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Central Lansing Construction and Development.


RustTown

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You might be interested to hear that the 301 S. Capitol project is not going ahead...I guess the owner recently decided to keep it as commercial space.

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How did you learn that? It's sad to hear that it isn't going through, it would of only been 17 units but every little bit helps. :(

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On 301 - I called the developer from the link you gave me...and he told me. Looks like I'm pretty set on the Arbaugh by the way...from a cost and location standpoint, it's just the best option. Other than the 5th floor units with 17 foot tall ceilings on the Washington St. side, calling these units "lofts" is a bit of a stretch I think. They're basically nice apartments with 10 story ceilings and exposed brick. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors are scheduled to be done by November 1, and the 2nd is supposed to be done by Dec. 1. We'll see - it still looks like there's a lot of work to do. I'm a little concerned the building will feel a bit like a Cooley dorm (the developer says 90% of residents right now are Cooley students...though its less than half full I think). But it still should be pretty nice. Another interesting thing I didn't know is that all of the second floor units and some of the third floor units have maximum income restrictions for residents, which were requirements of some of the gov't money/tax breaks they got. I like the idea of mixing high income and lower income tenants in the same building...and have seen developments like that in other cities, but the ones I've seen seem to have more of a class mix. Here - it seems that Cooley law students qualify as the lower income people...and I guess they don't have much income, but in my mind it sort of misses the class integration point.

There are two units still available for lease at 401 Washington - both 2BRs for 1300 and 1500. I didn't look at them...a little out of the price range and I'm pretty set on the Arbaugh.

Prudden Place also sounded nice...(the fact that its equidistant from Old Town and Downtown is appealing) but it was just a little bit further away from where I wanted to be...a short winter walk to work is pretty key for me. Prudden is also working on perks for residents - discounts and no covers to certain downtown places, dry cleaning pick up and delivery. Those would be nice. Hopefully the Arbaugh does something similar. Their rent prices were something like $800 for a 1BR, $960 for a 2BR, and $1200 for a 2BR loft style (with 22 foot ceilings). I didn't see them (still under construction - scheduled for Oct. 1 open), but the units sounded a little bigger than the Arbaugh - the 2BRs each had 2 bathrooms and the option of a solarium (inside) or patio (outside).

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Well, you must realize that the Arbaugh is only a block or two from Cooley, and with over 2,000 students they are going to be the main market for anything downtown. Until downtown retail gets to the point of where it can be a selling point of new residential development, most all of the beginning downtown projects are going to be geared toward students. This isn't even to mention that you have 19,000+ daily Lansing Community College students, who while a bit lower in what they can afford, will be looking for housing, too.

It would be nice if the State of Michigan offered more incentives for it's 30,000+ downtown workers to move downtown. Most now live out in Okemos, Delta Township, and the suburbs, in general.

Most people would be very suprised to hear how many differnet large crowds downtown Lansing could cater to if the leaders of this city would just take the risk in luring these types to the center city. You even got 45,000 MSU students next door, of which if even only 10% of those would consider downtown Lansing, if not even for housing put entertainment and shopping, how much different this place could be. They could most certainly rangle in some of the graduate students.

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Downtown retail will be a great thing, but something will have to be done with North Washington, including opening up the 300 block. Tearing down the Capitol Bancorp, Pheonix Building, MDA building and the LCC building, see pictures below. North Washington lacks any identity in the 200-300 blocks, theres a bunch of ugly 1970's buildings, the only good thing is the Victor Building, which is set up for ground floor retail. IMO all of the buildings pictured below should be demolished, they offer nothing to the street level.

Pheonix Building

Pheonixbuilding.jpg

MDA Building

MDAbuilding.jpg

Capitol Bancorp Building

capitolbancorp.jpg

320 N Washington

320nwashington.jpg

309 N Washington

309nwashington.jpg

LCC Building

building_continental.jpg

Also, Lmich, I had heard someone saying they were considering adding a fifth floor to the downtown YMCA at Ionia & Washington, you heard anything on this?

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I COMPLETELY agree, but to rid the North Washington Square of all of the business will be YEARS in the making and will require a very large proposal. The very reason that the pedestrian mall NEVER worked for North Washington Square is because all of the retail business along it, the ONLY exception being Kositcheks, which has been there for over 100 years and still doing good business, were essential kicked out or packed up and replaced with huge office blocks that do nothing to validate the construction of a pedestrian mall.

I just think this is still years off. I do know they are reopening the 200 North Block next year, I believe. The reason it is taking so long to tear up the blocks is that they are trying to time it with the sewer separation project in downtown. So they are following their timeline and not their own. That is the reason why the 200 South Block still hasn't been landscapped (if you notice there are no trees on that block right now). They are still waiting for the sewer separation project to reach this area, which is when they will add the street lighting and such.

As for the YMCA, I too, heard that they have the ability to add another floor. Whatever they do, I really hope they redo the "modernized" facade, though. It's horrible.

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I keep on forgetting that the 200 block of North Washington is still closed also, for some reason I picture Victor being in the 300 block :silly: . Anyways, I think any proposals will be building by building, maybe somewhere up there would make a good hotel location. I'm thinking the Capitol Bancorp building could be vacated anytime in favor of a new and/or larger building Capitol bancorp is experiencing a lot growth. And Kostichecks needs to improve their facade, their building encompasses 4 storefronts, from the south, (109) a 3 story building built in 1885, (111) a 2 story building built in 1885, (113) another 2 story building built in 1885, and (115) a 2 story building built in 1881, if they restore their facades it could really help this stretch, and they can have the 2nd floors be lofts.

