General East Lansing Development

edited February 2022 in East Lansing
East Lansing has recieved their SmartZone designation from the state of Michigan. They are trying to get a technology incubator in downtown East Lansing. Do you think this will work?
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  • I am very unclear about the specifics of the SmartZone designation. If you have any details on how it works and what exactly it offers that would be great, I've heard of it a lot.
  • Jared, you should post the LSJ articles when these things come out to frame the issue.
  • edited July 2007
    http://www.statenews.com/article.phtml?pk=37606

    E.L. creates 'technology incubator'

    By KRIS TURNER

    The State News

    East Lansing isn't just a Cool City — now it's a smart one, too.

    In a joint meeting between business, city and university officials Thursday, the city received its first designation as a SmartZone from the state.

    A SmartZone is an area in a city meant to house businesses with a focus on technology, East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton said.

    "One of the obvious reasons to create (a SmartZone) is to have jobs for our residents, but more importantly, to create jobs for the people graduating fr0m Michigan State," he said. "There aren't as many job opportunities for them in Michigan."

    SmartZones provide businesses with planning, grant writing and tax incentives.

    The city is actively working to become more of a cutting-edge place to open and operate a business, East Lansing Mayor Sam Singh said. The downtown area is being molded into a hot spot for technologically savvy companies.

    "This is an opportunity for us to real
  • There is another project under development. Across the street from Blockbuster Video on Grand River, near Stonehouse Village, one of the churches is building a 'Christian Science Reading Room', or something pretty close to that title. They have actually been working on it now for a while, I will try to get a picture of it. They also have a rendering of it on site.
  • So this is what's been going on over at the First Church of Christ Scientist. I hadn't been by there for awhile, and had figured they were just updating the grounds.
  • Couple pics of The Beaumont:

    Beaumont3.jpg

    Beaumont4.jpg

    And the Mercantile Bank building:

    MercantileBank2.jpg
  • A new project listed on the Planning commission's agenda from October 11th:
    Site Plan: An application from Joseph Goodsir for the properties at
    237, 242 and 243 Louis Street to remove the existing multiple family
    structures and build a new 3-story apartment building containing 24
    three-bedroom units with two floors of underground parking to
    accommodate 72 vehicles. The site is zoned RM-32 City Center
    Multiple Family Residential. (J. Rogers)

    I'm just curious, about where is that in relation to downtown?
  • edited October 2006
    This is two blocks from the intersection of Michigan and Grand River within the "Delta" subdivision, you know, the triangle bordered by Harrison to the west and the intersection of Grand River and Michigan to the east.
  • Would you consider that area to be "urban" and would you expect a building like the one described above to be built with an urban design given the area?
  • Yeah, that area is just a block away from the West Village development, and is next to a couple other large apartment buildings that are three to four stories tall. I am not sure if I would classify it as urban, but that specific road is getting to be pretty densely populated. Maybe I have a stereotype for an urban setting, but I am happy to see that it would be mixed use, (as there would be parking within the building).
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