Hollister Building

[hood]

The Hollister building will be temporarily leased to the State Dept. of Labor and Economic Growth. They will also be moving ahead planning for a complete restoration of the interior and exterior of the building and building around 20 lofts. See the article: http://www.mlive.com/mbusinessreview/lansi...050922_bld.html

I usually wouldn't start a topic on such a small update, but from now on, we should start a new thread for each decent sized project. The construction threads are getting way to long.

[RustTown]

IMO, the state secondary complexes all need to be moved from, and all state workers need to be in downtown, anyway. I hope this move is more than temporary to downtown for the Department of Labor and Economic Growth, even if they don't decided to stay in the Hollister Building.

[hood]

There are only two buildings that will almost certainly remain occupied in the secondary, tyhe newly remodeled opereations center, it's about 250,000-300,000 sq ft. and the State Police Academy. While most buidings are still in good condition and there is no immediate reason to move people around, Gradholm has said that she wants to consolidate as many buildings as she can downtown and she wants all new Lansing area, state-owned construction to occur downtown. So the future is hopeful, especially if property values rise significantly around the secondary complex, which would give the state a good reason to move operations downtown, it will probably happen but may take a long time, maybe 15-20 years.

[Northman]

The Hollister building will be temporarily leased to the State Dept. of Labor and Economic Growth. They will also be moving ahead planning for a complete restoration of the interior and exterior of the building and building around 20 lofts. See the article: http://www.mlive.com/mbusinessreview/lansi...050922_bld.html

I usually wouldn't start a topic on such a small update, but from now on, we should start a new thread for each decent sized project. The construction threads are getting way to long.

Hi folks,

To add to this thread. The Office of Child Support has the lease for the top two floors. When word broke about the sale of this building the OCS thought they would have to move. Plans for the building have changed for some reason. Word on the street is that the Gov's office was concerned about increased traffic behind the building if residents were allowed to either park behind the building or in the basement.

[RustTown]

Changed in what way?

BTW, welcome. It's always great to have more people following development in Lansing.

[hood]

I found a cheap rendering of what the Boji's are planning and a floor plan. From the "rendering" you can see, despite the low quality, that it will be a nice design and will really help that area. More importantly look close at the floor plan, they are planning a mini "mall," actually an arcade, where you walk inside to access a few different shops, both the west and east section will have three shops each. The west portion will also have three kiosks and the East will have a galleria. This is going to be a lot better of a development than I had thought!

Washington Sq. elevation

Floor plan:

[RustTown]

While an incredibly cheap drawing/mock-up (looked as if one of the Boji's did it themselves, lol) any improvements to this building will be welcomed. It is such a shame the entire bottom floors were altered when the building was "modernized." All of the detailing was taken from the base.

I sure hope they restore the missing part of the cornice at top that fell sometime last year. That could have seriously injured someone as big a chunk that is missing. My eye doctor is actually in one of the storefronts lining Allegan, but it doesn't have any connection with the building.

[wolverine]

What does the existing bottom floors look like?

[RustTown]

Ugly as all hell. Here, check out Hood and my photos of the building at emporis.com:

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=209026

The modernization of this building finished in 1901 (expanded in 1905) totally destroyed the base.

[hood]

Not only is the ground floors ugly, the building is in rough shape, parts sag and a piece of the cornice fell off. I think the Boji's will be fixing those problems as well. To see what the ground floors used to look like check out the last page if this pdf: 106 W. Allegan Interactive Flyer

[RustTown]

This is sort of off topic, but Lansing has been able to maintain most of all it's downtown department store buildings with the only one not in use being the Knapp Center, which is easily the most destinctive, and in the best shape. You'd think with all of the larger retail-built property along Washington going mixed-use that the Eydes would get the clue and redevelop the Knapps as mixed use, as well. But they don't care about the health of the downtown (or city) one bit.

Somehow, these things always come back to the Eyde's for me. lol

[patrickom]

This is sort of off topic, but Lansing has been able to maintain most of all it's downtown department store buildings with the only one not in use being the Knapp Center, which is easily the most destinctive, and in the best shape. You'd think with all of the larger retail-built property along Washington going mixed-use that the Eydes would get the clue and redevelop the Knapps as mixed use, as well. But they don't care about the health of the downtown (or city) one bit.

Somehow, these things always come back to the Eyde's for me. lol

A question for all you tax wizards out there:

Is there a way Eyde could be making money by letting this structure sit vacant? Is there any sort of write-off he can use for owning a (registered) historic structure like this? If so, does said write-off expire after an owner has let a building sit rotting and empty for a certain number of years? This might be a question for another forum: If so, I fully give permission for anyone to put the question where they feel it will get a response, with any rephrasing that might be necessary.

But if you have an answer you can write here, it would be interesting to hear it.

[hood]

That's a good question, but it seems like any historic tax credits would be void if your just letting it set there, whereas when you fix it up, you get numerous tax credits and abatements. That would be really aggravating if someone can do something like that.

[RustTown]

No, they don't collect any money from historic tax credits, but like every vacant structure in Michigan (and many other states) they are essentially given an incentive not to use it.

