I think the city has actually been planning this project on an appropriate scale. The plans we've seen are the most ambitious in the metro area in my memory. However, they appear unable to deliver. I think potential tenants are reluctant to sign on because of the blight on the corner, and I don't blame them. If EL wants this project to look anything like the plans, they have to address those disgusting abandoned buildings.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of eminent domain but it may be the only option here. If Strathmore won't sell/demolish/develop the property soon I'd be totally for the city taking it and using it as a park or something. Given the way Strathmore has handled things up until now I wouldn't be surprised to see the building sit there as-is for years if left to their own devices.
The LSJ is reporting that since no one can seem to wrench away the bank building at Abbot and Grand River from Chappelle, that DTN is cutting the scope of it's project by more than half. A project planned at more than $200 million is now less than $100 million. I'm really tiring of the crap going on in downtown EL.
I read this earlier and laughed a little to myself. This property seems destined to disappoint, I supposed it's not worth saying much until they show off their new plans.
As I recall, but wasn't the bank building in foreclosure a year to two ago? But Strathmore kept getting extensions to get current on the property. Had the extensions not occurred, the bank building would be a non-issue with DTN presumably already owning it? To me that is frustrating...
Yeah, we were talking about it back in August 2005. Some of the most expensive real estate in East Lansing has sat vacant for almost 10 years now. It's also quite the eyesore. I don't know why the city was so quick to condemn Cedar Village and try to start the process of eminent domain there but is afraid to do the same here.
I'm honestly confused about Strathmore strategy over these past eight or nine years. I mean, I understood the strategy early on in that Chappelle just wanted to up the price of the property, but after a few years he should have gotten the hint that this wasn't going to get better for him or the city.
I also think of the city's end that it's just that you have a lot of amateurs and a city council that simply isn't much interested in and/or knowledgeable about development. I think it also has to do with how East Lansing's government is set up with a weak mayor, who's power is really symbolic. This kind of same situation would have been handled much differently next door.
If they really wanted that bank building, the city could have had it years ago.
The City of East Lansing is considering selling the small park at the corner of the Abbot and Albert Streets to the developer of the Park District. This will need to go before a vote from the city's population first though. http://statenews.com/article/2014/06/fate-of-green-space-in-limbo
I think this park should stay. The Park District development is big enough, and keeping this as a park will ensure that there will be public space in the area throughout the future. I can only think of two "green spaces" in downtown East Lansing outside of Valley Court Park. There is this park and the tiny park connecting Grove Street. All other public spaces in downtown East Lansing have been paved over.
I agree. Though land is hard to come by in East Lansing's small downtown, and though Ann Street Plaza is a park (though not greenspace) there really is no overriding reason that this needs to be developed. If developers need more space, they can concentrate on getting rid of that huge city surface lot on Albert down the block, of continuing to densify existing developed land.
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I also think of the city's end that it's just that you have a lot of amateurs and a city council that simply isn't much interested in and/or knowledgeable about development. I think it also has to do with how East Lansing's government is set up with a weak mayor, who's power is really symbolic. This kind of same situation would have been handled much differently next door.
If they really wanted that bank building, the city could have had it years ago.
http://statenews.com/article/2014/06/fate-of-green-space-in-limbo
I think this park should stay. The Park District development is big enough, and keeping this as a park will ensure that there will be public space in the area throughout the future. I can only think of two "green spaces" in downtown East Lansing outside of Valley Court Park. There is this park and the tiny park connecting Grove Street. All other public spaces in downtown East Lansing have been paved over.