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Also, the Beaumont development still seems to be at a standstill. Is Gillespie waiting for the Stadium District to start progress before he starts working on the beaumont? It would be nice to see that road finished with its developments, whether they are sprawl or not.

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Ok, I know by living at Chandler Crossings, I'm a part of the sprawl problem...but it's getting a little bit rediculous. I drove through the Hawks Nest neighborhood and the Strattford Condominiums, both on Coleman Rd., and this is getting out of hand. The area roads (Coleman, Coolidge, Chandler/Abbott) are nowhere near capable of handling such a traffic load. Not to mention the quickly developing office parks on Coolidge.

I really wish East Lansing would do something to attract some residents to the city core. It's not going to be too long before neighborhoods go up north of I-69. Just imagine if they ever put highway access rams on Chandler Rd. :sick:

I've never gotten the impression that the city wants any students within its boundaries. I've heard that they've passed some new occupancy rules that basically limit houses to two people, even in some houses that have 3 or 4 bedrooms.

If they actually did want to grow, I

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It's a love/hate relationship. The city loves the vibrancy and money the students pump into East Lansing, but the long-time residents hate all of the problems they create. I think what lead to this is something so incredibly simple: MSU and East Lansing developed opposite each other. Most college towns campuses are a bit more integrated into their respective cities. MSU lies completely south of Grand River creating not just a physical, but psychological, divide.

Not too long ago, the city was happy to move the students WAY up north, but are now seeing how the loss of them has pretty much crippled retail and further development/redevelopment along Grand River.

The only way for downtown to ever get back to what it was and more, the city is going to have to make some very unpopular descisions, and I mean tearing down entire tracts of current student ghettos directly north and adjacent to downtown.

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It's a love/hate relationship. The city loves the vibrancy and money the students pump into East Lansing, but the long-time residents hate all of the problems they create. I think what lead to this is something so incredibly simple: MSU and East Lansing developed opposite each other. Most college towns campuses are a bit more integrated into their respective cities. MSU lies completely south of Grand River creating not just a physical, but psychological, divide.

Not too long ago, the city was happy to move the students WAY up north, but are now seeing how the loss of them has pretty much crippled retail and further development/redevelopment along Grand River.

The only way for downtown to ever get back to what it was and more, the city is going to have to make some very unpopular descisions, and I mean tearing down entire tracts of current student ghettos directly north and adjacent to downtown.

Why would that be so unpopular? Most of those houses are garbage. It wouldn't be any fun for the students for a couple of years, but the city could stagger the teardowns or something. Actually I don't think its any of the city's business to do something like that really, they should let the private sector take care of it. They should just encourage it.

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Tearing down entire tracts of housing or businesses (especially if still in use) is NEVER popular, if even necessary. I'm not saying that it's not right to do, but it's not a popular idea. And, I was necessarily advocating the city do this, just using them as an example. As of yet, the private sector hasn't been very active in downtown East Lansing.

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LMich, can you tell me anything about the expansive office parks on Coolidge Rd? I cannot tell how many buildings are going in there, but it appears to be quite a few. As far as I can tell, there is site work being done for at least 4 buildings (and about 3 already under construction).

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Thanks for the pictures!! I walk by this every day and I'm still confused about how this is not going to cause a traffic mess on Grand River.

Anyone have a diagram, or idea of how they are going to do this?

Entrance on Circle Drive, exit on GR?

Entrance on GR, exit on GR?

That's about all I can think of.

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They will probably just build it 2-3 floors too, how dumb <_< . What ever happened to corporate pride, when companies chose to build a building downtown for prestige. A 140,000 sq. ft. building is considerable, it would justify an 8 story building in a downtown setting, typically it would be built considerably larger if built downtown also, to allow for lease space.

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Well, what looks like what is happening over by the Northern tier with Coolidge, West Rd, and Coleman road seems to be almost an exact mirror of what is currently over by Saginaw and Abbott Rd.

At Saginaw and Abbott Rd in East Lansing, there is a 6 story First National Building, and many other low rise buildings. East Lansing seems to favor these "office parks" compared to trying to pursue the businesses to be located in Downtown East Lansing. While there are still some open surface lots in the Abbott & Saginaw office park, it will become very expensive to build another low rise there as it may require a parking garage to be built.

This is already happening in the Northern Tier area, so when this area meets its bounds, which I suppose will happen within the next two or three years, you may see further office development in the City of East Lansing being built hopefully downtown. In the meantime, I dont see businesses spending the extra money to build parking garages just to be located in a "better" place.

The Abbott & Saginaw office park features a heavy educational market, with the Michigan Educational Society and a couple other educational offices. The northern tier features many banking businesses, so these "targeted developments" seems like what the city wants.

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Actually, developers could essentially keep building all the way up to I-69 now that East Lansing annexed most of the land north to the freeway. I don't see this sprawl slowing down, at all. That's the very reason why East Lansing grabbed that land, so they could reap the benefits (tax dollars) that would have gone to Bath Township. It was a strategic move, but one realizing that they could do very little to stop sprawl rather contain it within their borders and reap the benefits.

