General Motors Lands
This probably deserves its own thread now.
It sounds like this developer(s) is playing hard to get - probably over the level of incentives - but hasn't pulled out of negotiations. I kind of wish someone would find something out and leak it to the press. So far, what's been leaked is that we know we're talking about industrial development and likely auto-related, but that's it.
RACER Trust expects 'to get a deal' for ex-GM properties
LANSING - The status of four former GM plant sites changed to “not available” last April because the interest shown by a qualified buyer created a “very high probability of closing a deal,” according to RACER Trust’s redevelopment manager.
The fact that nine months have passed without reaching a purchase agreement is no cause for concern, Bruce Rasher, RACER’s chief properties negotiator, said Thursday.
“It is not unusual, and there’s nothing to be alarmed about,” said Rasher, who joined RACER in 2011 and who served two terms as mayor of Marshall, Michigan in the 1990s. “The underlying proposal from this prospect and the prospect itself are both sound.”
Rasher said a confidentiality agreement prevented him from identifying the would-be buyer unless and until a purchase contract was signed.
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The Lansing Economic Area Partnership, which could play a role in negotiating tax incentives, “is engaged directly with a potential prominent developer for the sites,” Bob Trezise, LEAP’s president and CEO, said Thursday.
“It’s complicated,” Trezise said. “There’s a lot of ifs, but we’re very hopeful.”
Nevertheless, “There’s nothing imminent,” he said.
It sounds like this developer(s) is playing hard to get - probably over the level of incentives - but hasn't pulled out of negotiations. I kind of wish someone would find something out and leak it to the press. So far, what's been leaked is that we know we're talking about industrial development and likely auto-related, but that's it.
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Here is another of my far fetched thoughts. I could really see streets and blocks being laid out, and a new neighborhood of residences and small industry. Like what we have in many Lansing neighborhoods. The west side Verlinden neighborhood is so nice, I could see single family homes and townhouses that reference the English cottages and bungalow/craftsman style going into apartments closer to Saginaw from north to south, and a new small business area on Saginaw, urban style buildings at the street,parking out back. Perhaps going from residential to mixed to small industry from east to west with more of the small industry by the rail road tracks. I have been back for a while now and it still kind of shocks me when I go by that huge empty space, it use to be such a busy area.
Hopefully, demand for industrial space is ramping up.
The deal won't close until NorthPoint completes it's due diligence and "seeks approval for its projects". Great to see life coming back to these empty areas of the city.