REO Town Development

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  • The brewery project on S.Washington has new overhead-style glass doors replacing the original window frames on the street front. It looks good but I would have rather they'd replaced the original windows at least on the second floor in their frames so as to retain just a little of the old facade design. They are putting a lot of time and money into this building which bodes well for its success. The same goes for the distillery at Elm St. there are pipe fitters and plumbers working there nearly every day so you know that is costing big bucks.

  • Here in REOtown the former Speed Wagon store on S Washington and W Barnes Ave looks like it is being renovated. They should tear it down and start over. This with the clean up going on across the street are really good signs of interest in this neighborhood and a great relief that these eyesores are being cleaned up.
    Down the street, the brewery did end up keeping the stone window sills for the second floor and the new windows look great. There is a stairway going up to a second level near the front windows that looks cool. This place is going to be a fun venue.

  • gb,

    I was around Barnes and Washington, today. Hadn't been down that way in a long time. REACH Art Studio to the south and the businesses across the street have this small stretch really looking nice. But, man, I was kind of sad to see how bad the Speedwagon property has gotten. That whole intersection is so weird since it's sitting right in between areas directly to the north and south that are being revived.

    I agree with you; the Speedwagon property just needs to be torn down. Honestly, that whole three-corner area including the old Little Caesars Pizza building across the street and the old pool hall all need to come down and the entire intersection redeveloped as a single unit. It doesn't even have to be anything fancy or upscale, just some low-key neighborhood-type buildings, you know, two-story buildings with maybe a handful of affordable apartments upstairs and general retail on the first floor kind of like what you have down Barnes at Beal.

    Anyway, went and looked at the property on the city website. It's weird, because no demolition or building permits have been pulled, but they've updated the picture section with 2 pictures showing them doing some kind of work on the property like you said. Might just be them cleaning out the inside since all I see is a Granger dumpster. The property has been fined by the city every year since 2016 for things like grass/weeds and trash according to the property's page.

  • Yes, that Speed Wagon building is gross. I think they just closed one day and left everything in there. That would be great to have a nice four corners of retail and housing at that intersection. The good pavement starts about two blocks up W Barnes, it would upgrade the area if they would pave the streets here, it is really bad those last two blocks and this makes it look like the neighborhood gets bad right there. On the other side, Fabulous Acres has a good number of nice houses, big old four by fours, lots of tree-lined streets a reinvestment in that neighborhood could make the name be true.
    On the 1000 block, there is new renovation going on in the little office building at Elm and S Washington. I think the State has moved out of there at least partly. There have been State offices in that building since the '60s.
    Any news of progress at The Wing on Hazel Street? I saw a couple of port-o-potties outside of the building and got all excited like something was beginning then realized they were there for the film festival showing films in the building.

  • edited April 2019

    I have no idea what's going on at the Wing. I imagine they are still working on it, but I haven't been by in some time. Since it's a project phased out over years, it'll be under construction for every year. lol

    As for 1033 South Washington, the city website shows permits pulled for some interior tear-out on the second and third floors earlier this month. I remember us mentioning this, but I forgot who the new owner is or what they plan to do with the building. It appears the developer's LLC bought the building about a year ago. I'd hope they consider reconstruction of the facade; it really sticks out and not in a good way in this district.

  • Thanks for the info... Yes, that is the '60s facade on that building, I wonder what was there before it became offices.
    On Sunday I had a chance to drive down W Barnes Ave, they are rebuilding several blocks of the street, but of course, it stops right at Coleman. They have rebuilt the rotary at Beal Street and laid out nice looking curbing which may be paved along the gutters with permeable bricks. I saw many pallets of bricks but I am not sure what they will be used for. The work in not complete but it is going to look nice when finished.

  • edited April 2019

    CSO work. It goes as far east as Bradley:

    https://lansingmi.gov/ImageRepository/Document?documentID=6390

    I'd forgotten they'd just closed down Mt. Hope the other week, which is why I ended up going down Barnes. I really do hope they fix it better this time than they did last time; it wasn't even that long ago. I was shocked by how bad it was since they'd seemingly put so much work into making it look nice the last time they'd done it.

  • This is how their marketing brochure portrays the building's update. :-)

  • Ha! Yeah, it would have been smart of me to simply do a search for the address. lol

    https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/1033-S-Washington-Ave-Lansing-MI/12861876/

    Looks like the 1st (garden level) and 2nd floors are for lease, so maybe they've already nailed down a tenant for the top floor? I'd love to see something much more extensive than that, but it being reused is not a bad thing. There is a need for general office space in the neighborhood.

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