Metro Place (formerly Reutter Park Place, formerly The Lenawee)

edited April 2008 in Lansing
Found this on CBRE's website, The Lenawee AKA Association Project, WOW!

Basic info:
180,000 sq ft
12 floors
4 floor, 750 space parking garage (building sits on top of it)
LEED certified
Track on roof
Mid 2010 completion


27097Lenaweedaytonight.gif

TheLenaweesiteplan.jpg

TheLenawee2.jpg
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Comments

  • I also found a higher res rendering:
    xy_F1BA07BF-9138-42C3-A7D5-485E5AF3A467__.jpg
  • That looks great...and that will be a good area for that I think. The southern edge of downtown can use some new projects in my mind. Too bad they won't go for 30 floors! Downtown Lansing needs a new tallest building, and its tallest building should be built this century. This probably won't add much to the skyline, but it will definitely be good.

    I'm new to the area, so I wonder if there are any thoughts from regulars about building a brand new office building when all of Accident Funds' buildings are going to go vacant in a couple years when they move into their new headquarters? I know AF uses the building on Wasthington Sq. and Allegan which otherwise looks pretty empty. I just worry about the footprint when AF moves into the new headquarters. Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing...filling AF's current facilities will be obviously easier than filling the Ottawa power station, but still.
  • edited April 2008
    Awww, man. I was just about to post this as I too was looking through CBRE for the first time in months. lol

    Really kind of bland, but I'm so happy to see that we're finally getting to the southside of downtown, a place so long neglected. I never got why it wasn't more developed having 496 as its border.

    Is this was Bob was talking about? I'm going to miss the old YMCA.
  • I think this is a great project in almost every aspect. I like the design, it's nice but not eccentric and it looks like it will give an imposing feel to the street. It has ground floor retail, they put the building on top of the parking to give the whole thing more height, and finally it couldn't be in a better location to encourage future growth. I think this building will be great, it will be one of those projects that seems to substantially expand downtown. And with a mid 2010 completion date the thing should be getting underway any time here, definately before the end of the year. I usually wouldn't be so optimistic, but the big BOA sign onsite makes me think this project is on the fast track to being built.

    As far as Accident Fund's properties being vacated, I think that won't affect this too much. AF basically has their main HQ and the Landmark Building, the Landmark Building is already for sale, I think that will likely be converted in to lofts on the upper floors with ground floor retail. Their HQ building is a bit tougher, but I don't think it will be too hard to fill, I wouldn't be suprised if Capitol Bancorp buys it for their headquarters or something.

    BTW, Lmich can you add this to Emporis if you haven't already?
  • edited April 2008
    I'm waiting until this is actually formally proposed to add this to Emporis.com like I do every other vision. At the moment, it's still a vision as far as I'm concerned until there is a report about who's developing this and some more concrete information.

    I'd never thought of Capitol Bancorp moving to the Accident Fund building. That would make a lot of sense since CB has outgrowing their headquarters. That would also open up CB's current hq site at Ottawa and Washington for something mixed-use. I hope someone passes this onto the movers-and-shakers.

    BTW, outside of this going into a rather empty part of downtown as far as I'm concerned this project is no more exciting than the Capitol View Tower, another office building/parking garage combo with the added bonus of street-level retail. I'm a little skeptical given the economy on this thing. We might end up with more banks and failed restaurants as the "retail" on the ground floor, but it's most certainly better than a site that hasn't been used for many years.
  • edited April 2008
    Well, it was finally in the paper, today:

    bilde?Site=A3&Date=20080421&Category=NEWS03&ArtNo=804210331&Ref=AR&Profile=1004&MaxW=550&MaxH=650&title=0

    $60M building may go on old YMCA site

    Jeremy W. Steele • Lansing State Journal • April 21, 2008

    A 12-story, $60 million office building could replace the dilapidated former home of the YMCA.

    Husband-and-wife developers Daniel Essa and Julie Lawton-Essa, of East Lansing-based Lawton Group Development, want to build the massive structure on the two-acre site the YMCA of Metropolitan Lansing vacated in 2003.

    The building, dubbed The Lenawee, would include 160,000 square feet of upscale office space, 8,200 square feet of ground-floor retail and a 750-space parking structure.

    It could be finished as soon as the end of 2010.

    "It's pretty exciting," said Lawton-Essa, who has nearly 20 years in real estate. "Right now, Lansing does not have anything like this available."

    The building does not have any announced tenants, but the couple control the Y site through a deal with the Y.

    .......

    Kind of sounds like a soft proposal, at the moment.
  • On WILX they said they expect to break ground in 6-8 months. I think thats realistic, given that we know this project has already been in the works for quite awhile.
  • Yeah, the Lansing State Journal article I posted says that "Planning on the building will likely continue for at least six to eight months." So, we'll probably know in about a year whether this thing is going to construction.
  • WLNS reports demolition of the old YMCA building this fall and groundbreaking end of the year. However, no source is cited for this statement.

    http://www.wlns.com/Global/story.asp?S=8204475&nav=menu25_2
  • edited April 2008
    Can someone help me with something. They keep calling this building 12-floors, but I'm only counting 11 at the very most. Further more, the press release on the city website meantions that there will be an 11-th floor walkout onto the roof which seems to imply that there can't really be a floor above that. Is there an underground level, or something?

    http://apps.cityoflansingmi.com:8000/newsevents/releases/Lenawee_Building-PR24326.pdf

    I'm guessing the "12th" floor is the running track, then?
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