After my surface parking ramp, it appears that there are plans in the works to at least try and fix it around the edges. According to the City Pulse, there is currently a wholesale review of the city's over-night street parking ban with emphasis on potentially scrapping it, and the pilot program on a street on the eastside has been wildly successful:
Parking predicament Quote:
EDIT: Found out this is more geared towards the business districts than residential neighborhoods, and it's only one proposal. |
Hub East Lansing - August 31
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f...09bd8f~mv2.jpg East Lansing Buzz Center City - August 31 https://static.wixstatic.com/media/f...2_2016_s_2.jpg East Lansing Buzz https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dl-LKGIX0AARNcm.jpg EastLansingInfo August 31 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dl4IUZYWsAkTtDA.jpg EastLansingInfo They are pouring the sixth floor on the Landmark (Grand River Building), Newman Lofts (Albert Building) seems to be growing in fits and starts and seems to be behind Landmark, now. Target (Grand River Building) has received their "temporary certificate of occupany" which will permit Target's contractor to do the interior building out of the store. In other East Lansing news, the council set a September 18 public hearing for the Park District brownfield plan. And Thursday, the Downtown Development Authority and Brownfield Redevelopment Authority will consider the development agreement and the brownfield plan. |
The constructors of The Hub put out some new renderings a few days back. Not a huge difference, but you can definitely see where the value engineering has come in:
https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...83&oe=5BEF091F https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...d6&oe=5C2DFF8C https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...8c&oe=5C358587 https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...9c&oe=5C31E7F7 I am not sure what's going on with the east wing, or why they'd make the elevator tower a dark color, which really draws your eye to it from these renderings. But, honestly, this is replacing a restaurant and a 7-Eleven with surface parking fronting the street, and both will get first shots at occupying some of the ground floor units in this new building. It's a huge improvement over the previous land-use. Anyway, more interior shots of Spence Bros. facebook post on this. And, not directly development related and I featured it before when it was installed, but I love these shots of [i]Portrait of a Dreamer[/b] in downtown Lansing: https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1896/...2b253941_b.jpg THE DREAMER..... by marsha*morningstar, on Flickr https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1880/...0b31944b_b.jpg I CAN ONLY IMAGINE... by marsha*morningstar, on Flickr This was part of a Lansing Art's Council-administered program and funded by the city. It held up decently well through the winter. |
Hate to see this building come down, but it appears demolition on the old YMCA, for development proposals that have languished on this property since 2008, will begin this month. The current iteration of this proposal is Metro Place.
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/a99...t=401&fit=crop LSJ file photo Old Lansing YMCA building to be demolished in next month, contractor says Quote:
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Oh boy. I'm going to stop commenting on this thread. I get too emotional about these designs. It's like Lansing has no self respect.
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It's absolutely embarrassing. None of the residential developers want to pay for good designs. And it's not like the area is totally bereft of architects who could do a good job. Commercial real estate developers and developers of public buildings in Lansing have some really good choices when it comes to adaptive reuses, for instance, and even some new construction. But the residential stuff? Forget about it.
What also hurts is that despite the (relative) age of the city's architecture, Lansing has very, very few historic districts. Historic districts are very good pressure on things like increasing good design for in historic areas, and stopping demolitions for parking lots. Anyway, some new or updated renderings from some Michigan State University projects. STEM Teaching, Learning and Interdisciplinary Research Facilities: This one began construction in 2018, and includes the intergration of the historic Shaw Lane Power Plant into the facility. https://develop.metrolansing.com/dis...jmbaibm64f.jpg https://develop.metrolansing.com/dis...qij77ejaq6.png https://develop.metrolansing.com/dis...wccxivnlkf.png https://develop.metrolansing.com/dis...b1oql0xm6x.png Eli Broad College of Business Pavilion: Having been under construction since June 2017, this one just received the biggest gift from a single donor in the university's history. Real estate developer Edward Minskoff donated $30 million to this project. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmbHgZ9XoAA-TEm.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmbHmZqX4AAdfbE.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmbHm6hWsAAansc.jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmbHnsdWsAAcE4x.jpg |
The academic stuff looks a lot better. I've been really impressed by MSU's growth in the sciences and the building boom that's been happening there. It's clear they intend to stay relevant.
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Found out a bit more about the new "residential permit for street parking" ordinance that clears up my earlier misconceptions about and understanding of it. Apparently, it's something that's been fairly quickly making it through committee and is up for a public hearing, tonight.
