Downtown Lifestyle District / Center City District

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Comments

  • This a great opportunity for the city all around and I think it even helps Convexity by reducing the pressure the city has placed on that project.
  • You should read that second link I posted. It actually could spell some issues for Convexity with lower availability for TIF funds and potentially reduced senior housing demand.
  • edited February 2017

    Yeah, my first thought as to the effects this will have Park District is that this will reduce or eliminate the senior housing component of from it. At the same time, I think the overall effect is positive as it will show Convexity how they can model their own project to make it more palatable to city officials and NIMBYs, and it also takes pressure of them to cram everything into Park District.

    This will likely mean a smaller Park District, but maybe that's a better park district. Maybe this could mean a slightly larger hotel component for Park District. Maybe it means the addition of some badly needed Class A office space for downtown East Lansing.

  • It seems kind of unbelievable because up the street those buildings still sit. That would be something to see if both projects got started at the same time along with the Red Cedar project, there may be a lot cranes in the eastern sky soon I hope.

  • Not to mention that if Skyvue is a huge success we could see a duplicate one built next door on part of the Sears building.
  • Where'd you hear that?

  • I didn't hear that anywhere. But Gillespie owns the Sears building, and I don't think Sears as a retail company has a strong future (they've already sold Craftsman).

    I imagine either Gillespie will develop the property himself or will market it to other developers, and if Skyvue is a success then the developers may want to double their efforts there since they have already done necessary market research and can share amenities between locations.

  • That is a great idea, I hate how they have Sears sitting in the middle of a crumbling parking lot, I'm not surprised it is not doing well. I am wondering about two more areas that would seem to be right in the middle of the Red Cedar/ Frandor developments. The old Swayers Pontiac lot and the former Ford dealer/ current Staples building. I think these under used areas will soon be considered for redevelopment as well. It sure would be great if they could get the BRT built along with all of these developments, to create the new modern core or our city.

  • If I recall correctly, the old Sawyers Pontiac was a part of the original Red Cedar project, but the owner of the property backed out. I thought it was the same owner as the Skyvue site, so there is a chance that if there ever is a Skyvue 2 then it might actually be across the street at Sawyers Pontiac. Good question!

    The Staples building is also a good location, though I wonder how bad the highway noise would be for floors that are right along the elevated 127 freeway.

  • I just hope that LEAP and other organizations continue to promote business growth and talent attraction to support the growing downtown infrastructure. Also, it would be good for people to finally see the benefits of BRT. So, besides these developments, there have to be other policy and planning considerations. The one argument that cannot be accepted is that new things are not good just because they negatively affect traffic. The auto industry is a big component in the region but to reduce that dependence and grow/diversify the economy certain things have to be done that may be contrary to an auto-oriented culture. Cars are great and convenient but, to me, they are a personal choice and incompatible with community development in certain circumstances.

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