Not particularly sexy stuff, but fairly major economic industrial news.
- Harvest Park has confirmed a business deal that had been pending has been reached. On this particular site they hope to have construction done by the end of the year. The 131 acre park is being marketed and two phase. In Phase 1 (west of Creyts Road), they've sold 6 of the 10 available lots. In Phase 2 (east of Creyts Road), they've 2 of the 7 lots have sales pending. This has already spurred development in Windsor Township with an old, abandoned truck stop across the street to be reopened within three months by a group of local investors. Don's Windmill closed in 2009 after 54 years in business. Quote:
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Updates for the week:
- The latest version of Park District in East Lansing is quickly making its way through the approval process. The current plans were unanimously recommended for approval by the city's planning commission on August 8. The developer is requesting approval for its site plan and a special land use permit at it's Tuesday meeting. We are also given overall height numbers for each, finally. The apartment high-rise will be 150 feet, the hotel will be 129.5 feet, and the low-rise apartment building will be 62 feet. The special land use permit is because East Lansing's downtown development zoning district (B-3) actually isn't at flexible, by-right, as one would think. Each building is actually needs the special land use permit: The apartment high-rise because of the height it's requesting and because residential isn't a by-right primary use (has to be part of something), the hotel because of its height, and the low-rise building because of it's sole usage as residential and because any building that contains residential has to be 6 stories and this will only 4 stories. - In Lansing, the city council is setting a public hearing on the brownfield plan for Waypoint Dunckel, the four apartment buildings to rise at Dunckel and I-496, for August 27th. As fast as this is moving they are likely to make their schedule to start this one this fall. Parallel to that process, since they are developing this under the "planned residential development" overlay, they are requesting a special land use permit The city planning board decided whether to recommend this or not at their August 7 meeting, but the minutes aren't yet up for their decision. I imagined it passed. At that point, this would go through the council committee process, so it's about a step behind the brownfield plan approval. - I'd forgotten about this one, but the Lansing Township board of trustees approved an amendment to a PD (Planned Development) at Eastwood Town Center that includes a proposed Holiday Inn and a restaurant. The amendment took out the restaurant and added another hotel. We find out that the planned Holiday Inn will be 6 stories with 120 rooms, and the boutique hotel will be 7 stories with 138 rooms and a conference center. This one barely won approval (3-2) as some township trustees are worried about the area being "over-hoteled." The township clerk reminded them that it wasn't their role to judge the market, rather review whether the amendment met the townships rules, though that didn't seem to change the vote of those who opposed this. - Lastly, on something mildly historic for this day an age, we find out in tonight's council meeting agenda that someone in Delta Township has actually petitioned for annexation to the city of Lansing. This would have to be the first time this has happened in decades. The land to be annexed is almost 11 acres and includes a single residence on West Jolly Road and six buildings along the west side of Waverly Road north of Jolly. This area does not have a direct connect to Delta Township, as the Grand River cuts it off. It's never made sense in the township, anyway, and really everything north of Jolly and west of Waverly belongs in the city. https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1812/...f50d65f3_b.jpg There is only one household on this land - which includes the petitioner, of course - but an election is still required. If the city approves the proposal for annexation, it gets put on the ballot for November in the city and in the township within the territory proposed for annexation. Oh, it would seem the commercial businesses along Waverly are included in this petition since an annexation is no longer allowed to create "islands" within another municipality. Since both the front and back property lines of this residential property abut the city, it'd do just that were it not to include the commercial properties. |
The East Lansing City Council approved the special land use permit and site plan for Park District, last night:
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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/854/4...960913d6_b.jpg This mean's you'll have five (technical) high-rises under construction along Grand River Avenue all at once: Newman Lofts and Landmark on Grand River at Center City, The Hub East Lansing, and Park District Apartments and Graduate Hotel at Park District. |
Suburban development alert. Auto-Owners Insurance is building a 250,000 square foot general office building at it's south campus across the I-496 from its main headquarters campus in Delta Township.
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BTW. From an urban perspective, Lansing doesn't get much of a kick out of being an insurance and financial services hub since so many of the companies are located in the suburbs (i.e. Delta Dental, Jackson National Life, Auto-Owners, etc.). Only BCBS of Michigan and Accident Fund are located downtown. I guess the good thing is that BCBS actually moved downtown from Delta Township some years back (the south campus where Auto-Owners is going to build their new office building was the BCBS campus), but other's have been slow in coming. The other good thing is that this is suburban infill, and so they didn't have to revise zoning to put this somewhere out in a cornfield at the edge of the township. |
This seems to have come out of nowhere, though after seeing the approval of Park District, I guess another developer wants to get in on the fun (read: money). A local Lansing developer introduced a plan at last Thursday's East Lansing DDA meeting seeking to develop Park Place, which will be directly north of Park District on land owned by East Lansing's Downtown Development Authority. It will include two buildings:
Park Place I: 12 stories, 12,000 square feet of ground floor retail, 25,000 square feet of office space on the second floor, market-rate apartments of floors 3 through 10, and for-sale condos on floors 11 & 12. It'd also have a two-floor underground automated parking system. This would be located at the northwest corner of Albert and Abbot and would take the place of the building which houses Dublin Square. https://eastlansinginfo.org/sites/de...?itok=iQwIjVlo Park Place II: 9 stories, including a 12-screen cinema on the ground floor, 4 floors of automated parking above the threater, and four floors of market-rate apartments above that. Some of the apartments, however, would wrap around the groud floor on the north and west sides of the building. Above the parking level, would be a courtyard. 424 spots in the garage would be for frequent parking, and 120 spaces would be for "storage" for those who don't use their cars frequently, and it'd take longer to cycle through to access those vehicles. This would sit directly behind Park Place I - and be connected by a skywalk - at Evergreen and Abbot. https://eastlansinginfo.org/sites/de...?itok=rVRnWdW- https://eastlansinginfo.org/sites/de...?itok=A8wl9oR6 https://eastlansinginfo.org/sites/de...?itok=V2VJkUPV The city originally bought all of this land for an expanded Park District proposal that never came to fruition. The site currently has student housing which the DDA has contracted out managing for. Quote:
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^ Well, that's a surprise! It looks like it could fit in well with the Park District development. What a transformation that area is about to see.
