The reconstruction of Evergreen Street behind the Graduate Hotel looks very nice and seems near completion. I peaked in the windows of the hotel lobby and I was surprised by the quite elegant decoration of the room along with a large portrait of Ervin Magic Johnson behind the front desk. I think this will be the nicest hotel in Greater Lansing.
They started on what I assume is the new Techsmith building in the last few weeks. It looks like they're digging the foundation up fairly close to Harrison, which is a promising sign imo.
I haven't seen any renderings or site plans, nor have I heard any details on the building. I'm not sure if they ever even said the square footage. Being a corporate headquarters, even a small one, I'd expect it to be fairly nice.
I wonder how covid may have changed the building size/design with regards to work-from-home becoming more permanent for some percentage of employees or portion. I read that they're consolidating something like 5 buildings to one. I'm surprised this is only 62,000 sqft, was anticipating around 90k. I would have liked to see something taller.
It's a nice looking low-slung design, if it's built well I certainly won't have any complaints. Well, besides wishing they'd of located in one of the downtowns.
@MichMatters When I made that post June 18 it looked like they were digging trenches for a foundation, if that was the foundation the building will be somewhat setback from the street but not too far, maybe 40-50 feet. I'd say in that rendering Harrison would be just barely out of view.
I guess you could say the design reflects some aspects of the Mid-Century design you find in many MSU buildings, like the Library. If you look at it with this in mind the design is more understandable.
On the subject of East Lansing development, one notable thing is the way the Newman building /parking structure on Albert has really finished and created a popular urban street scene with lots of foot traffic busy restaurants and bars. It is a much different feel than having the old parking lot on one side, even the alley between the buildings is a better space to walk in. People are really enjoying the closed Albert Street summer fun area. The corn hole games go on all night! Over at The Graduate my sister enjoyed her stay very much, the décor is MSU/Michigan [the state not the school] centric I guess you could say almost over the top fancy cottage/frat house. It's cool if hard to describe. The public is welcome at the coffee-stand if you want to go in and check it out. The roof top bar will open in August when they get their license. Behind there they are laying down the black top on Evergreen and planting lots of grass behind the hotel and the church. It looks nice. They also finished the last part of the sidewalk out front so Grand River Ave is all open there again.
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@MichMatters When I made that post June 18 it looked like they were digging trenches for a foundation, if that was the foundation the building will be somewhat setback from the street but not too far, maybe 40-50 feet. I'd say in that rendering Harrison would be just barely out of view.
On the subject of East Lansing development, one notable thing is the way the Newman building /parking structure on Albert has really finished and created a popular urban street scene with lots of foot traffic busy restaurants and bars. It is a much different feel than having the old parking lot on one side, even the alley between the buildings is a better space to walk in. People are really enjoying the closed Albert Street summer fun area. The corn hole games go on all night! Over at The Graduate my sister enjoyed her stay very much, the décor is MSU/Michigan [the state not the school] centric I guess you could say almost over the top fancy cottage/frat house. It's cool if hard to describe. The public is welcome at the coffee-stand if you want to go in and check it out. The roof top bar will open in August when they get their license. Behind there they are laying down the black top on Evergreen and planting lots of grass behind the hotel and the church. It looks nice. They also finished the last part of the sidewalk out front so Grand River Ave is all open there again.