Good, I've bee anxious to see what his plans are, especially since Emil's announced that they were closing. Here's to hoping for a nice 3-4 floor building at Michigan and Clemens...
To be honest, I think any development down that stretch is at least a bit better than it's current state of affairs. Even if it is a bit uninspired.
CityPulse has a bit more info on it. Construction starts in spring 2016 with completion in 2017. With this, SkyVue, Red Cedar Rennaisance, and the Under the Bridge project, driving down Michigan looks like it will be pretty different experience in just a couple years (here's hoping they fix the terrible road condition by then as well, hehe).
I like the idea of new developments in the downtown area, Michigan ave in particular. That will hopefully bring business to that section of downtown as the demand will grow. It would be nice if it was a taller building, with some amazing architectural features but ill take it. I'm still waiting for that architect with a "pair" to design something that brings tourists to the area. Tired of other cities getting all the tourist attraction..
I would have to agree with MichMatters. The rendering is very much less than inspiring. If it were white I would say it would look right in any Florida beach front condo complex. I know the little line of store fronts has been well used, but why not perverse the street level authentic 19th and early 20th century buildings. Build the new apartments up behind the strip of store fronts. It really is the only block on E. Michigan that has a full line of store fronts and was the east side's neighborhood shopping and bar district. Haven't we lost enough of historic Lansing replaced by a lot of underwhelming buildings? There are so many blocks on E. Michigan that really could be redeveloped. I am hoping that this drawing is preliminary and we will see something more refined, I mean are those big dark squares metallic, or brick?
Think about Old Town or the strip by the Nuthouse or any other tiny bit of town that has escaped urban renewal and highway wrecking balls. These are the places people gather shop eat and spend money. Now think of N. Washington Square. It seems like we have a strong mayor who I wish would be more like Thom Menino, he had a say in anything that was built and made sure every new building was up to a high architectural standard that related to Boston. While he may have had critics in that area, he never let anyone build a pole barn downtown or in some historic neighborhood. Our mayor should have a sign on his door "No More Ugly Buildings"!
I wonder if that building's in very good shape? Maybe 10 years ago they covered it in some sort of faux stucco material, then the western wall collapsed about five or so years ago and it was rebuilt really cheaply. I wish they would have just left the original brick facade to be restored on this building, I wonder if the brick could be brought back at a reasonable cost?
I think there is a vintage photo posted on the history discussion page that depicts Kalamazoo Street in the late 19th century, with this building. That would make it well over 100 years old. It would be great if they were going to do something with this building.
I also noticed the the building across the street[the one with the bowed roof] was clad in new green siding and painted but with no hint of what they are doing with the building. There is an interesting line of brick buildings around the corner along Hosmer that back up to the tracks in the rear. They are now small businesses, it is not a pretty group of buildings but an interesting to see a block of commercial buildings from the 19th and early 20th century still in use.
Two personal remembrances of that part of Kalamazoo street, one being when I was a kid in the early 60's the old bridge over the river was a high much stepper arched bridge, that had this dip at the top of the arch. If there was no traffic my Dad would speed up and pass over the dip so we would lose our stomachs like on a roller coaster, maybe not so safe but fun for little boys. We would beg him to take us over the Roller Coaster Bridge.
Twenty years later I was living on Eureka Street [yes the street girls would stand right outside our house] in this great big place with 10ft ceilings and huge windows. What I have been trying to remember is, were was the little supermarket on Kalamazoo Street? I can remember it was near 8th street but none of the building's there now seem to be were that market was. No big deal but they did have the best smoked pork chops. Does anyone else remember that place? It could be the building with garage doors?
Thanks for your comments, I could be wrong but I don't remember crossing the tracks to get to the market I was speaking of. This was 1981 so not many folks who live here now, who lived in Lansing back then. This place was an independent super market with moving belt type check out lanes and a full line of groceries so it was not just a convenience store. People in those days had a very bad perception of that area so maybe only neighborhood people went there.It could have been one of the buildings across from Art's on the south side of Kalamazoo. Like I said no big deal. I am going to check out the Sunset Market.
When we were looking for Lansing apartments last spring they were advertising the renovated apartments on Hosmer, [perhaps just the model pictured] and they looked really nice with all the modern features, granite counter tops, nice bath etc. I am sure the view would be great, you can see the new windows from the parking lot of the Stadium District. Hill street is another one of those little neighborhoods that is kind cut off surrounded by warehouses and rail tracks, there several like that in Lansing. It is kind of interesting to look at this area using googlemaps the recording goes from Aug.2015 at Michigan to Nov. 2007 at Kalamazoo. Man it sure looked bleak back then.
I'm not going to argue that this is a good use of incentives I would argue that this a better use of incentives than the Bud Kouts renovation. At least this Snethkamp dealership is going on vacant piece of land at a location where a dealership will truly be a benefit to the area, as opposed to Bud Kouts who is simply reshuffling buildings while taking up an entire block along an important part of Michigan Ave.
