I agree that the scale here is pushing it, but if they were to actually adhere to what I'm seeing in these renderings I wouldn't have any objections to this project at all and it's not crazy in the context of East Village. The architecture is pretty nice, actually downright impressive by recent Lansing standards. The masonry work on the lower floors looks great on both buildings and I really like the design of northernmost wing of the north tower in particular. I'm guessing this will be another case of a very quick timetable if it's approved, there's no tax incentives involved so I don't see too many hang ups if the council can accept the height.
Looks like the planning staff recommend against the height increase for East Village (from 140 feet to 165 feet), and the article says the planning commission only recommended the changes the planning department staff did. So, I guess it'll come down to the city council. Given the kind of mixed reaction council has had to development, I can imagine them going either way on the changes to the East Village zoning district. Though if I had to guess right now, my gut is telling me they might not be ready quite yet for the raising the max height limit.
Then again, they did pass the 160-foot height overlay for downtown back in April. The catch is that it was a very close vote (3-2). I'd bet if Core Spaces asked for just 160 feet to match downtown, they could have argued that council had already raised it to that for downtown, so why not East Village. The extra 5 feet they are requesting over what's allowed downtown may end up being a problem.
1. Approved site plan and special use permit (SPU) for Jolly Pumpkin, a brewery, winery, distillery and artisan pizza restaurant, in the new Center City development.
2. Approved an SPU to allow the new Target to sell alcohol.
3. Approval of the modified site plan for The Cottages at Gaslight Village, finally, and approval to remove the two-year lease restriction on the units.
4. Approval of a site plan and SPU to allow for the construction of a 44-unit, 4-story sorority at 215-217 River Street.
MSUFCU is looking to build a 5-8 story building on the parking lot south of Dublin Square. The city would sell the land, currently a parking lot, to them for $810,000. The sale would need to be approved by voters in the next election, which would be the presidential primary election.
This is great to hear and I really think it's overdue. It would have been so great for East Lansing and MSUFCU if they had built their headquarters downtown East Lansing instead of out in the Northern Tier.
This is where Park District East - or at least part of that project - was going to go, right?
I've always thought EL should have a more traditional downtown, and office space is part of that. Apparently, the city thinks this, too:
According to the release, city staff started the discussion about the proposed project "as part of targeted business recruitment to encourage the expansion of high-quality office use in the downtown."
Yes this would use the parking lot that Vlahakis wanted to build on. EastLansingInfo has an article on this too that mentions the land is a bit larger than the parking lot since Albert Ave is being relocated south and thus the right of way will be moving south too.
Comments
Looks like the planning staff recommend against the height increase for East Village (from 140 feet to 165 feet), and the article says the planning commission only recommended the changes the planning department staff did. So, I guess it'll come down to the city council. Given the kind of mixed reaction council has had to development, I can imagine them going either way on the changes to the East Village zoning district. Though if I had to guess right now, my gut is telling me they might not be ready quite yet for the raising the max height limit.
Then again, they did pass the 160-foot height overlay for downtown back in April. The catch is that it was a very close vote (3-2). I'd bet if Core Spaces asked for just 160 feet to match downtown, they could have argued that council had already raised it to that for downtown, so why not East Village. The extra 5 feet they are requesting over what's allowed downtown may end up being a problem.
BTW, here's the thread for East Village:
https://develop.metrolansing.com/discussions/discussion/50/the-east-village-master-plan-and-redevelopment-thread/p7
1. Approved site plan and special use permit (SPU) for Jolly Pumpkin, a brewery, winery, distillery and artisan pizza restaurant, in the new Center City development.
2. Approved an SPU to allow the new Target to sell alcohol.
3. Approval of the modified site plan for The Cottages at Gaslight Village, finally, and approval to remove the two-year lease restriction on the units.
4. Approval of a site plan and SPU to allow for the construction of a 44-unit, 4-story sorority at 215-217 River Street.
This is great to hear and I really think it's overdue. It would have been so great for East Lansing and MSUFCU if they had built their headquarters downtown East Lansing instead of out in the Northern Tier.
Lansing State Journal: MSUFCU considers new downtown East Lansing office building.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/local/2019/11/25/msufcu-michigan-state-university-federal-credit-union-downtown-east-lansing-office/4300756002/
I've always thought EL should have a more traditional downtown, and office space is part of that. Apparently, the city thinks this, too:
https://eastlansinginfo.org/content/surprise-development-msufcu-looking-toward-building-downtown