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Jeez Louise. They're gonna have to find a way to fix the intersection of Grand River and Abbot. I'm also going to be interested to see what the census comes back with in terms of density for EL and this tract in particular in 2020.
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I really, really hope they aren't overselling this:
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https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4709/...a494d3bc_b.jpg Only properties not a part of this development are the two homes you see near the southeast corner of the site, and Liskey's auto repair garage. I noticed last Thursday they'd already boarded up all of the single-family homes on the corner and done some tree cutting, and then they announced this reveal on Friday. |
Well, it looks like the LSJ picked up on Park Place, this morning. We get two additional renderings and a bit more information:
Developers want to bring apartments, movie theater to downtown East Lansing Quote:
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That's exactly what the last line of the article said, so I suspect you're right. Vlahakis is right, too. For a town with a huge university, East Lansing is way underdeveloped. I just hope it can retain some semblance of its character in the process. |
600 East Michigan in Lansing was just revealed. As usual for Gillespie, bad architecture, but much needed retail and a hotel.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlyVdWIXsAE_ZXC.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlyVdWIXgAAnopD.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlyVdWoX0AEpVYX.jpg We get an urban Meijer, a hotel, and 35 or so apartments out of this one. Meijer market, hotel project billed as 'game-changer' for downtown Lansing Quote:
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I think it has perfect proportions for the site and it will be nice to see the street wall continued there. The market will be a nice addition as well. This is the third Meijer urban market thats been announced, correct? After Grand Rapids and Detroit?
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Good news for this area, with my obvious and usual reservations about the design. An urban Meijer will be a nice addition to the area. Wish it would've been there when I worked a block up the road because there were no food shops except for the dollar store.
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In fact, in the proposed form-based code, this designated in the "Urban Core" district, which is the highest zoning classification in the city that calls for high-rises. It's funny, because I thought it'd have been zoned a step down or two ("Urban Flex" or "Urban Edge"), but, nope, they have it included in the core. |
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Has there been any news recently on the Farnum Building being reused or the proposed hotel at Lansing City Hall? |
The proposal for city hall was put on hold indefinitely when the new mayor came in (thank god). As for the old State Senate office building, the Boji Group - who bought and renamed the old Michigan National Tower across the street - purchased the building in cash back in June and are likely to renovated it and reuse it as Class A office space.
Only major development in planning in the west half of downtown (west of the river) is the redevelopment of the surface parking lot and office mid-rise at the southern end of downtown, the old Lake Trust Credit Union property, dubbed Midtown: https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5...0_1650_s_2.jpg https://static.wixstatic.com/media/5...0_1650_s_2.jpg |
forgot to quote.. for you @LMich
The proposal for city hall was put on hold indefinitely when the new mayor came in (thank god). As for the old State Senate office building, the Boji Group - who bought and renamed the old Michigan National Tower across the street - purchased the building in cash back in June and are likely to renovated it and reuse it as Class A office space. Only major development in planning in the west half of downtown (west of the river) is the redevelopment of the surface parking lot and office mid-rise at the southern end of downtown, the old Lake Trust Credit Union property, dubbed Midtown: *** Has this been approved and/or is there a ground breaking date? |
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Really, I love that we get another downtown hotel and an urban grocer. And the demand for residential units is still high, so a few dozen of those is always a plus. But I just can't with the bad site plans in the middle of downtown. This is a four-acre site, and it looks like a full two-thirds of it will be used for surface parking...in a zoning district that has no hard requirements for parking, at all. The city seems pretty hell-bent on not bonding out for a sorely needed parking garage east of the river, and Gillespie Group will never build their own.
So what you get is all of this new development that has a veneer or urban-mindedness to it. But behind the show it's nothing but the same old suburban surface parking lots on every single one of this developer's properties downtown. And it's not exactly a surprise - they were suburban developments before they turned toward the city, but the mindset hasn't really changed. They seem to think that loud colors, and fancy amenities, and building one frontage up to the street, and attracting the "Millennials" is "urban" enough all by itself. You can see this with Stadium District across the street: https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1856/...19736e78_b.jpg Surface parking out back and a drive-thru. All the projects are basically (slightly) vertical suburban apartment complexes in the middle of town. I'd really like to see some outside developers come in and show them what actually urban development is, and then maybe they'll feel like they have to work a bit harder. Marketplace, the Outfield, Stadium District and now this...all excessive amounts of surface parking relative to their zoning district. |
Update on The Hub East Lansing:
August 24 https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f...a3eef6~mv2.jpg EastLansingBuzz First half of the mezzanine poured, getting ready to pour the rest and get on to the 2nd floor. For Center City, they are pouring the sixth floor on the Grand River building (The Landmark). They are also nearing the end of reconstructing the sidewalk on this building in front of the new Target. BTW, random photo from this month from outside the City Market. Love seeing the plaza get so much use: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlPFs6NWwAAkUWQ.jpg Lansing City Market |
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