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  • edited September 2022
    I mean, the Ottawa Street Station sat vacant for over a decade, and sat completely without use for almost that long before the chiller units were built on the back of it. The equipment will almost certainly be taken out and scrapped/auctioned off, but there is no reason to believe they'd level the physical building.
  • edited September 2022
    I'd though it was used minimally to some extent but it does look like it sat with no functions for a decade or so. Maybe it wasn't such a liability in a downtown setting or maybe they had plans for functions, like the cooling towers, and kept it for those reasons? I'd be curious why that one survived, I'd like to think it's attractive architecture was part of it.

    Eckert is tricky for demo though also since it's not in an empty field somewhere like many coal plants. Same would have been true for Ottawa. Simply imploding seems like it would be tricky.

    All I know is the individuals I've spoken to that worked in power distribution or were execs at power companies agree it would likely be razed. Maybe that's the newer approach to the decomissioned plants, raze and decontaminate the sites.

    All that aside, the practicality of redeveloping it should be considered. Those towers couldn't be used for anything without 2 means of egress, per code. I don't see how you do that without drastically altering the appearance of the towers. I love the idea of redeveloping this and making it some destination, but there are so many challenges with it.

    I'll be curious whatever comes of it though. It's a project I'd love to be a part of. It would take A LOT of money though. Not quite as easily adaptable as Ottawa...and that was still a $350 million project I think.
  • It's definitely a challenging project but may not be as bad or at least any worse than the Ottawa Plant, at least on a per sq ft basis. The only portion of the building that they need to be careful with is the old power house closer to river, the taller section of the plant itself can be stripped of its exterior and reconfigured in whatever way is necessary or tore down partially or completely to build something new, no need to carefully keep the exterior intact as with Ottawa. I imagine the environmental remediation will have to happen either way so no sense in counting that against the budget, keeping the building may very well mean less remediation to do. The problem is just the size, it almost has to be a hotel/waterpark/entertainment complex or hotel/casino or a large corporate hq or something along those lines.

    At the end of the day as long as they keep the old powerhouse I'll be happy, the smokestacks would be cool to keep but I can also see an argument to see them go.
  • @hood, totally with you. As iconic as the smokestacks have been for the last 40 years, I think the original powerplant, or what's left, is what should be focused on saving. Anything more than that just makes this such a massive project. From an architectural standpoint, I'd love to see internally how they cobbled on all these additions. It's always amazed me how massive such a moderate plant became over the decades. It's funny to see how distinct the different eras and cheapening of materials as they added on.

    I'm sure this photo has been shared before, but I believe this is the original before any additions.
  • I do hope they offer some tours of the building when it shuts down, I'll have to force myself to not miss the opportunity if so.

    All the above being said, I really do believe that a large scale entertainment complex, in particular a large and well done indoor waterpark, would do very well there. Michigan is really lacking in proper indoor waterparks despite being a prime climate for them, Lansing is a prime location for such a thing as it's in the middle of all the state's major population centers. If they really make a landmark out of it, incorporating the smokestacks and some power station elements into the design, it could actually be something of a destination for people within a half days drive or so. You then throw in the good old reliable hotel occupancy from MSU athletics (sports trips become whole family trips) and I think it's actually feasible, or at least worth seriously investigating.
  • I've toured the facility. It's very industrial. Tight spaces and stairs, loud. It doesn't have the art deco pizzaz that the water treatment plant on Cedar has, and architecturally it's no Ottawa St station. My favorite part was the view from the roof.
    If you get the chance, it's cool to do it to say you did, but otherwise, it's just a big power plant.

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  • Wow these are cool pictures! Thank you for sharing
  • Yeah, nice to see those pics. Not a lot too special in the building but the old generator hall seems like a nice even if relatively plain space.
  • I've been reading a lot from https://twitter.com/holz_bau and Larch Lab - he gets into US transit oriented development - how we zone all density housing on loud, dangerous, and unhealthy corridors. Lansing bought into this in the FBC and while we haven't seen any housing development yet, it does feel like we are stuck with that concept. One change the Planning and Zoning Office wanted to mull over was adding the R-6b zone to properties within _ amount of feet from all transit stops. Bearing in mind we'll likely never get local control of corridor street design back from the State, that could make these streets safer, I guess I just wondered what other people's take are for TOD. I think MX-1 and MX-2 are the best bets for livable density, but they are few and will have to completely overcome mid-century, auto-centric design.
  • edited June 2023
    Do you have any specific examples of what you're talking about in the city? What do you mean we're not going to get "corridor street design back from the state"? In any case, I'm for ANY residential upzoning, so the TOD approach sounds nice. Though, we sort of already have this with the corridor improvement authorities. But, extending it to all the major corridors would be an improvement, of course.
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