Lansing Off Topic

[RustTown]

Nope, my camera batteries had died. I'll try and get some updates sometime this week, or the weekend.

[hood]

Having disposable batteries in a camera really sucks, it was the main reason we got a new one.

[InGeniousPoet]

Hey whats that building on the corner of Michigan and Washington, across from the bank (Comerica?) with the michigan nickknacks for sale in it. What are they doing with the upper floors of that building? I noticed when i visited City Hall last week that they were renovating the inside of it. Its a beautiful building.

[RustTown]

That's the Prudden Office Building (Prudden Block), also known as the Washington Square Building. You have probably heard about the renovation without really knowing what's going on, but part of the Department of Community Health is moving into the upper floors, and the rest of the department is moving to the Capitol View (Boji Complex Office Building). As of last week, they have installed the new heating and cooling system on the roof. It should be ready later this fall.

BTW, as of last week, CB Richard Ellis has included in their insert in the business section of the LSJ that the plans are once again being worked out for the expansion of the Boji Tower (Michigan National Tower). I'm not sure how much they want to expand it by now, after the proposed expansion in 2001 was put on hold, but they will (at the very least) fill in the back of the building. I hope that's all they do, because the original proposal called for adding a full 20-story annex next to the current, slender tower, and that would have been really ugly.

I think we will be hearing about this officially this winter, probably.

[patrickom]

Wow,

They just won't let that expansion plan die, will they? It seems sort of strange, considering the number of surface lots in the area where they could build equally prestigious digs.

I agree with you. I hope they can at least limit their enthusiasm. That old plan they had was wretched. I think the best description I'd heard of it was "a shoebox with a button on top."

[RustTown]

LOL! So true. I really wouldn't mind them simply raising the back to the current height of the annex, though.

What the Boji's should have done, was simply built a stronger parking garage, and then they could have put a skyscraper on it, instead. Currently, the deck can only hold another 2 floors of office space (which probably won't happen, and the office building can only hold 1 more floor (originally planned to hold 2-3 more floors).

Actually, they probably should have taken a better risk, and simply built the Boji as a skyscraper instead of the squat little office building currently there. The thing will be 100% occupied when finished. I really think they could have got another 5 floors (at least) out of that property. What makes it worse is that it was PRIME downtown real estate right on the Capitol. Hopefully, they've learned.

[hood]

I like the idea of filling in Michigan National, if it is carefully matched up, but the idea of making it 20 floors all the way up is really dumb. And I thought they could add 3 floors to Capitol View both on the building and ramp, what happened there? I'm willing to bet that the Boji's and Gillespi will now be Lansings major developers, just like Granger, Eyde and Ferguson have been in the past.

[patrickom]

Speaking of Eyde, is there anything new with the Knapps (Knapp's?) building? I did a forum search and couldn't find anything, so I take it this isn't too redundant of a question.

From what Eyde has said in the past, it's unusable as any sort of decent office space, what with all the competition. How would it be as a loft conversion? I assume there's no chance of Eyde doing that, but if anyone can spell out the reasons in gruesome detail, it will satiate my curiosity.

Anybody?

[hood]

It's currently for sale, at $6,000,000 it wont be selling anytime soon, it's also listed as "for lease." I would think it could be converted to lofts nearly as easily as it could be rennovated as office space, new windows would probably be the main thing. BTW, welcome patrickom, it's always nice to have another person involved in the disscusion.

[patrickom]

Thanks. I'm currently living in Ohio, so bear with my ignorance of the most recent developments.

I must say, however, that this site certainly beats LSJ/StateNews. I feel 10 times more informed already, just from browsing the last few days' posts (taken with a grain of salt, of course). It's neat to see that something like this exists.

[RustTown]

Actually, the Eyde's have said nothing else, but that they want to continue to use it as office space as it has been used for years now.

I totally disagree, though. That would make for a great, small botique hotel or residential space, or even a retail mall if demand ever warrants. It was, after all, a department store for most of its history.

The Eyde's have never implied (in fact, they implied the opposite) they wanted residential space, there, and that's really irresponsible. Trust me, if the Arbaugh is getting all of the interest it already has, there is no doubt in my mind that the Knapp's could go apartment/condo in the next year or so.

[patrickom]

I owe a clarification to Eyde. He wanted, I believe I read, to convert the building into class A office space (thus eliminating block windows for better views, removing some of the paneling, etc), and was encountering some unorganized resistance from folks who wanted to maintain the building's original look. This is all just to my recollection; if anyone has more information on this (nonexistent?) conflict, I would be thrilled to read more.

Thanks!

[hood]

I beleive that was the case, but Eyde's intentions were not so good. He wanted to remove the glass block windows, which was an obvious step to rehabbing the building and that will have to be done no matter who rehabs the building. But Eyde wanted to remove the tiles on the outside of the building and change it's looks. He wanted to fix the building as cheaply as possible intead of attempting to preserve the building as it should be. There was an effort to establish the building as a historical district to ensure that the building was preserved but certain members of council fought that, the only one that I can say for sure that fought it was Carol Wood. I hope Eyde sells Knapps off to a responsible developer, Gillespi would be good.