On a side note, Chrysler/Fiat as a company is doing horrible, I'm a little surprised to see Snethkamp making an investment like this. I wouldn't want to be investing in anything associated with them.
FCA seems all but doomed to me, virtually all their products are subpar and suffer from quality issues while their CEO has publicly and repeatedly begged for a merger with GM that will never, ever happen. I wish them the best as a Michigan company, but I don't have much hope.
Regarding the Edgewood/Cedar Intersection, I have no idea what would make it better. They got a pretty big grant several years ago to study alternatives and they had three fairly detailed proposals drawn up. None of the proposals were great, I seem to remember liking one that incorporated traffic circles but I can barely remember anything about them. Nothing ever came of it as far as I know, I'm pretty sure it was discussed either here or on UP.
I like to shop at the Aldi store on Pennsylvania Ave and have found that it is a kind of easy to miss the entrance drive do to the mess of roads and ramps. I also hope they could do something about this because it really does play into my thoughts when I go out there. I could see a giant traffic circle spinning off the traffic for Cedar, Penn. Edgewood and the Interstate, or perhaps a more square block grid and eliminate all the roads merging and crossing with four square traffic lights and lanes. There could be a lot more trees on Cedar and Pennsylvania, slower speed limits, and signage zoning. In the 70's I use to work at Oak Park Village and it seemed very nice and busy in the area around Oak Park, now it looks a bit left behind with closed business and creepy hotels. Any development of the area is great, it does seem very hopeful to expect a car dealership and a sign to transform the area, so it will be interesting to see what else they do, I am a hopeful person so I hope it does.
Comments
CityPulse has a bit more info on it. Construction starts in spring 2016 with completion in 2017. With this, SkyVue, Red Cedar Rennaisance, and the Under the Bridge project, driving down Michigan looks like it will be pretty different experience in just a couple years (here's hoping they fix the terrible road condition by then as well, hehe).
Think about Old Town or the strip by the Nuthouse or any other tiny bit of town that has escaped urban renewal and highway wrecking balls. These are the places people gather shop eat and spend money. Now think of N. Washington Square. It seems like we have a strong mayor who I wish would be more like Thom Menino, he had a say in anything that was built and made sure every new building was up to a high architectural standard that related to Boston. While he may have had critics in that area, he never let anyone build a pole barn downtown or in some historic neighborhood. Our mayor should have a sign on his door "No More Ugly Buildings"!
From March 2001:
From January 2005:
Most recent Google Streetview view:
I also noticed the the building across the street[the one with the bowed roof] was clad in new green siding and painted but with no hint of what they are doing with the building. There is an interesting line of brick buildings around the corner along Hosmer that back up to the tracks in the rear. They are now small businesses, it is not a pretty group of buildings but an interesting to see a block of commercial buildings from the 19th and early 20th century still in use.
Two personal remembrances of that part of Kalamazoo street, one being when I was a kid in the early 60's the old bridge over the river was a high much stepper arched bridge, that had this dip at the top of the arch. If there was no traffic my Dad would speed up and pass over the dip so we would lose our stomachs like on a roller coaster, maybe not so safe but fun for little boys. We would beg him to take us over the Roller Coaster Bridge.
Twenty years later I was living on Eureka Street [yes the street girls would stand right outside our house] in this great big place with 10ft ceilings and huge windows. What I have been trying to remember is, were was the little supermarket on Kalamazoo Street? I can remember it was near 8th street but none of the building's there now seem to be were that market was. No big deal but they did have the best smoked pork chops. Does anyone else remember that place? It could be the building with garage doors?
When we were looking for Lansing apartments last spring they were advertising the renovated apartments on Hosmer, [perhaps just the model pictured] and they looked really nice with all the modern features, granite counter tops, nice bath etc. I am sure the view would be great, you can see the new windows from the parking lot of the Stadium District. Hill street is another one of those little neighborhoods that is kind cut off surrounded by warehouses and rail tracks, there several like that in Lansing. It is kind of interesting to look at this area using googlemaps the recording goes from Aug.2015 at Michigan to Nov. 2007 at Kalamazoo. Man it sure looked bleak back then.
On a side note, Chrysler/Fiat as a company is doing horrible, I'm a little surprised to see Snethkamp making an investment like this. I wouldn't want to be investing in anything associated with them.
Regarding the Edgewood/Cedar Intersection, I have no idea what would make it better. They got a pretty big grant several years ago to study alternatives and they had three fairly detailed proposals drawn up. None of the proposals were great, I seem to remember liking one that incorporated traffic circles but I can barely remember anything about them. Nothing ever came of it as far as I know, I'm pretty sure it was discussed either here or on UP.