So many bad decisions back then. Makes me wonder what types of bad decisions we're making now, in terms of Lansing and also in terms of the current best-practices of urban planning nationwide.
Nationwide I think some big mistakes are giving unlimited amounts of money to sports teams for their location, when many studies have shown that they don't come anywhere close to breaking even on the investments from the public money.
I remember the Spira-Mart plan, I think it was the last grandiose plan ever proposed for downtown, up until the casino maybe. I remember besides the power plant issue there was one property on that block that was holding out for more money during the whole urban renewal period, it was called the Opera House or it was an opera house. I think that by the time they took that building the 70's recession had begun. The Middle East wars lead to the oil embargo which was not good for Oldsmobile sales. I think they lost funding or lost interest in Lansing. All the grand plans were turned into practical and defensive plans with cement everywhere. The mall never was a place that people used, the buildings are very average and I don't think anyone from those days would be happy with what we got for knocking down 3/4 of our downtown. I think that mall started the general agreement among people in Lansing that still holds today, "there is nothing downtown,why would I go there?" Today this belief is not true there is a lots to see and do downtown, but many still hold the old thought about downtown.
It's sad this city has been so lacking in vision for the past 40-50 years. Even now we only have a trickle of investment in the central city and most of the buildings built are mediocre both in design and quality. It's sad to see other cities exceed our efforts, whether it's Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor or any of the other successful mid-sized cities, they almost make me embarrassed to call Lansing home. We're the state capital and home to a major university, we have what I imagine to be a very diverse economy for a metro our size and yet we still can't capitalize on all those advantages. When the bulk of your urban renewal is poorly designed, cheaply built four floor buildings all built by the same developer you have to wonder if there's any real momentum at all. (Sorry for the rant, but your comments brought out my concern over the current state of things.)
As for SpiraMart, it could've been a great thing, I still think a fairly large multifloor urban mall would do wonders to make downtown's retail segment stronger. Hopefully I'll make to the library soon to satisfy my curiosity about this project.
Lost Lansing has an article and pictures on the original Scott House, the namesake of Scott Park where the new substation is proposed for: The Scott House - Lost Lansing
I also came across a story about a proposal from the 1930's for a seven floor cooperative apartment building at 230 W Washtenaw: Just like New York - Lost Lansing
As a general reminder, Lost Lansing seems to be consistently updated with new stories and photos covering various aspects of Lansing history, there's a lot of info there.
Oh man, that would've been a cool building to have in Lansing.
A lot of cities have buildings like this scattered around or even in little districts, must have been a real trend at some point. Anybody know when this style was in? 20's, 30's, 40's even...?
Any idea as to the oldest street in Lansing? Michigan Ave is likely the oldest *main* street in the city, stretching from Detroit to Lansing via boardwalk, but I'm curious if there were streets/pathways that existed before Michigan Ave.
I think this a very interesting photo. I would agree that Grand River Avenue is the oldest "street" in Lansing. The first Europeans, the French did not really build any roads, they used rivers and native trails. It looks like the road might per-date Lansing itself. There is a good picture of a plank road in B.C. on wikipedia. Now that I see it I can imagine what it might have looked like in Michigan. I always had this picture in my head as a kid of a log road and what a bumpy ride that would be. Now it makes more sense to me! It must have been noisy.
Comments
heh.
Nationwide I think some big mistakes are giving unlimited amounts of money to sports teams for their location, when many studies have shown that they don't come anywhere close to breaking even on the investments from the public money.
As for SpiraMart, it could've been a great thing, I still think a fairly large multifloor urban mall would do wonders to make downtown's retail segment stronger. Hopefully I'll make to the library soon to satisfy my curiosity about this project.
I also came across a story about a proposal from the 1930's for a seven floor cooperative apartment building at 230 W Washtenaw: Just like New York - Lost Lansing
As a general reminder, Lost Lansing seems to be consistently updated with new stories and photos covering various aspects of Lansing history, there's a lot of info there.
A lot of cities have buildings like this scattered around or even in little districts, must have been a real trend at some point. Anybody know when this style was in? 20's, 30's, 40's even...?