To get a four floor building, spanning an entire block and built out the the street is great, the fact that it's going in a relatively off the beaten path area of downtown makes it better. My only gripe is with the vinyl siding and cinder block-like materials, but given the location and design of the building it's much more palatable here than with Gillespie's projects.
We desperately need more developers working in Lansing, so I really hope these guys do well and carry out more projects.
Looks like in Monday's council agenda that the developer has requested (and received) the vacation of city utility easement. The developer will move a sewer line at his own cost, so I guess this is a sign that they will probably be starting (demolition) prep work soon. Something else of note is why the December news speaks of a bit over 150 units, the council packet has the number up to 244-units, which would mean some additional floors and higher than the 220-something original proposed. So, either the city was given old news, or they've upgraded the projects.
It's been a while since we've heard anything on this project so I'm not 100% sure on the status but I just went by the old YMCA building just a bit ago.
The building looks pretty gutted as of now. Wonder if they're close to demolition.
I noticed the fencing a couple weeks ago driving by, I was wondering how long it'd been there. I hope to see this project move forward, it would add quite a few people downtown. I didn't notice that they were working on gutting the building, but it's a good sign that they are.
Wow, this must be very recent, because I was by their what feels like just two or so weeks ago, and I don't remember seeing any of this. The sooner they get it down the better. It's been sad to see it deteriorate. I have good memories of the place even though the times I'd been in it it was long past its prime. I remember a running track on one of the upper floors.
LANSING — The seven-year effort of one developer to transform the former downtown YMCA site from crumbling eyesore to attractive walk-to-work housing has stalled again.
Despite announcements a year ago of more than $16 million in federal, state and city support for the $20 million Metro Place project and the developer’s stated intention to break ground last spring, the property at 301 W. Lenawee St. sat idle throughout 2015.
This week, project spokesman Dan Essa blamed the delay on regulatory problems the project’s anticipated main lender encountered on unrelated loans.
“We were supposed to close with Prudential this summer (2015),” said Essa. “But Prudential had an issue with HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) over some loans they made. The people we were working with are no longer with the company.
The city is saying that the company doesn't have the loan committments for this project that it claims it does and that they'd like the developer to move on. LEAP and MEDC said they currently aren't working with the developer because the project isn't financially viable. Given the redesign, I'd not really be sad if this plan doesn't happen. Given that this developer had only developed houses before, I was always skeptical of his plans for the site, anyway.
Can't say as though I'm surprised here, I think this developer bit off a little more than they can chew. I also agree that I won't miss this proposal. It would have been great in the sense that it would add a lot units to the downtown housing market, but at the end of the day it's only a four floor building with relatively little commercial space, a mediocre design and in a part of downtown that probably doesn't have a lot of upside in the near future.
All that being said, it sounds as though the developer is still pursuing the project and they're ready to go if they can get the financing. We'll see.
I was kind of hoping someone else would eventually get this site, as I think it's a pretty poor design and underutilization of the site. But I guess the good thing is that this proves there is still demand for this site.
Something else mentioned was that this makes it less likely that the city would propose moving the 54-A District to the nearby Veterans Memorial Courthouse on Reutter Park because that proposal included using the YMCA for overflow parking. I like that it makes that concept tougher as it also makes the current city hall proposal less likely.
A formal announcement is expected next month, and they'll be using a brownfield plan the city came up with 10 years ago for the site but never finalized.
I agree with your thoughts on the design. Maybe this is dated and they will revisit the design. Seems like I saw this drawing a few years ago. As folks here may know I really hate those roof caps or whatever they call them. I think they make a building look shorter, and they seem cheap. It is really great that something is going to built there, but I think that anything built there ought to be at least as nice in its design and quality as the building, it is replacing.
I wish they would keep the YMCA building and turn that in to apartments and then they can build this on the rest of the land. They could even use part of the YMCA building as a community center for the complex (offer indoor basketball courts and a dance studio, things that are relatively low maintenance).
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We desperately need more developers working in Lansing, so I really hope these guys do well and carry out more projects.
A wider view of the building from WILX:
The building looks pretty gutted as of now. Wonder if they're close to demolition.
The city is saying that the company doesn't have the loan committments for this project that it claims it does and that they'd like the developer to move on. LEAP and MEDC said they currently aren't working with the developer because the project isn't financially viable. Given the redesign, I'd not really be sad if this plan doesn't happen. Given that this developer had only developed houses before, I was always skeptical of his plans for the site, anyway.
All that being said, it sounds as though the developer is still pursuing the project and they're ready to go if they can get the financing. We'll see.
So, I was pretty convinced this was dead, but this week's City Pulse out now is saying that Metro Place at the site of the former YMCA on Lenawee is back on.
I was kind of hoping someone else would eventually get this site, as I think it's a pretty poor design and underutilization of the site. But I guess the good thing is that this proves there is still demand for this site.
Something else mentioned was that this makes it less likely that the city would propose moving the 54-A District to the nearby Veterans Memorial Courthouse on Reutter Park because that proposal included using the YMCA for overflow parking. I like that it makes that concept tougher as it also makes the current city hall proposal less likely.
A formal announcement is expected next month, and they'll be using a brownfield plan the city came up with 10 years ago for the site but never finalized.
I agree with your thoughts on the design. Maybe this is dated and they will revisit the design. Seems like I saw this drawing a few years ago. As folks here may know I really hate those roof caps or whatever they call them. I think they make a building look shorter, and they seem cheap. It is really great that something is going to built there, but I think that anything built there ought to be at least as nice in its design and quality as the building, it is replacing.
I wish they would keep the YMCA building and turn that in to apartments and then they can build this on the rest of the land. They could even use part of the YMCA building as a community center for the complex (offer indoor basketball courts and a dance studio, things that are relatively low maintenance).