[RustTown]

The Eyde's, IMO, are slumlords in that they squat on properties until they get EVERYTHING they want out of it. They are suburban developers that should stick to what they do best. They seem to be totally oblivious of historic preservation or true, urban development, and those type of developers don't serve a purpose in downtown Lansing.

I know, those are strong words, but they would do so much better in simply developing sprawl like they've been doing. Their Glass Tower in Toledo (Hytower, 30 stories) is STILL vacant and there has been talks of tearing it down. Lansing isn't the only place they are squatting. Greed is one heck of a project killer.

Yes, the Eyde's, from what I heard, really wanted to totall strip and gut the Knapp's beyond recognition and make it into a new office building. That means stripping of the cool ceramic tile, and everything else inside that was historic.

If they wanted to do that they should have simply asked the tear the thing down. lol

[hood]

Those words are not to harsh at all, I agree. The Eydes need to stick to their suburban office and industrial developments, I don't even want to see them make any more attempts at suburban residential.

[RustTown]

Some highlights from part of the City Council meeting I watches last night:

1. The construction on Moores River Drive at Cambridge Road is to allow sewers for new housing planned along the river at the location.

2. The Rivertrail WILL be connected to the current western half, and it seems they may take it down to Waverly (where MRD/MHR terminates at Waverly)

3. Ms. Bauer (again) tried to ram through making the Stadium District lot a special district, but the same councilman (Harold Leeman) shot here down and requested it be sent back to the planning committee. The problem seems to be that Gillespie has not yet bought the land, and many on the council don't want to create a special district for land that hasn't even been bought by the development yet. There are also other issues such as that this land was given to the city for use as a park if the parking lot was ever dug up, and they need to look into how to get around that.

There were a few other things, but I forget what.

[InGeniousPoet]

3. Ms. Bauer (again) tried to ram through making the Stadium District lot a special district, but the same councilman (Harold Leeman) shot here down and requested it be sent back to the planning committee. The problem seems to be that Gillespie has not yet bought the land, and many on the council don't want to create a special district for land that hasn't even been bought by the development yet. There are also other issues such as that this land was given to the city for use as a park if the parking lot was ever dug up, and they need to look into how to get around that.

There were a few other things, but I forget what.

I heard that many of the developers in that area (so I'm assuming Gillespe is included in this) are waiting to buy or officially sign on to anything until the City strikes an accord with the Lugnuts, guaranteeing them to be around for another 10-15 years so they can go ahead with the projects. Heard it on 89.7 a town meeting between Virg and Tony. Makes sense.

[RustTown]

Yes, that is the major point I totally forgot to mention. We still don't know if the a deal will be worked out with the Lugnuts. And Gillespie has made it crystal clear that he will not build if Lugnuts go, and that really does make a lot of sense. His entire project, here, is based almost entirely off of the stadium, thus, the name of the project.

At the same time, though, this area should be a special district, anyway, and I don't see why they won't at least grant that right away. Even if Gillespie does pass, or the Lugnuts move, this is still prime real estate.

Edited October 4, 2005 by Lmichigan

[RustTown]

In today's LSJ they asked both of the candidates about their plans and vision for downtown, and suprisingly BOTH mentioned an interesting transit link between downtown/old town/REO town and East Lansing. I was really suprised because Benavides says the cities are studying it. I don't know if I really believe that. I know that back when Hollister was in office in the late 1990's he was seriously looking at a trolley-type line up and down Washington Avenue used mainly for short transport for office workers and tourists. Actually, there were a lot of plans that seemed to have been shelved indefinitely after Hollister left office, or died altogether.

[RustTown]

Hood, what's going on at the City Rescue Mission? Michigan Avenue has been closed off for about a week or two, but I recently drove by, and they completely took out and entire section of the building all the way back to Pere Marquette Place/Alley.

[hood]

Hood, what's going on at the City Rescue Mission? Michigan Avenue has been closed off for about a week or two, but I recently drove by, and they completely took out and entire section of the building all the way back to Pere Marquette Place/Alley.

As far as I knoe they are just rennovating it, they have been getting a lot of pressure from surrounding businesses to rennovate their facade, but they obviously are going further and replacing the entire structure except the brick. I would assume that they will be doing the entire mission one section at a time.

[RustTown]

Yeah. The structure is actually three different storefronts. But, if I remember right, this was renovated about 10 years ago. The building right nextdoor to the mission on the westside has gotten new paint. I really like the black paint on these old storefronts. I just hope they don't overdue it.

[jaredw]

An article in the State Journal today (saturday) mentioned that Capstone Development has decided to withdraw its plans for a condominium development behind Tom's Party Store on Grand River in Meridian Township.

The community would take the place of a trailer park, and the units would sell between $195,000 and $225,000. The reason for the pullout is market demand, as said by the developers.

[ZachariahDaMan]

Anyone catch MSU's triple overtime loss yesterday to Gonzaga? 24 lead changes! Maurice Ager, Paul Davis and Shannon Brown played well.

[statedude3]

Anyone catch MSU's triple overtime loss yesterday to Gonzaga? 24 lead changes! Maurice Ager, Paul Davis and Shannon Brown played well.

I saw every minute of it, and I can honestly say that I was not disappointed with the loss. I think it is the first game I've ever not been upset after losing. That might be the best college basketball game in terms of tempo and excitement that I've ever seen. Still proud to be a Spartan!!