The program would allow for the creation of residential street parking zones, as the city currently bans residential overnight parking on all but a single street as a pilot program. The "residential street parking zones" would by the Department of Public Service, the Parking Services Office - which is under the Department of Economic Development and Planning - would then administer the program including rules and rates and such. As I understand it, the permit wouldn't guarantee a specific spot on the street, but I'm not 100% sure of this. While I said earlier that this was targeted toward reducing required parking minimums downtown, I'd forgtten at the time that downtown (the G-1 zoning district, anyway) actually doesn't have any required parking minimums. So at least downtown this is really just geared towards developers who don't want to waste so much of their lot area - or demolish structures on a nearby lot for parking - for parking they often feel they have to build for residents. The impetus for the ordinance was the developer who is looking to development Midtown on the 500 block of South Washington, downtown. What I'm still unsure of, however, is if these zones would count toward the parking minimums for business districts and residential neighborhoods outside downtown. I imagine they would, but I'm trying to find this out. In the case that this does count toward parking minimums in the other zoning districts, this would be great for urban land use (and great for developer profits on a given project) in the city, as developers would have to build less off-street parking on their lots. Not really development news, but Young Bros & Daley is the oldest contiously operated business on Michigan Avenue; I had no idea. They celebrated their 125 year anniversary on September 6th. Really kind of impressive given what's happening around them. https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...eb&oe=5C2D2F24 Young Bros & Daley https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...62&oe=5C1C3535 Young Bros & Daley Young's, located at Michigan and Hill right across the railroad tracks from downtown, sells architectural products like brick, tile and stone, and also carries outdoor furniture and sells fireplaces. They've really kept their property up over the years. |
Couldn't remember if I posted about this one, but Elevation at Okemos Pointe out in the south end of Okemos - Jolly Oaks - completed it's first phase in August, I believe. That phase consisted of 8 buildings with 166 units it total. I believe the next two phases will bring the development to 20 buildings and nearly 400 units, in addition to general retail and a market place.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/elevatio...=page_internal https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...71&oe=5C1DD5C2 https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...f3&oe=5C2980DA https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...c5&oe=5BF06B3B https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...7e&oe=5C2E1F80 https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...dd&oe=5C2D5C0E https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...87&oe=5C334CEA https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...36&oe=5C20ACA8 |
^ Those look pretty good. I like the materials and massing.
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Look nice indeed. Though I'm not familiar with rental prices in the area, the cost looks reasonable to me.
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Yeah, they are developed by a young guy whose tired of the typical suburban single-family tract housing that would have been built out this way a decade or two ago. He's got some big stuff he's planning for Lansing proper, too. The rents? They are a little high for the area, though probably not high for that specific area of the metro. A $1,000 for a studio is pretty high above the average, but Okemos is fairly well-to-do so I'm sure they thought they could command these prices. The only other place commanding those types of prices for a studio are downtown. Though even downtown some of the new construction stuff like Marketplace are under $900 a month for a studio.
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Some stuff in next Monday's agenda (Sep 17) of the Lansing City Council's Committee on Development & Planning that will go to the full council the following Monday (Sep 24):
1. Waypoint Dunckel: Both the "Planned Residential Development" review and brownfield plan is up for approval for this one. This is the suburban(ish) apartment complex planned for the edge of the city at the southeas corner of Dunckel Road and I-496 on the site of an old, abandoned hotel. The project consists of 286 rental units in 4, four-story buildings on a 9.6 acre site. This required a lot split, as the frontage actually along Dunckel Road will be developed as a hotel and commercial space. This development is actually oriented from Collins Road. These are being built for MSU's McLaren Hospital to go up just to the north. More on that one later. Oh, this was given a new name: Volaris Lansing. It's developer is Waypoint Residential out of South Florida, but their Dallas office in particular. Plans are that final approvals will come by the September 24th council meeting. https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1762/...d27635b3_b.jpg 2. The Wing: A public hearing will be set next Monday for the brownfield plan for this one. This is the old factory down at Hazel and Hosmer in a non-descript neighborhood just south of I-496. This came as a shock to just about everyone earlier this year because of it's location in the middle of "nowhere" as far as revitalization is concerned. Having secured its Special Land Use permit earlier this year, as it's seeking to house residents in an industrial district, the brownfield plan is for Phase 1 or a three phase plan. This first phase includes 60 apartment units of housing in the parts of the building which front Hazel and Hosmer. The Hazel frontage will also include ground floor commercial space and the Hosmer frontage will include a restaurant on the ground floor. Also a part of this phase will be the renovation of an over 50,000 sq ft footprint in the middle of the factory to temporary light industrial usage, as well as a unique 7,500 sf ft "maker space." This is scheduled all to start in October and be completed by January 2020. What's really interesting is that this is only the beginning. We find out that Phase 2 includes renovating "The Hangar" section of the building on its north side into the container apartments they announced when they first announced the project. They will be stacked three-high in this old section of the factory creating residential complex within the building. This phase plans to start in the Summer of next year. The biggest thing we found out, however, is Phase 3. This phase will created a thin (only a 6,400 sq ft footprint) 16 to 20 story residential tower which will be over a parking garage they plan to build in about half of the temporary industrial space, which is a part of phase 1. That phrase is tentatively scheduled to start in January 2022. Really, if even only half of this ever gets done it will be a success as far as I'm concerned. The developer? The guy who developed Elevation at Okemos Pointe above. :) Finally approval is expected in late October. Preliminary work has been ongoing all year, but for heavy construction they want to nail down the brownfield plan, first. https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4449/...ebed23b1_b.jpg 3. MSU McClaren Greater Lansing Hospital: On the committees agenda is the recommendation for the vacation of Alliance Drive (in full) and Technology Boulevard (in part) in the University Corporate Research Park as eastern city limits to make for MSU's new hospital. This will be a few blocks north of Volaris Lansing. A vacation approval before the full council on Sep 25 would allow them to start construction probably early next year. https://www.connect.media/wp-content...ng_lansing.jpg |
The Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) agenda for Thursday didn't come out until the day of, so I couldn't include this stuff in my last post. Anyway, the BZA handles all variance requests, and is the first and only body that deals with these. The city council does not have oversight of it, so a request is typically heard, allowed public comment, and approved all at one meeting.
