I'm really happy with the job they did fixing up that building. It's especially nice given the difficulty I'm sure they'll have find a tenant for such a small space.
I was just going through some of my old pictures on my computer and I found an old rendering of a Lansing Center expansion. I can't remember where the picture came from, but I think it's from the proposal under Hollister to add 250,000 sq ft of space. Does anyone remember seeing this?
I still have the newspaper clipping of this failed concept. The rendering was done by HOK, one of the nation's largest architectural firms, at the behest of a Hollister. The expansion was priced at $36.7 million, and would have included 63,000 sq ft expansion of the Lansing Center and an attached hotel. A task force was supposed to be formed to figure out how to pay for it; nothing ever came of it.
A major opponent of even continuing to study this was the Radisson across the river as the city made a gentlemen's agreement back when it was built that the city wouldn't support the city subsidies or tax breaks to another downtown hotel until the Radisson reached a certain profit margin they never ended up reaching. For years (and it's never been resolved), there has been questions of whether this agreement was legally binding.
Carol Wood was also kind of cool on the idea of finding a way to fund this. But, with as far as this area has come since even then, I'd love for someone like Gillespie to partner up with the city to see what could be done in this area, particularly now with the new City Market, upgraded riverfront park, and the upcoming Marker Place.
BTW, here is the Walker Building currently undergoing renovation work at the corner of Washington and Grand River at the edge of Old Town:
The renovation will be pretty extensive, completely reconstructing the ground floor exterior, removing the paint, and of course all of the rearrangement inside to make way for the upstairs apartments.
I'd documented when the River Trail at that location had gone out months ago, and, in fact, was by there just yesterday. Yeah, they've had it closed off. Well, as closed off as you can get it, because I went right on through, this time, as the barriers weren't fully stretched across. The really ironic thing about it is that they'd kind of just redone this section (between Elm and the railroad tracts along side Lansing Grand River Assembly) a few years ago. I hope this time they get what they pay for, because this was wasted money.
In the June 20th City Council packet, AT&T is requesting an easement in Adado riverfront park for their utilities. They state that this new easement is necessary "because the Michigan Department of Transportation plans to reconstruct the Saginaw Street bridge." It goes on to say that construction of the new bridge is slated for next year and that demolition of the current bridge could begin as early as December.
I'm really glad to hear the the bridge is going to be reconstructed so soon, but I'm concerned that the new bridge will have the same problems as the old one. I hope that they leave more clearance for the Rivertrail and that they make it have wider sidewalks, hopefully separated by a guard rail like the Shiawassee St bridge.
Comments
$1.4M mixed-use project to bring 14,380-sq ft of new development to Michigan Ave
It seems these things often become barber shops. It'll be interesting to see who eventually ends up leasing the space.
A major opponent of even continuing to study this was the Radisson across the river as the city made a gentlemen's agreement back when it was built that the city wouldn't support the city subsidies or tax breaks to another downtown hotel until the Radisson reached a certain profit margin they never ended up reaching. For years (and it's never been resolved), there has been questions of whether this agreement was legally binding.
Carol Wood was also kind of cool on the idea of finding a way to fund this. But, with as far as this area has come since even then, I'd love for someone like Gillespie to partner up with the city to see what could be done in this area, particularly now with the new City Market, upgraded riverfront park, and the upcoming Marker Place.
The renovation will be pretty extensive, completely reconstructing the ground floor exterior, removing the paint, and of course all of the rearrangement inside to make way for the upstairs apartments.
From the LSJ:
Segment of Lansing River Trail eroding into Grand River
From Capital Gains:
Lansing Public Media Center to open 12,000-sq ft public access studio, equipment library
New walkup bar brings baseball theme, $20K investment to Michigan Ave
From City Pulse:
Brownfield giving
I'm really glad to hear the the bridge is going to be reconstructed so soon, but I'm concerned that the new bridge will have the same problems as the old one. I hope that they leave more clearance for the Rivertrail and that they make it have wider sidewalks, hopefully separated by a guard rail like the Shiawassee St bridge.