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The only unfortunate thing about future growth in this area is that LCC strong-armed an agreement with the city just a few years ago that says that the City of Lansing gave up it's right-of-way rights to the 400 and 500 North Blocks of Washington Square.

LCC has said they they don't ever want the street opened up through campus, which serisouly impedes connecting Old Town and Downtown. It is the only direct connection between the two. All of the other connections are one way streets, or small sidestreets which are hard to access off of Saginaw or Oakland.

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I was getting bored so I decided to make a map showing the current, recent and scrapped developments downtown.

completed.jpg

Recently completed - I outlined developments that have been built after this image was took in RED.

1. Roosevelt Building demolished, Roosevelt Ramp built.

2. BWl Building and Davenport Building demolished, Anderson Building built.

3. YWCA building demolished, Capitol View built.

4. Civic Center demolished, Constitution Hall built.

5. Hall of Justice built.

6. CATA terminal built

7. Motel demolished, Catholic Conference built

8. Capitol Tower built.

Proposed - Proposed as of right now, preliminary and "for sure" developments, outlined in YELLOW

1. Shiawassee & Grand apartments, 88 units proposed/approved.

2. Ottawa Power plant rehab, proposed.

3. Stadium District, approved.

4. State Police Headquarters, proposed, in limbo.

5. Printers Row, approved.

6. 7 block redevelopment, proposed/on-hold.

7. Cooley Auditorium building on site of Town Center, very early proposal.

8. Lansing Center Expansion, proposed (I guessed the dimensions)

9. Museum District, planning/financing, museums looking at options.

Scrapped - Projects that I'm aware of being scrapped, outlined in BLUE.

1. Ottawa @ Butler, appears to be dead.

2. Oliver Towers, scrapped, for now.

3. SpiraMart, proposed 30+ floor tower in late 70's early 80's, scrapped because of environmental concerns.

4. Grand & Michigan, currently a surface lot, the land was razed to make way for a 15 story office building in the late 80's early 90's.

I'm also considering making a map of dream projects for downtown, maybe later tonight. Also let me know if I missed something.

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I wasn't saying mid or high rise for that particular parcel. And for rowhouses it's ugly. I say build the ones planned for Oliver Towers on that parcel, that would be nice, the ones planned for Oliver towers have to be about the best new rowhouse design I've seen, they look authentic.

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Washington Square Updates from today:

1. I noticed that the exterior of the new Secretary of State's office on the 100 south block of Washington is being renovated, and that's great, because the current "modernized" facade is ugly. I really wonder what it used to look like?

2. The Downtown Deli just north of the Ranney Building (currently under renovation) on the 200 south block of Washington is now being stripped of it's modern facade and renovated. I was surprised to see this getting a facade improvement. It has always looked nice despite being empty, but I thought it would remain empty. I'm pretty sure Diamonds in the Rough, who also recently completed the renovation of the 402 South Washington is doing this one, as well.

3. Danzo's Hardware had some activity going on in the second floor of one of the storefronts. Is it possible someone has decided to move in?

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Now that it is under construction, Printer's Row has updated its website:

http://www.printersrowlansing.com/PI_1.html

Check out the new site plan:

http://printersrowlansing.com/additionaldocs/siteplan.pdf

The landscapping is going to be GREAT! Talk about improving a corner. I hope Odeena decides to do more of these type of smallish developments on corners around the city. This would be great to fill in pockets of the eastside with.

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I think it's the latter. Even if it is not, these are still going to be the same quality, at least, as On the Grand in Oldtown, and that's not bad at all. As long as we don't see vinyl siding I'm happy with any design. It's really more than Lansing should expect, anyway, this early in the redevelopment of the central city.

In more news, workers have been cleaning out the future Preuss Animal House Building on the corner of Cedar and Grand River in OldTown. They've been working for a few days now. Actually, on Monday, the council will decided whether or not to grant the OPRA (tax abatement). I'm sure they will since they've granted every other one.

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About Printers Row, when you start having construction updates or more news, you should start a new topic for it, if I have something to post first I'll start a new one.

The Biggest difference I notice between the two renderings is that the balconies seem to be left out in the newer rendering, and there are fewer peaks in the roof. They are minor, seemingly cheap details that make a huge difference in their presence on the street. They will still be nice either way, but if they are built closer to the origional rendering they would be much nicer.

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  • 1 month later...

A little update: The city council voted last night to approve $4 million renovation for the Lansing Center.

Personally, I don't see why they couldn't have just held off until they decide to expand it. It seems like a waste of money, otherwise. Even more so, they say that 75% of the project is cosmetic, and only 25% of the renovation is structural. And of the cosmetic, most of it's going towards new carpet and chairs. :rolleyes:

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  • 2 months later...

A few small updates from this weeks City Pulse...

1. The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame is petitioning Michael Murphy and the Bob Johnson, the new head of Lansing's Planning Department, to save the old main hall of the School for the Blind. I'd also hope that any future development at this area spares at least the main hall. The reason the MHofF is looking to save this is that it was the women's college before it was the school for the blind.

2. Prima Civitas, a newly created local development foundation headed up by former Mayor Hollister, is going to join Neogen in their new headquarters building at the Allan Street School. This is more great news because many had originally feared that this building (the oldest public school building still standing in Lansing) would remain empty making it a haven from crime and danger. Dennis Sykes, the former head of the Planning Department under Hollister, is part of Prima Civitas. I'm still unsure what they are, and what they can do.

3. In his State of the City address on Monday, Bernero proposed a Wireless Lansing program that would eventually seek to make the whole city WiFi, which is a small, but significant quality of life improvement.

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