So glad there's movement on this. Seems like it's in good hands with Eyde. The design looks really nice. It will be great to have permanent residents at this site in this part of downtown.
I'd love to see LCC work with a developer to build a mixed-use 5-story building immediately north of Oliver Towers - market the residential portion towards LCC students and and put a bar, a coffee shop and a fed-ex/kinkos on the ground floor. (could even be a BW3). This would make a nice little stretch of retail on Capitol Ave, in conjunction with the businesses in the parking garage across the street. The residents at Oliver Tower and the new building and LCC students would keep all the businesses open. Plus it would give something for the neighbors to the west to walk to. There are a lot of people living in this northwest downtown neighborhood and they have no retail worth walking to.
Not to be too negative, but that color scheme looks like barf. For the life of me I don't understand why, since the 1970s, developers/designers get stuck in decades-long ugly neutral color fads. Right now it is grey, grey, grey, which looks dingy and soulless. In the 80s, it was poop brown, ecru, and off white, in the 70s, it was brown, brown, brown, and mustard yellow. Very lazy design IMO.
Recently, I had a friend at work trying to convince me that grey was a great interior wall color as it hid dirt really well... I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was because that color makes the walls look dingy and dirty!!!
I would say that it is true that browns and tans were the colors of choice back then, when I think of it I don't know why except that it was different than the '50's mod-colors more natural I guess? this is a rehab so they are kind of stuck using the exterior brick color that is there. It looks like the new windows and railings will add some flare. I agree a shade of color that contrasts the with browns and beiges would be nice. I'm really glad to see this building finally be rehabilitated even when it was new it looked like the most average public housing block, one of those "oh this is what we got out of urban renewal" buildings like the ugly parking ramp across the street.
I'm really not unhappy with this design or color scheme given what they started with. The materials at least look decent, the light colored material looks like stone, the brown is brick while the black might be some of the cheap paneling. I have to say, I still would have rather just seen this building tore down though.
I'm sure it's well built, but the low ceilings, large setbacks and poor position on the site make it hard to turn into something worthwhile. I would rather see something that faces the street more.
There was a proposal to build some really nice townhouses on the site back maybe 10-15 years ago. I wasn't thrilled about it at the time due to the lack of retail space but looking back they would have been sort of nice to see there, at least where facing Ionia and Seymour.
Interesting.... Gillespie -- pushing the exact same building 10-15 years ago, just a different design style. I personally think this proposal feels more appropriate for Richmond VA or anywhere in the south. To me the Oliver Tower looks like Lansing (for better or worse).
.....that said, I think the best cities have a mish-mash of architectural styles. So I would welcome this building on any vacant parcel or parking lot in Lansing. It's also a good urban building.
Btw, Oliver Towers has density, height/scale, presence and a more sensitive-than-you-would-think entry plaza off the street at ground level (if I remember correctly)....this will be a spot where residents hang out and meet each other. The parking is tucked behind and pretty limited. The building is set back just enough to not obstruct views of the neighboring church. The building footprint takes up a healthy portion of the site, and what's left has been designed as green space that now has healthy looking mature trees surrounding the building. These will make the apartments beautiful inside if they are smart enough to leave the trees on site. Residents will be living in the tree canopy. Oliver Towers is a great urban building. I'm certain it will be a fantastic addition to downtown when the renovation is complete.
That parking lot to the north is what's doing a huge disservice to this area.
Comments
@MichMatters Are there new renderings for this or is it still supposed to look like the rendering a few posts back?
So glad there's movement on this. Seems like it's in good hands with Eyde. The design looks really nice. It will be great to have permanent residents at this site in this part of downtown.
I'd love to see LCC work with a developer to build a mixed-use 5-story building immediately north of Oliver Towers - market the residential portion towards LCC students and and put a bar, a coffee shop and a fed-ex/kinkos on the ground floor. (could even be a BW3). This would make a nice little stretch of retail on Capitol Ave, in conjunction with the businesses in the parking garage across the street. The residents at Oliver Tower and the new building and LCC students would keep all the businesses open. Plus it would give something for the neighbors to the west to walk to. There are a lot of people living in this northwest downtown neighborhood and they have no retail worth walking to.
Not to be too negative, but that color scheme looks like barf. For the life of me I don't understand why, since the 1970s, developers/designers get stuck in decades-long ugly neutral color fads. Right now it is grey, grey, grey, which looks dingy and soulless. In the 80s, it was poop brown, ecru, and off white, in the 70s, it was brown, brown, brown, and mustard yellow. Very lazy design IMO.
Recently, I had a friend at work trying to convince me that grey was a great interior wall color as it hid dirt really well... I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was because that color makes the walls look dingy and dirty!!!
I would say that it is true that browns and tans were the colors of choice back then, when I think of it I don't know why except that it was different than the '50's mod-colors more natural I guess? this is a rehab so they are kind of stuck using the exterior brick color that is there. It looks like the new windows and railings will add some flare. I agree a shade of color that contrasts the with browns and beiges would be nice. I'm really glad to see this building finally be rehabilitated even when it was new it looked like the most average public housing block, one of those "oh this is what we got out of urban renewal" buildings like the ugly parking ramp across the street.
I'm really not unhappy with this design or color scheme given what they started with. The materials at least look decent, the light colored material looks like stone, the brown is brick while the black might be some of the cheap paneling. I have to say, I still would have rather just seen this building tore down though.
No way! This is a good city building
I'm sure it's well built, but the low ceilings, large setbacks and poor position on the site make it hard to turn into something worthwhile. I would rather see something that faces the street more.
There was a proposal to build some really nice townhouses on the site back maybe 10-15 years ago. I wasn't thrilled about it at the time due to the lack of retail space but looking back they would have been sort of nice to see there, at least where facing Ionia and Seymour.
Interesting.... Gillespie -- pushing the exact same building 10-15 years ago, just a different design style. I personally think this proposal feels more appropriate for Richmond VA or anywhere in the south. To me the Oliver Tower looks like Lansing (for better or worse).
.....that said, I think the best cities have a mish-mash of architectural styles. So I would welcome this building on any vacant parcel or parking lot in Lansing. It's also a good urban building.
Btw, Oliver Towers has density, height/scale, presence and a more sensitive-than-you-would-think entry plaza off the street at ground level (if I remember correctly)....this will be a spot where residents hang out and meet each other. The parking is tucked behind and pretty limited. The building is set back just enough to not obstruct views of the neighboring church. The building footprint takes up a healthy portion of the site, and what's left has been designed as green space that now has healthy looking mature trees surrounding the building. These will make the apartments beautiful inside if they are smart enough to leave the trees on site. Residents will be living in the tree canopy. Oliver Towers is a great urban building. I'm certain it will be a fantastic addition to downtown when the renovation is complete.
That parking lot to the north is what's doing a huge disservice to this area.
It would be awesome to see that Gillespie proposal built on the parking lot to the north of Oliver Towers.