Old Town Lansing

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  • While restocking my aquarium at Preuss Pet I noticed that landscaping crews were planting grass shrubs and other plants around the Temple Building which may be that the project is nearing completion.[ i.m.o.] it looks pretty good they kept some of the original details like the replaced moldings around the roof and the middle of the building, I am not a big fan of the windows, but they are for people's apartments, they are tinted dark, not so bad. Also another crew was painting the street side face of the parking garage with an interesting and colorful mural. I was happy to see that. Near by, I saw that the QD at Cedar and Saginaw was being renovated and the parking lot had been repaved! Now that was something I thought I would never see!
  • I'm glad to see the temple reused and repurposed, but its not what I'd have envisioned. It was a fun project for an undergrad studio for me...so I'm a little biased. I just feel they took away too much original character that was salvageable. It was a very introverted building with the stained glass, so something had to be done in that aspect. I just am not a huge fan of the end result or the converted attic space.

    That said, they have rehabbed a large long vacant building that should succeed. Sometimes historical buildings need this type of renovation to fix its obsolescence. It's better to be altered and occupied than rotting away with its originality.
  • I agree that I would have keep more of the buildings original features, but like you say, it not that bad looking and soon will be animated with people living there and the retail spaces could be popular, I hope that area of the building will not sit unoccupied like some of the Michigan Ave developments.
  • Yes, I completely agree. My hope is it extends old Town a little more successfully down that way and makes it a little more lively.
  • Yeah, it's not my ideal plan for that building but they are doing an impressive job. Gutting it, building up a steel structure with concrete floors, adding a parking garage; they are spending big money. I do think it will be a small part in helping that block get busier and extend Old Town a bit, it's just tough with how busy and noisy Cedar/Larch are.
  • There needs to be a pedestrian activated crossing light there, that really does change the signals. There is one that really functions on Grand River near Bell's Pizza, the signal changes as soon as you press the button.
  • Yeah, Cedar and Larch really do that area no favors. More pedestrian focused elements and activated crosswalks would be nice. Lowering the speed through there, or at least enforcing it would be huge too.
  • I mean, the biggest thing would be reversing the one-way pair.
  • I do wonder how viable it would be turning Larch into a three or four lane road and Cedar into a two lane street with parking, Pennsylvania is way oversized now and may be able to pick up the slack. Anecdotally I feel like there's less traffic on Cedar/Larch and Oakland/Saginaw than there used to be, I just don't know that the state would ever consider a two-way conversion even if a study showed it was practical.
  • edited October 2022
    They are definitely inching into branching out in terms of planning. First, we got the bike lane on Saginaw, and they are soon to turn Allegan and Ottawa two-way, so it's not as heavy a lift to convince them to relook at at the one-way pairs as it was even 10 years ago. My question is if the City of Lansing is actually open to this?
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