15 years? I first heard talk of this project around 2005 if my memory serves me right. I know it's cutting hairs, the article is still wrong. Am I remembering it wrong?
Nonetheless, I feel like there should be a party at the southeast corner of Grand River and Abbot on Saturday morning.
I tend to first remember it around that time period, too. But maybe they'd been doing preliminary work as far back as 2002. I took it to mean they were talking about when this property first hit the city's radar as site for redevelopment. And, of course, that preceded the announcement of whatever the first proposal (Museum Place?) for the site was.
Hey, Jared, now that they are starting from scratch, what kind of development would you like to see there? Though they've always tried to fit housing into it, I've always thought such a prominent corner should have had an office component, primarily. Downtown East Lansing could benefit from some Class A office space.
I like the idea of another downtown hotel, too. So my mix would be hotel, office, and ground floor commercial space, of course. Actually, I also liked Museum Place for the fact that MSU was involved, so maybe instead of (or maybe in combination with) commercial office space, they could get MSU as an anchor tenant for some institutional space (classroom, laboratory, etc).
I guess I wouldn't mind some housing - maybe some higher-end for-sale units on the very top floor or something - but I don't think it's absolutely necessary for the success of the project, especially now with Center City District going up across the street.
BTW, anyone have any old pictures of this one before they "modernized" it? I can't believe I've never seen it before the reconstruction. Apparently, it was a rather simple building, but I'd still be interested. Reading the old brownfield plans, it was originally built as an apartment building with ground floor commercial space before it was converted to office use. That's a rather rare conversion, from residential to commercial; it's almost always the other way.
I only remember that is was always there and it must have been nothing too remarkable. I would look for pictures of the State Theater that might include the building which was next door. I asked on the other page and yup they finally did it! Yea!
Comments
15 years? I first heard talk of this project around 2005 if my memory serves me right. I know it's cutting hairs, the article is still wrong. Am I remembering it wrong?
Nonetheless, I feel like there should be a party at the southeast corner of Grand River and Abbot on Saturday morning.
I tend to first remember it around that time period, too. But maybe they'd been doing preliminary work as far back as 2002. I took it to mean they were talking about when this property first hit the city's radar as site for redevelopment. And, of course, that preceded the announcement of whatever the first proposal (Museum Place?) for the site was.
Yeah good point. I remember hearing about Museum Place in 2005 but there was quite some time before then that there was chatter but no specific plans.
Hey, Jared, now that they are starting from scratch, what kind of development would you like to see there? Though they've always tried to fit housing into it, I've always thought such a prominent corner should have had an office component, primarily. Downtown East Lansing could benefit from some Class A office space.
I like the idea of another downtown hotel, too. So my mix would be hotel, office, and ground floor commercial space, of course. Actually, I also liked Museum Place for the fact that MSU was involved, so maybe instead of (or maybe in combination with) commercial office space, they could get MSU as an anchor tenant for some institutional space (classroom, laboratory, etc).
I guess I wouldn't mind some housing - maybe some higher-end for-sale units on the very top floor or something - but I don't think it's absolutely necessary for the success of the project, especially now with Center City District going up across the street.
I can any hope that the folks in EL government will learn something from this long lesson.
Smashy smash.
YES!
BTW, anyone have any old pictures of this one before they "modernized" it? I can't believe I've never seen it before the reconstruction. Apparently, it was a rather simple building, but I'd still be interested. Reading the old brownfield plans, it was originally built as an apartment building with ground floor commercial space before it was converted to office use. That's a rather rare conversion, from residential to commercial; it's almost always the other way.
I only remember that is was always there and it must have been nothing too remarkable. I would look for pictures of the State Theater that might include the building which was next door. I asked on the other page and yup they finally did it! Yea!
Found this article on the building. Might be what it originally looked like? http://kevinforsyth.net/ELMI/state-theatre.htm
Yup!