Has anyone seen this site? I'm not sure what to make of it, it seems to be related to Urban Systems and/or Forsberg Real Estate, the people behind the above mentioned City View development. I beginning to wonder how much of this land they may own or have options for.
A friend of mine is part of Urban Systems. He's told me about the idea to build above 496 to connect downtown to REO a few years ago. When he described it, I didn't realize that he meant substantial buildings like this, I had something smaller pictured.
I'm not an engineer, so I don't know the feasibility, but I love the idea of reclaiming that lost land and building over 496 where appropriate.
I also am a fan of their concept. I remember talking about constructing buildings over 496 at Washington a few times over the year here, it's really great to see it, even in a conceptual rendering, by someone who might actually be capable of making it happen at some point. I'm no engineer but based on things I've seen built elsewhere building over 496 like that shouldn't be an issue from an engineering perspective or even a regulatory perspective. Whether it could be economically feasible around here I have no idea, I would bet that you have to go big to make something like that feasible though.
I'm noticing where there are greyed out buildings vs ones in color, it seems there's some logic there. I believe they are the ones that proposed the apartment building on St Joe & Capitol that incorporated the Blake House and old rowhouse own Capitol so they likely own those properties and possibly more on that block. Besides that, all the buildings they show in color are on either publicly owned land that's likely available for redevelopment or on seemingly attainable private land.
Also, just to a note to anyone interested: Google Maps has updated their 3d imagery for Lansing for the first time in quite a few years, looks to be from maybe just under a year ago.
I know my friend is working on the old Lake Trust site, so I'm assuming the colored buildings on the rendering are all their proposed projects. It looks like a tall (for Lansing) apartment proposal over 496, probably with some mixed use on the ground. Attached is what it might look like from a top floor balcony, I'll attach a couple directions. Obviously the view downtown will change with the current projects and proposed projects filling in South Washington/North of 496
@sabatoa I envy your friend a bit who gets to work with them on some of these projects. If you ever hear anything that you can share I know we'll be happy to hear about it.
@MichMatters They definitely own some of the properties. I was parsing the tax records looking for taxpayers addresses since virtually all the properties in question are owned by holding companies, most of which are just named the address of the property. The Lake Trust block oddly enough comes back to random address in Santa Barbara, CA; I imagine this is because of financing reasons. The following list of properties, however, all come back to a couple different suites on Mall Ct:
105 W Hillsdale
617 S Capitol
118 W St Joe
326, 318, 331, 317, 325, 306, 322, 307, 319, 314 E Hillsdale
The large open lot @ Lenawee & River along with the parking lot next to it on Lenawee
The Deluxe Inn site that is currently being redeveloped along with the parcel next to it
Other properties with unclear ownership are:
611 S Capitol & 608 S Washington, 611 S Capitol is the taxpayer address for both
600 S Capitol was bought in December and has a GR taxpayer address
The apartment buildings at 206 & 300 E Malcolm X have their own addresses as the LLC and taxpayer address. I'm not sure who was behind these being renovated several years back but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the group that owns the bulk of the properties mentioned above.
There are other properties that are owned by LLC's that come back to their own addresses but most of the ones I didn't mention had last recorded sale dates further back than I suspect this group was active.
@MichMatters yep, I view this the same as you. An advertisement aimed at investors. Still fun to talk about and imagine though.
@hood I haven't asked him much. I know his vision is reclaiming, repurposing, infilling, and creating a more walkable city. I know his group was working on redeveloping an old school recently (I assumed it was Holmes St but didn't ask) and obviously the Lake Trust site. His company is probably the smaller of the partners in Urban Systems but I could be way wrong. They're all listed as "principals"...whatever that is.
@hood Those Mall Ct addresses might be owned by Dymaxion, which is part of Urban Systems. The mailing address for them is 503 Mall Ct Ste 312, which is basically just the UPS Store in Frandor.
@sabatoa I looked up the Holmes St School and it comes back to the Blackboard District LLC at 2722 E Michigan Ave, which I'm pretty sure is related to the company that owns the Cherry Hill properties. I forgot there was something going for that school again, I have to get by there and check it out.
I just realized that the old West Junior, Genessee St, Walter French and Holmes St schools are all slated for major renovations soon, this is very good to see.
@hood haha, that address looks like People's Kitchen. He (or his wife) are part of the ownership group for the restaurant. I'm not a business person/developer, so it's funny to me to see all of these LLCs associated to basically one business.
For fun, I googled Blackboard District LLC, and the mailing address is....you guessed it, the UPS Store in Frandor.
Comments
https://www.lansingoz.com/
I'm not an engineer, so I don't know the feasibility, but I love the idea of reclaiming that lost land and building over 496 where appropriate.
I'm noticing where there are greyed out buildings vs ones in color, it seems there's some logic there. I believe they are the ones that proposed the apartment building on St Joe & Capitol that incorporated the Blake House and old rowhouse own Capitol so they likely own those properties and possibly more on that block. Besides that, all the buildings they show in color are on either publicly owned land that's likely available for redevelopment or on seemingly attainable private land.
Also, just to a note to anyone interested: Google Maps has updated their 3d imagery for Lansing for the first time in quite a few years, looks to be from maybe just under a year ago.
105 W Hillsdale
617 S Capitol
118 W St Joe
326, 318, 331, 317, 325, 306, 322, 307, 319, 314 E Hillsdale
The large open lot @ Lenawee & River along with the parking lot next to it on Lenawee
The Deluxe Inn site that is currently being redeveloped along with the parcel next to it
Other properties with unclear ownership are:
611 S Capitol & 608 S Washington, 611 S Capitol is the taxpayer address for both
600 S Capitol was bought in December and has a GR taxpayer address
The apartment buildings at 206 & 300 E Malcolm X have their own addresses as the LLC and taxpayer address. I'm not sure who was behind these being renovated several years back but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the group that owns the bulk of the properties mentioned above.
There are other properties that are owned by LLC's that come back to their own addresses but most of the ones I didn't mention had last recorded sale dates further back than I suspect this group was active.
@hood I haven't asked him much. I know his vision is reclaiming, repurposing, infilling, and creating a more walkable city. I know his group was working on redeveloping an old school recently (I assumed it was Holmes St but didn't ask) and obviously the Lake Trust site. His company is probably the smaller of the partners in Urban Systems but I could be way wrong. They're all listed as "principals"...whatever that is.
I just realized that the old West Junior, Genessee St, Walter French and Holmes St schools are all slated for major renovations soon, this is very good to see.
For fun, I googled Blackboard District LLC, and the mailing address is....you guessed it, the UPS Store in Frandor.