1. MSU McLaren Greater Lansing Hospital: We find out McLaren is requesting a max height of 178 feet in a zoning district that only allows for 45 feet. They are also requesting for redesignation of the two streets that front the property from "collectors" to "major or minor arterials" which is a condition for a hospital to be built. To be clear, the elevations only show a building of 158 feet tall, but I imagine they want the extra height for future expansions, one of which is outlined in the elevation. It'd allow them probably two additional floors if they ever needed it. 2. Allen Neighborhood Center - Kircher Complex: This one came out of nowhere. This is a request by the Allen Neighborhood Center on the city's lower east side - specifically along East Kalamazoo between Allen and Shephard - for relief from front yard setbacks, lot area requirements, and parking requirements to construct 40 apartment units on the property, and about 4,200 square feet of additional ground floor commercial space. It'd be two floors and basically fill the corners and some missing frontage along Allen and Shepard streets from Kalamazoo back to the back building line of the existing complex. Because of the zoning of the property, they'd need a minimum of 56,800 square feet of lot area for the 40 residential units, whereas they only have a bit over 49,000 square feet. They'd also be required to have 20-foot setbacks along Allen, Shepard, and Kalamazoo, whereas they are requesting only 8, 9.25, and 0 feet, respectively, so as to fit into the historic context of the neighborhood. Finally, all of this new space (residential and commercial) would require a parking minimum of 160 spots, whereas they are only planning 80 citing that it's in a walkable neighborhood, along bus lines, and will be geared towards older folks without cars. Oh, all existing programs and tenants, such as the farmer's market, would be kept as part of this expansion. https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1843/...e9143d62_b.jpg The planning office recommended both of these be approved. |
I wonder who ANC's development partner is on this. I tried to search for the agenda and minutes for the BZA, but couldn't find them posted online. I'd be interested in learning more about this.
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You go to the "Government" drop-down near the top of the page and then click on "Agendas & Minutes" and it takes you to the Agendas center. Sometimes, the various boards and committees are late; some of the boards have very poor agendas and minutes.
Anyway, the Allen Neighborhood Center is the only developer mentioned. There could be other partners, but none are mentioned. The only additional piece of information I see that's worthy of note is that an out-of-state owner actually owns the property, and ANC seems pretty harsh about how they manage the complex, which is weird because they must obviously have their blessing to do this project. |
This is so cool. I was kind of surprised that Lansing allows this as I know a lot of other city's zoning codes prevent gardens in front yards. I remember a huge dust-up in Oak Park when a women turned her front yard into a garden. I think she eventually won, but she was being threatened with all kind of legal action.
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2...unds&auto=webp Nick King | Lansing State Journal "An oasis among the lawns": These residents are ditching traditional front yards Quote:
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Nick King | Lansing State Journal It's a really interesting article in full. Ostensibly, many of these ordinances about lawns were put in when ideas of aesthetics were different and to keep the nature out of the city. But, I'm kind of glad that mindset is changing, and I'm glad this city at least doesn't make this difficult. |
Looks like we're nearing the end of this. After over at least 12 years of actively trying to redevelop this site, Park District is looking to start construction in January. From EastLansingInfo:
https://eastlansinginfo.org/sites/de...?itok=17r6_EKZ After Years of Drama, Park District Plan Looks Real Quote:
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Good news.
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Another project passes a big hurdle. The sale of the Waverly Golf Course & Michigan Avenue Park on the westside in Lansing Township has been finalized, which will allow this one to move forward.
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/166...t=401&fit=crop Greg DeRuiter | Lansing State Journal Lansing closes on $2.2 million sale of former Waverly Golf Course Quote:
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Not a development, but some interesting photos around the Stadium District from some angles we don't often see. Photos are by James Lenon: https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...16&oe=5C31A1B2 https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...e2&oe=5C216674 https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...9d&oe=5C359978 https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...a5&oe=5C3303B9 https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...fe&oe=5C21C580 https://scontent.fdet1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...8c&oe=5C2EC7BA I will be happy when GG finally "closes" Marketplace with the construction of it's third phase that will front Cedar Street. That surface lot there is bothering me so badly. lol It'll be interesting to see if they start on Phase III while they are also building 600 East Michigan. |
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