I read on WLNS that the Lansing City Council voted earlier this week to approve the establishment of Social Districts in the areas of Downtown, Reo Town, and Old Town. I tried pulling up the agenda and was unable to find maps of where they are proposing these overlays are to be approved at specifically. Since they did not mention the East Side specifically I am wondering if that area is no longer under consideration. I know last year they had talked about allowing it to occur in and around the public right of way behind The Avenue, Green Door, and the surrounding restaurants, but I wonder if they received pushback from the nearby neighbors. It is a bit more residential nearby in comparison to the 3 areas outlined in the resolution.
If anyone finds a map of where they are planning to overlay these districts I would appreciate them sharing it!
The City Pulse has a much better article on the social districts as well as their proposed overlays. It will be interesting to see how the surrounding businesses utilize this capability.
I'm really not thrilled about Sparrow convincing the city to let them vacate more streets. I wish the city wouldn't allow it, Sparrow can easily work around the street being there.
I just hate to see streets vacated unless it's for a very, very good reason (maybe for a new convention center or something like that), I don't see any possible way that this project will constitute a very good reason. I generally want to see streets restored where they've been cut off, like around the Capitol Complex and the 7 block area, to me little things such as vacating streets like this are important steps in the wrong direction.
I do wonder what the next decade or two will bring with the form based code and some decent redevelopment momentum going for Lansing.
> State workers will be coming back downtown (and to wherever else they work in-office) on July 12. I know the commercial businesses downtown will be happy.
Some are coming back, not all of them. Many that do come back will be splitting remote versus in person.
That will be an interesting area to watch area as this may signal the developers are ready to build there. I wonder if they might include some resident owned condos or homes rather than all rentals. I found in my brief home search that there are very few "new or newer" homes available including condos for sale in the city of Lansing. It would seem to be a market they should include in the development of this downtown neighborhood.
I saw that the new apartment buildings on the other side of the complex have begun leasing, the buildings are quite plain but brightly painted and look pretty good with all the landscaping they installed.
I really don't what to expect in that 7 block area, or even what I'd want there if given a choice. One thing I would still really like to see is Washtenaw restored as a public street, I hope to see it continued through the State Library's parking lot eventually as well. IMO it would make sense even from the Eyde's prospective as it allow the site to be broken up into as many parcels as they want for buildings of different sizes.
Lansing and LSD were in expansion mode during that time. Fine Park is probably named for the developer Francis Fine, who developed Churchill Downs (across Waverly) the decade prior. He may have developed this neighborhood as well, assuming this because of the park name.
In Churchill Downs, LSD built Wainwright Elementary smack in the middle of the Fine-built subdivision, so they probably had similar plans for Fine's new development but things fizzled out.
Great article today in the LSJ for subscribers only discussing the possibilities and options for downtown in light that many State of Michigan employees will remain remote workers. Ideas included redeveloping vacant office buildings into condos and apartments. I loved seeing the inclusion of condos downtown, I think that's a piece that has been missing in Lansing. The articles also mentioned the city asking the state to give up parking lots that will go unused in the future.
From office workers to residents That’s Trezise’s dream for downtown: To replace every three daytime state workers lost with one full-time resident, or a ratio about there. He points out that the loss of a percentage of the downtown state workforce is a one-two punch with the demise of Cooley Law School, which used to bring thousands downtown (some of whom lived downtown, too).
To Trezise, vibrancy and economic health “comes down to having more people downtown permanently.” Everything else will follow. He no longer believes this is a “chicken or the egg” scenario in terms of entertainment growth or housing first.
He isn’t alone in this dream. A number of Lansing’s leaders and influencers were asked what they would do with downtown if presented with a blank check. And while that question might seem absurdly impractical, their answers give a sense of the conversations they're having and their priorities.
“If I could dream, there are a lot of ideas I would have,” Anthony said, “whether it was repurposing some of these state buildings for creative housing, seeing downtown as a community and not just as an economic driver, but someplace that people live, increasing the residential options. And also ways to really look at downtown revitalization through the lens of arts and culture. Being more intentional around creative spaces — amphitheaters and those types of ideas that we've talked about as a region, but we've never truly pulled the trigger on.”
This is perhaps the window.
“I think there's definitely a willingness that two years ago, we probably wouldn't have seen,” Edgerly said, citing a program that brought artists and businesses together in vacant spaces and was met with skepticism.
“But now, when you talk to a property owner or you talk to someone about a type of pop-up programming or activating outside or inside block by block, they're like, ‘OK, talk to me more about that question. What kind of funding does that need? Who else needs to be at the table to have this conversation.’ So that that's a really positive thing to see.
“Everything can be on the table. We’ve had to operate as a more entrepreneurial system as a whole.”
Comments
If anyone finds a map of where they are planning to overlay these districts I would appreciate them sharing it!
The City Pulse has a much better article on the social districts as well as their proposed overlays. It will be interesting to see how the surrounding businesses utilize this capability.
I do wonder what the next decade or two will bring with the form based code and some decent redevelopment momentum going for Lansing.
Some are coming back, not all of them. Many that do come back will be splitting remote versus in person.
I saw that the new apartment buildings on the other side of the complex have begun leasing, the buildings are quite plain but brightly painted and look pretty good with all the landscaping they installed.
In Churchill Downs, LSD built Wainwright Elementary smack in the middle of the Fine-built subdivision, so they probably had similar plans for Fine's new development but things fizzled out.
https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/sports/columnists/graham-couch/2021/06/10/downtown-lansing-reimagined-without-relying-on-state-workers-couch/7598760002/