I really like the last one taken in front of the Lansing City Rescue Mission. The composition is great with the bikes and raingardens with the development behind it.
The Market Place agreement has passed paving the way for a new market and a mixed-use development at the current market site:
Council approves Lansing City Market agreement
Susan Vela • svela@lsj.com • August 18, 2008 • From LSJ.com
11:05 P.M. - Local residents will have a new year-round, indoor-outdoor market where they can buy fresh produce on the downtown riverfront now that Lansing City Council approved a $1.6 million sale to make it happen.
Council voted unanimously Monday to approve the sale of the Lansing City Market to local developer Pat Gillespie so that he can bring Market Place — a $24 million to $30 million mix of retail, office and residential space — to the downtown riverfront.
Gillespie will demolish the 70-year-old market building, which has a termite problems and requires an annual city subsidy of about $50,000 for utility bills, by early 2010.
With proceeds from the sale, the city plans to complete its new market on property just south of the current location.
“Our commitment to Lansing is unwavering,” said Gillespie. “We’re rockin’ and rollin’.”
Council President Brian Jeffries, who along with council members Carol Wood and Eric Hewitt had been opposed to the terms of the sale, said he was satisfied with the latest revisions. Six yes votes were needed among the eight member council.
“This does a tremendous amount to move the city forward, and it helps the developer,” Jeffries said.
Monday’s vote was the culmination of intense debate that erupted once Gillespie announced his Market Place plans last October.
In recent weeks, Gillespie, attorneys and city officials began revising the contested language in the development agreement.
The first set of revisions included extended construction deadlines, a clarification of the costs for which the Lansing Brownfield Redevelopment Authority could reimburse Gillespie for, an assurance that Gillespie will pay the city’s full tax millage rate for 10 years if he sells a Market Place building to the state, and new mention of a tax incentive Gillespie may seek.
Last-minute revisions, which were the result of weekend huddles, included a change that would have Gillespie pay the city’s full millage rate for 15 years should he sell a piece of the property to a non-taxpaying entity. The revised agreement also stated Gillespie would make a good faith effort to hire a diverse, mid-Michigan workforce. It also stated that the mixed-use building shall not include a one story, wholly commercial, structure.
“This is the plan that will catapult the historic market to new heights of success, moving Lansing forward in this tough economic climate is not easy,” said Mayor Virg Bernero. “Projects like Market Place, Ottawa Power Station, Capital Club Towers and Ballpark North, don’t just fall into our laps like pennies from Heaven.”
Public comment lasted nearly three hours. Among the approximately 50 people who commented was William Earp, an Okemos resident. “Please vote in favor of this proposal,” Earp urged the council. He said he favors the plan because of the all the additional commerce it could bring.
Others joined Friends of the Market in trying to save the current site. Sandra Slaughter, of south Lansing, asked the council to “Please leave the city market as it stands, as a beautiful landmark in the city.”
Before the vote, an amendment offered by Wood that would have called for the council to review all site plans for the project failed to gain council support.
Read Tuesday's Lansing State Journal for more on this report.