I'm not 100% sure, but I think the current zoning may date back to the early 2000's when St. Stephen's Church on the westside was going to build a new church on part of the site and then housing on the rest. It sounds like that plan probably had the church property fronting Ottawa and the housing fronting Ionia.
This looks pretty good. I agree it reminds me of the new Willow Street Apartment building. I think they look Lansing "style", and will fit nicely into the neighborhood.
LANSING — After years of failed plans, apartment buildings are going up on a vacant plot just west of the Capitol building.
The property, bordered by Ottawa, Butler, Ionia and Sycamore streets, is owned by LC Companies of Ann Arbor.
"I think it’s important to rebuild," said developer Bob Jacobson. "We can’t just walk away from our urban cores.”
The site will include two buildings with 24 low-income apartments apiece, along with bicycle parking and 127 parking spaces, according to the site plan.
More:
Rent for the units will be determined by income, Jacobson said, ranging from about $550 to $830 per month for a one bedroom unit and from about $670 to $1000 for a two-bedroom unit, including utilities.
Income is capped for a one-person household at about $31,000. For a three person household, it's capped at $40,000, Jacobson said.
Plans for the project also call for about 8,000 square feet of office space. Jacobson said they're currently talking with a daycare. Each building will be about 32,000 square feet.
The project is scheduled for completion in Spring 2020.
So income is capped at $31k but rent is up to $830. It’s impossible to live there and meet recognized standards for rent to income ratios. I don’t understand the point of income caps on buildings with rents this high.
I see this happen often, it’s definitely not unique to this new development.
Three things:
1. Daycare sounds interesting given the state workers nearby.
2. I hope they get retail tenants in the building as it would be great have another option besides Washington Square area
3. Not sure if income based apartments are right for this area of Lansing as it has the potential to garner state worker attention and pretty much every state worker is going to start higher than 31k/year. Must be the subsidies to be income based are a hedge if the building does not do as well as they'd like.
EDIT: I am a firm believer that this area of Lansing has the potential to be revitalized. The state is not going anywhere anytime soon and if the city core can resolve some of the issues it is experiencing it would become desirable for those that work down there. Might not be for everyone but I bet that would get an influx of workers that have the money to spend in that area.
Comments
I'm not 100% sure, but I think the current zoning may date back to the early 2000's when St. Stephen's Church on the westside was going to build a new church on part of the site and then housing on the rest. It sounds like that plan probably had the church property fronting Ottawa and the housing fronting Ionia.
This looks pretty good. I agree it reminds me of the new Willow Street Apartment building. I think they look Lansing "style", and will fit nicely into the neighborhood.
The LSJ picked up on this one, finally. It also gives a history of all of the proposals for the site: https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2019/07/11/development-ottawa-butler-block-lansing-apartments-lc-companies/1584283001/
More:
The project is scheduled for completion in Spring 2020.
I see this happen often, it’s definitely not unique to this new development.
Three things:
1. Daycare sounds interesting given the state workers nearby.
2. I hope they get retail tenants in the building as it would be great have another option besides Washington Square area
3. Not sure if income based apartments are right for this area of Lansing as it has the potential to garner state worker attention and pretty much every state worker is going to start higher than 31k/year. Must be the subsidies to be income based are a hedge if the building does not do as well as they'd like.
EDIT: I am a firm believer that this area of Lansing has the potential to be revitalized. The state is not going anywhere anytime soon and if the city core can resolve some of the issues it is experiencing it would become desirable for those that work down there. Might not be for everyone but I bet that would get an influx of workers that have the money to spend in that area.
Right, up to. 550 for that level of income for a single person isn't ridiculous.
Elevator towers going in.
BTW, you can directly post the photos by putting the url between image tags ("img""/img") replacing the "" with []: