I agree I guess I was thinking of the people who spent years and a lot of money on the Old REO building in REO-town and another on East Michigan that closed. Good food and great beer are indeed the keys. I hope the new place does well, I love that building, we would have more of such buildings, but urban renewal took down the so many. This address was west of that district and survived!
1. Update of brownfield for Neogen's expansion plans at their complex. Phase II involved a request to tear down the old 3-story Herbert Building used for manufacturing, for a larger (35,000 sq ft) building which will be used for manufacturing and research, and the inclusion of the building to the south along Michigan, which they plan to renovate. They will also being expanding the new building they just built by 4,700 sq ft. Apparently, the design of Phase II is already complete, so they could start construction as soon as they get the updated brownfield plan approved by the city.
It I took this photo of the Herbert Building years ago, though I'm not 100% if it's the single building(s) in the foreground, or all of the older buildings along Shiawasee, too. The signs on the buildings include the neighboring one-story building(s) as the "Herbert Building" for sure, though. Anyway, the smaller 3-story building was completed in 1912:
2. Developers are asking for a PILOT to redevelop the old Genesee School into senior housing. They plan for a three-story new construction where the current parking lot is to add additional units.
There is also mention that the 40-unit townhouse complex at Hillsdale and MLK is still on, and that it secured a big grant. Though, the city still has sold the lot.
The new Neogen Brownfield only appears to include the westernmost three floor building and one floor section next to it, implying the other narrow one floor section and the easternmost three floor building are staying for now. I'm a little disappointed to see the old (Estes?) warehouse building go is it one of the very last of the old multi floor warehouse buildings left, that being said with Neogen's massive new building next door it was never going to end up apartments or anything so has limited value. It's tough for me because I love having Neogen dedicated to the city but I wish places like their Oak Park and Allen Street facilities were apartments rather than offices/labs or whatever, as in a perfect world I would of wanted these old warehouses preserved as apartments. The move here is still a significant net positive for the city and neighborhood though so it's hard to complain too much. It's a "want to have your cake and eat it too" kind of thing for me.
Maybe third (or fourth) times a charm for the Genesee St School? This seems to be the most serious proposal to date as it includes new construction and is proposed by a (seemingly) experienced developer as opposed to someone with a dream. Same thing applies here as always applies to old buildings: they have to get the windows right. The building has been for sale for a couple years now I think and has had a couple fires apparently started by homeless people in that time, it's had to have been horrible for the neighborhood. Hopefully it works out, it's been a long time coming.
I'll still be very disappointed in that Hillsdale project if it gets built as shown in that original site plan, even more disappointed if that's the project where that bit of state grant money is going.
I hope that the development of the Genesee School does happen. It is such a great building, quite different from other Lansing elementary schools. Maybe they will hire the same people who did the Holmes Street School, they did a really nice-looking job on that project.
Okay, so the building to be demolished at the Neogen complex is the older 3-story building (and the one-story attached section) you see in the foreground of that old picture I took. I will honestly hate to see it go, but content that it will be for another building and not a parking lot. I'm also glad that they are saving the building along Michigan next to the railroad tracks. Looks like Neogen bought it from Sparrow, last month, and some work permits were issued for it earlier this month.
That's good to hear at least, I realized after my previous comment that I was incorrect in stating that the new Brownfield wouldn't encompass the three floor building further east, the new Brownfield will include all of Neogen's contiguous property at the site. In hindsight this could have been discerned looking at the onsite rendering, it shows the new building extending further east than what has already been built and shows only 728 E Shiawassee remaining. I'm curious to see exactly what they do with the Michigan Ave building, it's a cool old small building but if Neogen ever builds a more substantial office/HQ oriented building this would be a nice high-profile spot.
It came to my attention that Capitol Region Community Foundation has more details and a site plan for the proposed Fish Ladder Music Park that the state appropriated $1.7 million for last year (I think?), the total cost is estimated at $2.3 million. I don't know how close they are to that figure and I haven't heard when their starting, but this should be another pretty cool space along the riverfront.
Comments
1. Update of brownfield for Neogen's expansion plans at their complex. Phase II involved a request to tear down the old 3-story Herbert Building used for manufacturing, for a larger (35,000 sq ft) building which will be used for manufacturing and research, and the inclusion of the building to the south along Michigan, which they plan to renovate. They will also being expanding the new building they just built by 4,700 sq ft. Apparently, the design of Phase II is already complete, so they could start construction as soon as they get the updated brownfield plan approved by the city.
It I took this photo of the Herbert Building years ago, though I'm not 100% if it's the single building(s) in the foreground, or all of the older buildings along Shiawasee, too. The signs on the buildings include the neighboring one-story building(s) as the "Herbert Building" for sure, though. Anyway, the smaller 3-story building was completed in 1912:
Neogen by NewCityOne, on Flickr
2. Developers are asking for a PILOT to redevelop the old Genesee School into senior housing. They plan for a three-story new construction where the current parking lot is to add additional units.
There is also mention that the 40-unit townhouse complex at Hillsdale and MLK is still on, and that it secured a big grant. Though, the city still has sold the lot.
Maybe third (or fourth) times a charm for the Genesee St School? This seems to be the most serious proposal to date as it includes new construction and is proposed by a (seemingly) experienced developer as opposed to someone with a dream. Same thing applies here as always applies to old buildings: they have to get the windows right. The building has been for sale for a couple years now I think and has had a couple fires apparently started by homeless people in that time, it's had to have been horrible for the neighborhood. Hopefully it works out, it's been a long time coming.
I'll still be very disappointed in that Hillsdale project if it gets built as shown in that original site plan, even more disappointed if that's the project where that bit of state grant money is going.
https://ourcommunity.org/leadership-projects/fish-ladder-music-park
https://dq79cg420m539.cloudfront.net/documents/2024-Impact-Report.pdf