What I mean is that they only have to pay minimal taxes on the building, and still ask a fortune for leasing or selling it (which I have heard they are doing). A way the state could stop "rewarding" people for keeping vacant properties is to also tax the land. That is the only way to get weed out slumlords. This is something that has plagued Detroit far worse as you guys know. People are asking ridiculous prices for their downtown properties, and now more than ever that the downtown is quickly revitalizing. As long as they do cheap maintenance they get keep the building and let it sit empty until something pays their ridiculous price for these properties (that almost never happens which is why there are still quite a few vacant buildings in downtown Detroit, but that's changing).

If the Eyde's even payed half as much attention to their Lansing properties (namely the former Walter French Academy at Cedar and Mount Hope, and the Eyde Building) we'd be lucky.

[andrew.w]

I noticed in the PDF file that the cornice design above the second floor in the picture from 1950 is very similar to one in the "rendering." I wonder if they plan to recreate it (which would be potentially expensive) or if the cornice is still existant underneath that band of metal siding?

[RustTown]

Yes they are going to recreate it. Nothing at the base remains of the old building, I don't believe. The bottom two floors seem to be almost completely new (we'll the year they reconstructed it).

[hood]

Looks like this project is moving forward, from this weeks council meeting agenda:

"Applications for an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act (OPRA) District filed by Hollister Holdings LLC for property located at 106 W. Allegan

Application for a Neighborhood Enterprise Zone (NEZ) filed by Hollister Holdings LLC for property located at 106 W. Allegan

Brownfield Redevelopment Plan #26; Hollister Building Redevelopment Project located at 106 W. Allegan St."

[RustTown]

Funny you should bring this up today as I was downtown and they have two of those large Granger dumping bins right out in Allegan.

[hood]

Lmich, look at the second page or the Interactive Flyer in the first paragraph, recognize the text (copied below)? I guess (or hope) someone really does pay for Emporis software.

"The Hollister Building, built in 1901 originally ended at the alley, but in 1901 an addition was built so that the alley actually crosses through the building. This is one of the three large commercial structures built before the turn of the century in Lansing. The other two include the Oakland Building, which burned down in 1923 and the Downey Hotel which burned in 1912, and was later torn down to build the Knapps Building in 1936."

[LanCity]

Hard to not get excited about this one, could be a really big shot in the arm for downtown, especially if they can give the building more "historic" presence from the street level. Everytime I walk by Hollister I get a little depressed because you have no conception of it being this great 100+ year old building... nice to see thats going to change if they can get everything they're asking for from the city.

[LanCity]

Hard to not get excited about this one, could be a really big shot in the arm for downtown, especially if they can give the building more "historic" presence from the street level. Everytime I walk by Hollister I get a little depressed because you have no conception of it being this great 100+ year old building... nice to see thats going to change if they can get everything they're asking for from the city.

Good article in the LSJ on the Hollister today: http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...EWS03/606140333

sounds like the Boji Group is going to do everything they can to return this building back to modern office use. It'll be especially great if they can bring in some more productive retail space.

[hood]

From the floorplans that I seen (the ones posted earlier in this thread) the retail portion of this project will be very unique, it will be a sort of indoor mini-mall. The section of the building closer to Capitol will have space for four tenants and the space closer to Washington will have space for three. I was thinking of what type of business will do good in this location, with a relatively small space and I think that some fast food places would be wise to move here. They can share dining area, and their entire space can be reserved for kitchen and counter space. Not to mention fast food places would do great downtown with all the workers. I would say put a McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell and a Little Cesars.

[LanCity]

From the floorplans that I seen (the ones posted earlier in this thread) the retail portion of this project will be very unique, it will be a sort of indoor mini-mall. The section of the building closer to Capitol will have space for four tenants and the space closer to Washington will have space for three. I was thinking of what type of business will do good in this location, with a relatively small space and I think that some fast food places would be wise to move here. They can share dining area, and their entire space can be reserved for kitchen and counter space. Not to mention fast food places would do great downtown with all the workers. I would say put a McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell and a Little Cesars.

Eh, food I'd go for, McD's, BK, TBell and Little Ceasar's... not so much.

I'd like to see something that adds a little night time, after 5 traffic or at least serves the area residents well in the evenings.

[hood]

I really think that the way this building is to be set up with the small units and interior walkways that fast food is the best thing for it, and it is something that is needed within walking distance of most of downtown. There are plenty of other storefronts that are much better suited to nightclubs, grocery stores and other stuff like that. BTW, i'm not a fan of Little Cesars either but they're the best of the pizza places that serve it by the slice, important for the lunchtime crowd.

[RustTown]

I agree with Hood on this one. The setup of the retail along the a central spine inside the building really makes it more suited for something other than nightlife options which usually like to have their own buildings and their own street frontage. The retail portion of this building in particular is much better suited for something much lower end, and something that could capture the huge daytime crowd that walk this block. More nightlife is much better suited for Washington frontage, though there could be a few more upscale businesses that take the tiny Washington frontage of the building.