There was a big kerfuffle about cell phone towers in this area back early last year before the Board of Zoning Appeals. The tower at 910 River - this area is directly east of REO Town and Riverpoint across the Red Cedar - was having trouble with its coverage of the area, so they proposed having their own tower at 1215 River, which is directly south of this existing tower across the Red Cedar. They needed a variance to build a tower so close to the existing towers (910 River and one on Baker Street). The owners of the tower at 910 River were trying to stop Verizon from moving it's antenna to its the new tower to be owned by Verizon, but failed. Not sure how exactly this would relate to the the changing in warning lights, but it might.
As far as I know, the river is still low because they never fixed the North Lansing Dam issue.
The signal light that I noticed was out is back on! , I think some one read my post! It seems to be a slightly less bright and blinks on and off rather than strobe flashes. Thanks for the information, there is another large tower in the BWL yard that lines up with Elm Street, that one is also close to River Street . I took a walk down the River Trail towards Potter Park the other day and found for some reason the row of cedar trees that lined the fence of the BWL pole yard and blocked the view of the yard have been "trimmed" with all the lower branches cut off leaving bottle brush trees. This trim job also reveals the view of the stinky muddy pole yard and now that the green cloth fence cover has also blown off in many spots it is not so nice to walk past this area. I was over there to take a look at the renovated warehouse on the river there. The fellow who renovated the building was sadly killed in an accident, and that reminded me I had not seen the building finished and occupied. He did a great job, the building looks very nice and seems fully leased with a some cool loft apartments on the top.
John Sears was the guy who owned this building?! So, so sad. BTW, the building is entirely light industrial/commercial as far as I know, which is impressive because he didn't have to design it to look this nice and like lofts.
I noticed on my walk today that Principal Financial has moved from the old bus station into the two story office building at 608 S Washington that has been under renovation. I wonder what kind of business could move into the old station, maybe a night club they could call it The Bus Stop!:}
Here in REOtown at the new Ellison Brewery they laid some nice old bricks in the outside "patio"? area. The bricks have makers marks printed in them and look like the may be reclaimed from an old building ,there a lot more of them piled up inside. Inside some interior walls are going up, and I noticed the ceiling is nicely illuminated by the rows transom windows they had removed the paint from. There are cool looking metal roof rafters that are high lighted up there. It is going to be are great [big] space , I hope they will serve good food! Up the street still on the west side from there, a new book shop has moved in to the small shop that was the vintage record shop a few years back, and next to there some sort of renovation is going on in the shop with the octagon? or [maybe six sided] shaped front window. There is no sign yet as to what is going in there. When that shop opens all the store fronts on that block will be occupied.
Looking at the city site, it appears it was sold by Dave Sheets in December to "1214 S Washington Ave LLC" in December, which is basically the address of the building. So, no telling what's being done, here.
On my walk I noticed that the for sale sign in gone from the old QD bottling plant and there were some people there on the roof who may have been doing some sort of inspection. It would be great this building be repurposed. I also watched the BWL falcons pass food from the male to the female in mid-air above the river which was very cool. Also there is perhaps a muskrat? cutting small trees and branches on the banks of the Red Cedar. Some of the branches are quite large but I don't think it was a beaver chomping away on them it does look like it. This is a sign of pretty good water quality even though the Red Cedar looks more polluted than the Grand River. It would be nice if the city would clean up the Pratt Street side of the river bank, which I believe is part of Elm Street Park or at least city property.
I guess this will be my last post from on the scene in REOtown, thank God! The heat hot water and one elevator are out again since Friday! Good Bye 1964! Up the street at 1212 S Washington it looks like some sort of project is beginning as they were digging up all the sidewalks in front of the building. Across the tracks at the Eillison Brewery the work seems to be picking up with huge new machinery installed on the roof, and more interior work going on. The little Reo Ave/Woodlawn Ave neighborhood has really changed for the better over the last six years. Nearly all the homes are now tidy and well cared for, with the tree lined streets and the park right there the area has returned to being a nice urban neighborhood. It has been interesting to see the many changes and developments going on here in REOtown over the years, it has changed mostly for the better. The swallows have returned under the Elm Street bridge for my last spring time in REOtown, I will miss my view.
I'm excited for Ellison to finally open up in REOtown. I feel like it has been a better part of a decade of waiting at this point. It's true that the area has certainly turned around in comparison to what it was like 6+ years ago. Hopefully it is a sign of continued improvements in the area.
Looks like the Deluxe Inn site has FINALLY sold after years of the developers dilly-dallying around. The Ingham County Treasurer's office sent out one of their newsletters announcing this among other things.
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As far as I know, the river is still low because they never fixed the North Lansing Dam issue.