General Lansing Development

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  • They have a similar “something special coming soon” sign outside of the old Beer Grotto.
  • Oh my goodness; it was a stupid scooter rental shop. lol


  • Just when i thought we had rid our city of those things he is bringing them back. I know some folks like to use these scooters but I did not miss seeing them spread all over town this summer.

  • The rezoning for the old Genesee Street School (and I assume the special land use permit to reuse the gym for the community) was approved last week according to the public notices in the City Pulse, this week. I've always been excited about this one.


  • edited September 2019

    Hood posted about this last month, but there is a zoning variance request for a new mixed-income, 52-unit apartment building at Cherry and St. Joseph in the Cherry Hill neighborhood. They are seeking a variance for the frontyard setback and to allow parking in the front yard. Parking is not permitted in the front yard in residential districts, and one parking space on the site will extend into the frontyard on Cherry Street. There is also a required 35-foot frontyard set back in this zoning district, which is way too large for the neighborhood (and the staff report makes note of this historic neighborhoods small setbacks), and they are proposing a much smaller 20-foot setback (15-foot for the porches), which is probably still excessive, but that's another argument for another day. The staff report even notes that the setback requirement would actually be prohibited in the proposed Form-Based Code, which would only allow for a setback average no deeper than the existing building setbacks on the street, which is how it should have always been, anyway.

    Long story short, the staff report shows that the city wants them to develop the way they are proposing to develop, and the city's current outdated zoning code is in the way of that. In fact, the 20-foot setback being proposed would actually be too deep under the Form-Based Code. They'd have to come up with a shallower front setback.

    https://lansingmi.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_09122019-2772

    In other news, from the minutes from the previous Board of Zoning Appeals meeting, we find that the Michigan Association of Realtors is looking to replace its current 1-story building at 720-724 North Washington. They are requesting a variance for height, with a proposed 3-story, 47'-7" building proposed where 45'-0" is allowed. They were granted the variance.

  • I'm still so-so on the Cherry Hill project. I just wish they'd do a little something extra with the facade and roof. I'd like to see a little variation in the facade, maybe more prominent porches, bay windows or something similar. That, coupled with some more variation to the roof, be it dormers or larger/better designed gables, would make a massive difference in the look of the building.

    I'd like to see what the Association of Realtors is doing for their building. Three floors isn't much but it's right for the area and I'm really happy to see some extra density between downtown and Old Town, especially when it's a non-descript single floor office building being replaced.
  • edited September 2019

    Looks like we finally might get some movement on this:

    They are marketing the 110,000 sq ft building for $3.4 million.


  • It would be an amazing office building for a law firm. They could lease out the parts of the building that they don't need.

  • They'd have to lease out quite a bit of space with it being 100,000 square feet over such huge floor plates. This would probably better used by a much larger office tenant, quite honestly. Law firms usually don't use a lot of space.

  • I think the Temple Building could be a great hotel and conference center, maybe building a residential tower/parking structure connected on the surface lot next door.

    Over on Cheery Hill the computer depictions of this project are not very good. I know these kinds of drawings are much less expensive than creating an artist drawn depiction but they really do a poor job of selling a building project. You have to imagine the building looking better than the drawings. Which I hope it does! It would be great if they were of the same quality as the Grand Avenue development. It is interesting that someone wants to build such a large project in that neighborhood. It is nice and peaceful [ and quiet w/496 above??] in that little corner of Lansing, I think like in East Lansing there is a good trend developing bringing people back into our city centers.

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