That's why East Lansing MUST move quickly with their East Village concept for Cedar Village. It's going to be hard, and it's already controversial, but it will be the only thing that will keep downtown East Lansing from completely losing it's place as the center of the East Lansing.

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That's why East Lansing MUST move quickly with their East Village concept for Cedar Village. It's going to be hard, and it's already controversial, but it will be the only thing that will keep downtown East Lansing from completely losing it's place as the center of the East Lansing.

I agree. That seems to be the only work towards retaining retail and living space downtown.

As far as the northern tier goes, I am torn. I personally love the open spaces along Coolidge Road, but they are all doomed within the next five to ten years. However, I doubt that downtown EL has the infrastructure to handle all of the development around Coolidge, at least not currently. From four in the afternoon until around seven, Lake Lansing Rd. is nearly bumper to bumper everytime I drive it when the students are in town. Any developments along Grand River would need to either extend further east to Hagadorn, or push north along Albert.

It seems to me that if the city continues to limit student housing in EL, it will go against MSUs plan for a green campus. Moving everyone away will just increase the need for commuter transportation. The only other places that I can see students moving to would be along Hagadorn or west of Harrison near Trowbridge.

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I found this rendering of a new building at 3318 West today. I don't think it is an actual plan, but rather a proposal to help sell the property, but since it is being used to sell the land, maybe the future owner will want to build it or something close to it. It looks like a 5 story building that, if built, would be an "urban" type building, with no or little setback. West road seems to be becoming the spot for suburban midrises.

3318West.jpg

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Some more East Lansing development info from Planning commission and City council minutes-

Lingg Brewer proposes to build a 6 floor 84' tall condo building at 122-144 division, it has been through meetings since september of last year. It would have 20 two bedroom units and would be a total 31,000 sq ft. However this has been reintroduced as a four story building :angry: I'm so sick of East Lansing getting GREAT proposals by developers only for them to shoot them down until they are either dead or nothing more than unremarkable junk. All I can say is screw East Lansing's city council and commissions. They have had numerous opprotunities for great things and they just throw them away, this developer really wanted to build a 6 floor building, he revised his plan 7 times and I'm not sure if they approved his most recent one!!! If any of you go to city council meetings in EL, could you just suggest to them and Mr. Brewer that he continue with his 6 floor proposal?

Also the MSUFCU will be a 4 floor, 140,800 sq ft building located on the West side of Coolidge between Coleman and State, that is better than what Ithought it would be at least.

And Mercantile bank will build a 3 floor, 21,600 sq ft building between Coolidge and West, north of Abbey, not much, but at least it's over 1 floor.

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Some more East Lansing development info from Planning commission and City council minutes-

Lingg Brewer proposes to build a 6 floor 84' tall condo building at 122-144 division, it has been through meetings since september of last year. It would have 20 two bedroom units and would be a total 31,000 sq ft. However this has been reintroduced as a four story building :angry: I'm so sick of East Lansing getting GREAT proposals by developers only for them to shoot them down until they are either dead or nothing more than unremarkable junk. All I can say is screw East Lansing's city council and commissions. They have had numerous opprotunities for great things and they just throw them away, this developer really wanted to build a 6 floor building, he revised his plan 7 times and I'm not sure if they approved his most recent one!!! If any of you go to city council meetings in EL, could you just suggest to them and Mr. Brewer that he continue with his 6 floor proposal?

Also the MSUFCU will be a 4 floor, 140,800 sq ft building located on the West side of Coolidge between Coleman and State, that is better than what Ithought it would be at least.

And Mercantile bank will build a 3 floor, 21,600 sq ft building between Coolidge and West, north of Abbey, not much, but at least it's over 1 floor.

Yeah, East Lansing is really good at crushing plans for development unless you are in good with the planning department and city council. The building on Division would definitely be nice, as that would show tha downtown is growing towards the north. It's funny, but with the way that East Lansing restricts development in their downtown, I'd almost take anything. Stonehouse Village was heavily reduced by the city also. The city is very progressive in getting new developments, but as you may notice, 90% of the developments are city controlled: City Center I, City Center II, East Village, West Village.

The Mercantile Bank has a rendering on a sign at the site, it just needs someone to take a picture of it. It really doesn't look bad, it's right behind a preexisting office building that is three floors also, so it fits in.

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There is a planned development of eight five story condo buildings that will probably be passed tonight at the East Lansing City Council meeting, located on the old Four Winds Golf Course, at Park Lake Rd and Saginaw St. 170 units in the first phase. A second phase of unknown amount of buildings will bring the total near 350 units. Each unit at from 1,140 to 3,205 sq ft.

Also tonight at the city council meeting there will be possible passing of the four story development at the corner of Division and Albert in downtown. Related articles are below.

Eight Five Story Condominiums

Downtown Could Gain New Rental, Retail Area

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