The projects on Grand Ave are being enclosed, and the southernmost building is being clad in some OK looking facades. The building on Kalamazoo is really quite large; it will be interesting to see how that neighborhood changes as all the new residents move in.
I've got to admit, those buildings are looking better, and more durable, than the renderings. Really hoping the turn out okay. Much bigger presence in the area than I'd expected.
Agreed. They made some small changes in Grand Vista Place versus the almost all-blue renderings and it helped, it'd still be very lackluster as a market rate building but given what I thought we were getting, I can't complain. I'm anxious to see if they made similar changes to Riverview 220.
Living so close to these I have to force myself to be optimistic in LHC's ability to manage them. That being said, the immediate improvement to the Grand Ave corridor/streetscape is undebatable.
I was shopping in downtown Lansing and stopped into the new men's shop in the Michigan Theater atrium which is really beautiful. The salesman turned out to be from my old Quentin Park neighborhood, and he knew my older brothers and sister; he had worked at Kositchek's before they were flooded out. He told me that the new store owners hired many of the employees from Kositchek's and that David was not going to reopen their store, which is why the new store was opened in Lansing. The new name escapes me, but it located in the store front that Small's Men's Shop was in back in the old days, it is nice with a great selection of cloths and seamstresses sewing in the back room. Not as nice as the old shop, and I wonder what is going to happen to the old building. Is there an old building behind the '60's facade? The salesman mentioned that there are a lot of issues with the old building like asbestoses etc. so it looks like that building may just get torn down.
I'm fairly sure that there's an old building under there but I don't know if any of the facade is intact or what it looked like, given the way the modern brick looks on the front I'd imagine whatever's left underneath is incomplete at best. I'm not sure whether to expect anything to move into either the old Kositchek's or the empty YMCA building next door, it's a good spot for sizable development of some sort.
It's been a slow start to the year so far, the last several council or planning meetings have had anything new that I'd consider of note on the agendas, not to be unexpected over the holidays I suppose. That has not changed this week either.
Of note are mostly timeline updates: The Ingham Building renovation is set to be done be this fall. Capitol Tower should start construction soon for an early 2027 completion. New Visions Old Town component is still going through design with "more plans to come in May" (that could be something of note). Ovation is apparently still on track for an early 2027 completion with work starting soon. Gillespie's 'Brick Row' on Michigan Ave should be complete by September. The Iris on W Saginaw is not dead and work should start this year. Moores Park Pool is still expected to open this summer... And a few other updates.
There is one bit of potentially not great news: LHC is buying the Washington Ave Apartments across from Fountain Place.
Comments
Living so close to these I have to force myself to be optimistic in LHC's ability to manage them. That being said, the immediate improvement to the Grand Ave corridor/streetscape is undebatable.
The City Pulse has an article on the 20 developments to watch in 2026 https://www.lansingcitypulse.com/stories/here-are-20-developments-and-projects-well-be-watching-in-2026,174506
Of note are mostly timeline updates: The Ingham Building renovation is set to be done be this fall. Capitol Tower should start construction soon for an early 2027 completion. New Visions Old Town component is still going through design with "more plans to come in May" (that could be something of note). Ovation is apparently still on track for an early 2027 completion with work starting soon. Gillespie's 'Brick Row' on Michigan Ave should be complete by September. The Iris on W Saginaw is not dead and work should start this year. Moores Park Pool is still expected to open this summer... And a few other updates.
There is one bit of potentially not great news: LHC is buying the Washington Ave Apartments across from Fountain Place.