Sparrow Projects

[hood]

I am starting this thread for Sparrow projects, currently it's just the West wing addition but according to the hospital there is much more development to come if the master plan is followed. Already a new 2 story utilities building is being built on Jerome, there is also an administrative and classroom building and another parking structure planned for the 2.2 acres that lies north of Jerome and another skywalk crossing Jerome.

As for the West Wing, it will be 191' tall (5th tallest in Lansing) and 190,000 sq. ft. All I can find is this tiny little rendering for the West Wing, if anyone has a better one please post,

[RustTown]

I have a slightly larger rendering:

Currently, they are waiting for state approval, but officially held a ceremonial groundbreaking, last week, I believe it was. Also, they are currently adding a 4-story section to the back of the current 4 story expansion, so in total, this will have been a three phase project (unless they decide to construct the tower in portions, as well).

I hadn't heard about them developing the lot north of Jerome. They are quickly running out of space. This may mean more towers in the future since towers are so scarce.

The only other places I can think of for them to build is the lot on the southside of Michigan across from the old hospital (in front of the Professional Building), or on top of the small parking deck at the eastern edge of the Sparrow Hospital Building. Actually, there is one more small surface lot on the eastside of the Professional Building but that is all.

[hood]

It looks like it will be impressive in height but won't look to great. Besides the areas you mentioned, it also looks like that if they needed the space they could tear down the one story section between the West Wing and the main hospital and build taller. What I'll be really happy to see is the administrative/classroom building, maybe Sparrow can become a research hospital.

[hood]

I found some more renderings of Sparrows West Wing:

Looking Southeast, notice how it looks like they plan on building some sort of thin walkway between the new west wing and existing hospital that will be as tall as the 8 story portion of the hospitial:

[jaredw]

Here is an aerial I found of the current progress:

[RustTown]

I really hope that the old Pattengill Middle School is renovated. I keep hearing they say they want to tear it down because the cost for renovation would be huge, but I hope a private developer buys it from the school district when it's use is up (next year).

[statedude3]

I really hope that the old Pattengill Middle School is renovated. I keep hearing they say they want to tear it down because the cost for renovation would be huge, but I hope a private developer buys it from the school district when it's use is up (next year).

LMich, I'm a Catholic Central graduate, and I've been at several events at my alma mater recently, and therefore have been following the construction of the new Pattengill M.S. that structure is unbelievable. Do you know how many students use the current Pattengill M.S. and how many the new one can accomodate? I hope to get over and take some pictures of it today.

[RustTown]

I don't know the enrollment, but would guess it would be over 800. I don't know how many students the new school can accomodate, but I don't think they are overbuilding it. The problems with the old Pattengill were structural, not that they were running out of room. With the Lansing School Districts dropping enrollment (as well as many of the private schools) it wasn't room that was the problem, but the age of the building.

Still, I hope that some private developer will come in and save it. If you heard, the Neogen Corp. which is already houses in old school buildings on Oak Park recently purchased the old Allen Street School and will expand into it.

[hood]

As far as I know Neogen has not yet purchased Allen St. School, they haven't even formally said they wanted it. They said it was a possibility, but they have no immediate plans to buy it. I would much rather see them pass up Allen St. and but Pattengale, maybe we can make a health and biotech area around Sparrow and Michigan Ave. Most of the buildings around there are pretty small and/or trashy and most are either houses turned into businesses or buildings built in the 50's or later with no historic value.

[RustTown]

The Lansing School District just approved the sale of Allan to Neogen last week. I don't see anything wrong with that. In fact, Allan is one of the few schools I think needs to be saved, simply because of it being the oldest school left standing in the district, and smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood.

[hood]

Here is a small construction update on the expansion from Granger's site:

All of the foundation appears to be complete and the first floor has been laid for the part near the ramp, ready to begin going upwards. The photos were taken 1-15-06. I went by Sparrow tonight and it appears that they finished the addition to the back of the eight story main building. I've been wondering what they are going to do about a crane for this project, I doubt the crane they have now is adequate for this building, I wonder if they will end up using a tower crane...

[RustTown]

I was really wondering exactly all that was going on behind the front facade of the complex. I had yet sneaked around to the back to see exactly how far they'd come.

I think they were simply repairing/renovating the section on the back of the main hospital building.

[hood]

I thought I saw a small section of new steel goijng up back there, they had a second crane. I'm not really to sure if it was new, but I know I saw bare structure.

[RustTown]

From what I was able to guess just from driving by the hospital everyday was that they were simply reconstructing the mechanical area that rises where the two wings meet. They may have taken it apart and put a new part up, but I don't think it was an addition rather a reconstruction of the area.

[hood]

Do you have any idea where they plan on putting the new utilities plant? I know it's supposed to go somewhere on the north side of Jerome but I didn't notice any work going on there.

[hood]

they will be using a tower crane to build this building after all, I think this is the first time I've seen a tower crane used to build something in Lansing. I'm going to try to get some of my own pics tonight, but here are some from Grangers site:

[RustTown]

I saw them piecing it together today and yesterday. It's quite a sight.

[hood]

I just went a took a quick picture of the site, there were a few other groups of people standing around watching it. It really looked impressive when it got dark, it almost seemed to hang over Michigan Ave.

[hood]

More photos from Granger's site:

[RustTown]

Man, in today's cloudy weather, the crane looked SO cool. It had the light on at the top and just looked so eerie in the dim light. I'm going to try and get a view of the area from the North Capitol Parking Structure which offers great views of what I refer to as "Midtown Lansing" the area around Sparrow along Michigan.

[hood]

I was by this site yesterday and they are going painfully slow, they only have half of the first floor up (the side by the ramp) and they have the rebar ready to go for part of the second floors. Over at ingham on the other hand they are already beginning work on the third floor, I don't think the projects vary that much in size to justify that kind of difference being they started close to the same time. Sparrow is really taking their time with this project.

[RustTown]

Well, they already said that they aren't going to rush this, as they haven't actually grown enough to fill these new floors they are constructing. This is a hospital expansion in anticipation that the growth will be there about time they have it done (anywhere from 2008 to 2010). They said themselves that they don't have enough growth to currently justify the project, but they've been able to raise the money from the community, and want to spend it now rather than later and show people where their money is going for this capital campaign.

[hood]

I heard the main driving force behind getting this project done at once instead of in phases was because it was too difficult and expensive to build over an operating hospital. I still would think they would be moving faster, that equipment, especially the tower crane, is not cheap to have sitting there running at minimal capacity.

[RustTown]

I'm not really sure. I'm under the impression that with their capital campaign to raise money they actually have some time (i.e. money) to burn. If they go too slow, as you've pointed out, they may actually end up spending just as much as if they were to do it in two separate phases.

[hood]

Two new pictures of the progress from Granger's site: