it was quite a solid neighborhood. It makes me sick to see that it has become a such a wasteland of parking lots. I can't for the life of me not understand why this city administration, who has good contacts with the current governor, can't at least get in contact with the state to see if something could be worked out where the state agrees to bury or consolidate some of its parking in a few large parking structures, and then sell off the dozens of acres of land that exist on that side of downtown. It's surprising considering how open this governor has been to consolidating state offices in downtown Lansing. This would open up a plethora of land for the city and developers to work with.

hood

I think that the state may even be open to the idea of giving up some of it's parking lots, I hadn't really given that idea much thought. I think at least the ones south of the state library, maybe the one west of the Cass building could be gotten rid of. Also the lot east of Constitution Hall is privately owned, so hopefully something will happen with that in the relatively near future.

MichMatters

Seeing as how there is been no talk, I doubt the city has even ever seriously considered that the state may want to consolidate their parking. I sent the idea to the planning director and EDC director, today, to see if they'd even thought of this. Now would be the time, because we can't assure anyone will see another governor or house so open to the idea of central city redevelopment. What I've always envisioned is perhaps one or two large parking garages, which seems more realistic, or them taking the parking underground like they've done throughout the rest of the capital complex. This would be a win-win because the state could make a killing off of selling this much contiguous developable land, and Lansing would win in that we could construct and entire new neighborhood. I can't think of any other city but perhaps Detroit with this much potential developable land in or right outside its downtown. We're talking dozens and dozens of acres of contiguous land here. To me, this has always been the last piece of the puzzle in downtown Lansing. Now that we're seeing developers take a bite out of the Eastbank (downtown east of the Grand), I think this doesn't seem like such a crazy and hopeless idea, anymore.

On a related note, it would be great to see the Eydes sell their chunk of land at MLK and Kalamazoo to someone like Gene Townsend. Perhaps, I'll pitch Mr. Townsend the idea...

Adieoz

LMich, I totally agree. What a unique opportunity to create an entirely new neighborhood right in the heart of the city! It makes me a little sad to drive through there right now and see how disconnected this part of town seems...a parking lot waste land.

Jared

Townsend closed today on a 5-acre parcel at Townsend & Sycamore for $460,000. The next step is to get it rezoned. I sure hope this project moves along fast, and I wish it the best of luck in today's housing market.