I imagine that filling the basement in with sand was a cheap way to deal with foundation problems, it'll keep it from caving in without having to do any significant repair work.
The last thing you do is build on sand; it's bizarre. So perhaps he misspoke, because if that site ever had to be redeveloped, that's going to be costly to fix. That's not even to mention that a basement is valuable space for a whole number of reasons (storage, mechanical systems, leasable space, etc). He talked about how it was filled with water; seems it'd have been cheaper in the long-run and for future resale to pump the water out.
Anyway, looks like the Motor Wheels neighborhood redevelopment will have a presentation at council next week, so perhaps will get some more details on that project.
The sand isn't to build on it's to stabilize the foundation from the inside and keep it from caving in, I've usually heard of simple fill dirt being used to fill in basements but sand makes sense because it drains well, doesn't compact and is relatively easy to move in and out. I'd assume they drained any water before filling it in, the long-term standing water was probably behind the damage that forced them to fill in the basement.
As someone in the architectural field, this just seems like a really weird project and a building that wasn't worth saving. Not every old building should be saved...nor are they all historic. I'm not sure much money was saved salvaging this long gone building...
The infill is also really weird. I'm going to have to ask the structural engineers in my office. Maybe he misspoke but it all sounds so odd...
Caught a notice for bids from the county land bank for a new project consisting of a row of 5 attached homes right across from St. Lawrence in the City Pulse, last week:
The property is currently a mix of vacant usage and a small urban garden. As usual, love seeing this type of infill. Everything on the south side of Saginaw between Verlinden to MLK is now zoned R-MX (mixed residential), which allows everything from single-family homes to small apartment buildings, so no rezoning was required. It's meant to offer a buffer between commercial or more intense residential districts and single-family home neighborhoods, particularly on major corridors.
ICLB is proposing the same kind of row houses on a site on MLK at W Genesee and two of them on S Pennsylvania south of E Kalamazoo. I think it is becoming their go-to model to recoup costs and such. They have run into a few space issues with setbacks and fire truck access. The Planning & Zoning Office is looking to make changes to corner lot setbacks (20' down to 10') to make in-fill easier and it does reflect what one sees in most historic neighborhoods anyway.
An interesting project in next week's agenda. The old church at the northwest corner of Prospect and S. Holmes - a block south of Sparrow's Professional Building and Cancer/Heart Center - was sold about two years ago to Okemos developer T. A. Forsberg. The site is only about a third-of-an-acre in size. Looks like the church was able to merge two residential lots to the east to the main church property. Some years back they were trying to refurbish the building after a fire, but ran into resistence from the neighborhood.
Anyway, they plan to redevelop the building as a 6-unit apartment building called Unity Apartments. Their tenantive schedule is to have this done by the end of the year, and they are requesting an OPRA certification for it.
I was driving by Walter French today and saw that they're putting up fencing so work should begin before too long, this is one project that I'm particularly excited to see get going
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Anyway, looks like the Motor Wheels neighborhood redevelopment will have a presentation at council next week, so perhaps will get some more details on that project.
The infill is also really weird. I'm going to have to ask the structural engineers in my office. Maybe he misspoke but it all sounds so odd...
The property is currently a mix of vacant usage and a small urban garden. As usual, love seeing this type of infill. Everything on the south side of Saginaw between Verlinden to MLK is now zoned R-MX (mixed residential), which allows everything from single-family homes to small apartment buildings, so no rezoning was required. It's meant to offer a buffer between commercial or more intense residential districts and single-family home neighborhoods, particularly on major corridors.
Anyway, they plan to redevelop the building as a 6-unit apartment building called Unity Apartments. Their tenantive schedule is to have this done by the end of the year, and they are requesting an OPRA certification for it.