The Abbot & The Graduate (Park District)

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  • edited September 2018

    Yeah the mayor is out of the country I believe. This article has more information,
    https://eastlansinginfo.org/content/draheim-says-council-members-pulled-bait-and-switch-leaves-absence

  • edited September 2018

    Sounds like a mess, and it's also one of the many reasons I've never been comfortable with the council being so small in the first place. I'm particularly annoyed at the mayor, who I've generally liked throughout the years. It's bad enough for a counciller to treat the council as some kind of side-gig or in Meadows' case a retirement hobby; it's worse when you've been elected mayor by your colleagues.

    This was really shady. I can see why Draheim is angry in particular; it's because of the Baier and Altmann are generally the "no" caucus on the council. So she and Stephens get stuck with him for the next few months. It's really gross that Altmann wouldn't even allow them to set a public hearing when Meadows would be back, though. That's a petty power-play.

    A statement from Stephens in that article:

    He went on, “People deserve to have their voices heard on every issue. And what I heard [from Altmann at the meeting], which is the scariest part of all, is that public hearings aren’t useful unless something is going to pass. The idea that getting public input on a matter, having the people that we represent come to us and weigh in, has no effect on a decision that we make, is insulting.”

    This is what the "no" caucus try to do in Lansing, essentially trying to keep proposals from going to the full council. But they were informed by the law department that that wasn't how we were going to do business, here.

  • edited September 2018

    Well, they must have had the numbers present, because the development agreement was approved by the council, last night.

    https://eastlansinginfo.org/content/after-years-drama-park-district-plan-looks-real

    The State Journal and East Lansing Info says they are shooting for a January construction start, as they are looking for some funding from the Michigan Strategic Fund which holds a meeting on November 27th. Anyway, this looks like it will finally get done.

    East Lansing Community & Economic Development Administrator Thomas Fehrenbach reiterated at Council’s meeting last night that Building A must be completed and occupied by May 2021 to receive the Michigan Business Tax credits. That means things have to move quickly.

    After the meeting, David Pierson, DRW/Convexity’s attorney, noted to ELi that the developer’s timetable actually calls for July 2020 completion, in order to have occupancy ready in time for the 2020-2021 academic year. This is because East Lansing lease cycles operate to accommodate student housing, even for non-student residences. The hotel also wants to be ready a few months before the start of the Fall 2020 MSU football season.

    Under the now-approved development agreement, the developers must submit applications for permits for Building C (the moderate-income rental building) within 18 months of Building A’s completion. Building C must be completed by January 1, 2025. If it is not, the land will be transferred to the City for use as “public open space.”

    A caveat here - and it's kind of mentioned in that exceprt above - is that part of the plan is running at a different speed than the rest. The small low-rise to rise at 341-345 Evergreen had its public hearing for its conditional rezoning rezoning last night as they were approving the development agreement for the entire project. This means that piece won't be done until the next council meeting, and it will be the last to rise.

  • Yes, the EL CC/admin is really gotten out of hand. Not only have they been bungling development for decades, and wasting tons of money in the process, they've also more recently been getting more publicly in trouble for mismanagement of city/federal funds. I'm not sure what is to be done... There is roughly a snowball's chance in hell of getting a majority of responsible, fiscal moderates or conservatives onto the council to counter these trends.

  • edited October 2018

    Looks like they want to start a month early. They want to start in early December, now.

    http://eastlansing.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1066&meta_id=68730

  • That's great to hear. Getting the first shovels in the ground always seems to be the hardest part.

  • Wow! That's awesome!!! Now I will wait with trepidation until... December? That's next week. :smiley:
  • It is great news to hear. I am hoping to hear the same news about the Red Cedar project soon. There will be a lot of folks working in the building trades.

  • Hard to believe it, but there it is... Eli projects a start date in December, with foundation pouring to begin in January!

    https://eastlansinginfo.org/content/wait-over-construction-will-start-vacant-corner

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