A casino in Lansing???

hood

Some Michigan cities bet casinos would boost economy

A group called Michigan Is Yours is proposing a ballot measure to allow new casinos in Benton Harbor, Detroit, Flint, Lansing, Muskegon and Romulus; it would also allow slot machines at Detroit Metro. I'm excited about the prospect of having a new casino in Lansing, I'm assuming it would be downtown and that it would have a hotel. It's early in the process, but I don't see how there would be to much opposition to this. What do you think?

micro

How about converting the Knapp's building into a casino? A midrise hotel could be built on the Cooley Law School parking lot to the south of it.

At any rate, I agree Hood, I think it's an exciting prospect.

MichMatters

I see nothing saying that anything is planned. This proposal would give these cities an option to vote on casino gaming, and even then a developer would have to come forward with a proposal to actually build one.

My thought on expanded casino gaming in general is that once you get too many too close to each other, you water down any kind of positive effect they may have and any kind of novelty they may have. The closer in proximity they get, the smaller they'll have to get because they'll only be pulling from their immediate urban areas.

That said, as far as architecture goes, the Knapp Center is perfect for a reusage as a casino given it's high, glass-block windows no one on the floor can see through and massive amounts of contiguous floor space per floor.

hood

I think that if this ballot measure is approved there would almost certainly be a quick move to build the casinos in all the areas. I think that these new casinos would likely be quite successful, as they would be closer to the population centers than the Indian casinos. I don't really think Knapps wouldn't work well as a casino, casinos like to have all or most of the gaming on one floor (floorplates are too small) , they like to have a lot of attached parking (not possible on that site), and getting Cooley to part with their lot may not be possible. If a casino is built in Lansing it would almost certainly be built on the river and close to the Lansing Center. If I had to bet I'd say it would go on Museum Dr, or maybe on the site of Ballpark North or Market Place.

hood

Casino Lansing?

It looks like there's a new effort to bring a casino to Lansing, this time it appears to be a more locally oriented drive.

I've wanted to see a casino in downtown Lansing for awhile now, so any effort is welcome news to me. I'm especially intrigued by the idea of making the casino a gaming-only facility. That would allow surrounding business to benefit more from the casino, instead of it sucking the life out of the area like some fear a casino/resort would do. I think that a proposal for a downtown casino would get strong local support, but my question is what kind of red tape is involved in building a casino on State side of things?

JazperG

Do you think the Casinos helped or hurt the city of Detroit? They are a great chilling new option downtown. The restaurants, bars, and clubs (cover is $20 minimum) are all high end and nice when you want a glamorous time out. Most nights when you look at the gaming floors, you see a lot of people down there gambling who you know should not be gambling though.

It's an eclectic mix of crowd. Has it helped Detroit? Economically and Socially? Do you think it would have the same effects on the greater Lansing area, minus the population difference?

hood

I would say the casinos have helped Detroit both economically and socially, although I would try to use Detroit or it's casinos as a benchmark for Lansing. I think that a casino would actually help more here than in Detroit. I think of the key benefits, as Bob Trezise pointed out, is the added marketability of Lansing for conventions. With conventions comes hotels, restaurants and more outsiders getting to see the city. Anything that draws people to your area who normally wouldn't come spend money there is a great thing.

Sparty73

To distinguish the value of casinos in the two cities, I would just simply point to hood's previous post.

Detroit needed the big resort style casinos that offered nightlife, restaurants and shopping to supplement the casino itself. There's a perception, whether it's true is an argument for another day, that Detroit has almost nothing to offer in the way of those non-gaming amenities.

In Lansing, especially after seeing the nightlife pouring onto the streets on Washington like I did over the summer, those extras aren't as necessary. You'd just be sucking the profits from the businesses and the vibrancy from the city.

hood

Coalition pushes for casino in Lansing

This is a story on the push for a Lansing casino. It really doesn't offer much new information, I'm still hopeful that this happens, but this effort may be getting thrown together too quickly to be successful.

MichMatters

This guy is dreaming, but more power to him for trying something he believes in.

dogsdaddy

I don't gamble, but I think a casino would be a good addition to lansing. Maybe the casino people could team up with the developer of the high rise condos or the lenawaee project on a joint venture.