Looks pretty good. I have not been by this area in a while, I believe the bridge renovation is, or near complete, just that alone improves the neighborhood. Now it looks like a great location for a high rise.
That seems like a very odd location for something that size and also very out of place, in my opinion. I'd much rather see something like that more towards the downtown core...
I'm all for this, this is an almost completely dead area right now. When I've stared at satellite images trying to discern where future development might make sense this stretch of N Grand River/Willow along the river is one of the spots I've thought of, albeit not with something quite like this in mind. There's open land across the street/along the river and two industrial buildings that are ripe for development along with the Willow Plaza property and the two small commercial buildings at the corner of Willow; I'd also argue the vast majority of houses In between Willow, Caesar Chavez and the Grand River can probably go to provide land for more dense development. I find it mildly hard to believe that they'll pull this off but it would be great to see.
My point is that although this building may seem a bit much for this area, it doesn't impose on any neighborhood, is close to Old Town and is on the river. It will provide a fantastic opportunity to show what's possible here hopefully drawing more development in this direction, essentially forming the future northern end of downtown. It'd be foolish of the city to resist a high rise riverfront apartment building near Old Town built on the site of a completely unremarkable vacant industrial building. I don't think I could ask for a much more potentially beneficial mid-market apartment building.
@Lymon89 I 100% understand your sentiment, and I think I would have agreed not all that long ago, but the fact is that nobody is proposing anything like this downtown right now and I don't think it has to be an either/or proposition. I'm betting the downtown-proper projects will come but building up the periphery can only strengthen any momentum downtown manages to gain and make it look better to the outsiders who are often making the financing decisions.
...On another note I was looking at the planning commission agendas hoping to find more info on the above building (no luck) and among other projects jumping through the tax incentive process the Hillsdale & MLK project is there with the same site plan and a rendering of what appears to be two floor lap-sided townhouses that will face inward towards the parking lot. They're asking for a PILOT and I'm not in favor, imo if people want tax incentives they have to bring something to the table that benefits the city and the neighborhood. This project will almost certainly prove detrimental to the neighborhood and to the already dim prospects of quality residential & commercial development on the western edge of downtown.
@MichMatters I guess we'll have to wait and see. I missed that you said board of zoning appeals at first, I see an ethics board meeting canceled as well so I wouldn't make too much of it. The rendering looks well done and specific to that site so I tend to think whoever is involved is serious.
I'm happy with that annexation proposal, taking on those taxes shouldn't prove a big deal to the city and will hopefully be enticing enough to get township residents to vote in favor of it.
I haven't seen any case studies as to how exactly this will affect their taxes, not how it will immediately effect them post-annexation and no projections for what a worst case or even realistic best case scenario of how the township's tax situation might look like over the next 10 years or so if they stay. These township residents have a big decision to make, I just hope they have good information to make that decision off of and that they at least give a passing thought to the long term future of their neighborhood and the metro area as a whole.
I wonder how the polling looks on this. It's obviously good for Lansing and the region, and probably good for the residents too...but stigmas are stubborn.
ah perfect, that's the part I wondered. So a thousand bucks a year on a $100k house for residents if they say yes. A lot may balk if they run the math, but I hope they accept it with full knowledge of the results. Like you said, long term stability; the townhip could easily assess the difference at any point to cover their shortfalls.
I'm happy it got reposted so I could see the other renderings and site plan, it was also good to see that they were recommending approval. I do hope they rebuild the trail under the bridge here and fix the pavement going west of N Grand River, it's pretty much in a state of abandonment as of now. Maybe this project can help jumpstart the trail extension to Waverly from here, fingers crossed.
I doubted them a bit just because where it's at but given the nature of this proposal and the out of town money seemingly involved I wonder if this ends up the sort of project that moves forward almost immediately once it jumps through all the regulatory and tax incentive hoops?
Looks like a very nice building and a step above the most recent apartments being built around town. Being located on the high north bank of the river this building will stand out in the skyline and will have great views in every direction.
Comments
My point is that although this building may seem a bit much for this area, it doesn't impose on any neighborhood, is close to Old Town and is on the river. It will provide a fantastic opportunity to show what's possible here hopefully drawing more development in this direction, essentially forming the future northern end of downtown. It'd be foolish of the city to resist a high rise riverfront apartment building near Old Town built on the site of a completely unremarkable vacant industrial building. I don't think I could ask for a much more potentially beneficial mid-market apartment building.
@Lymon89 I 100% understand your sentiment, and I think I would have agreed not all that long ago, but the fact is that nobody is proposing anything like this downtown right now and I don't think it has to be an either/or proposition. I'm betting the downtown-proper projects will come but building up the periphery can only strengthen any momentum downtown manages to gain and make it look better to the outsiders who are often making the financing decisions.
...On another note I was looking at the planning commission agendas hoping to find more info on the above building (no luck) and among other projects jumping through the tax incentive process the Hillsdale & MLK project is there with the same site plan and a rendering of what appears to be two floor lap-sided townhouses that will face inward towards the parking lot. They're asking for a PILOT and I'm not in favor, imo if people want tax incentives they have to bring something to the table that benefits the city and the neighborhood. This project will almost certainly prove detrimental to the neighborhood and to the already dim prospects of quality residential & commercial development on the western edge of downtown.
I haven't seen any case studies as to how exactly this will affect their taxes, not how it will immediately effect them post-annexation and no projections for what a worst case or even realistic best case scenario of how the township's tax situation might look like over the next 10 years or so if they stay. These township residents have a big decision to make, I just hope they have good information to make that decision off of and that they at least give a passing thought to the long term future of their neighborhood and the metro area as a whole.
I doubted them a bit just because where it's at but given the nature of this proposal and the out of town money seemingly involved I wonder if this ends up the sort of project that moves forward almost immediately once it jumps through all the regulatory and tax incentive hoops?