Accident Fund will expand

[hood]

From the LSJ Midday update: Accident Fund outgrowing its Lansing space

It seems odd that this news comes the same day od the State of the City address, where Bernero is slated to make "exciting" announcment(s) regarding economic development. Could a major downtown expansion by Accident Fund be one of his announcements? Accident Fund currently occupies about 173,000 sq. ft. in two buildings, I'm assuming they would want to build at least 250,000 sq. ft. This could be another exciting downtown project!!!

[RustTown]

I JUST saw this in the midday update on the LSJ website, and am more worried than excited. They make no mention of their plans. This will be a test to see if downtown Lansing has turned the corner enough to have enough power to retain it's office space.

I REALLY hope that Bernero is actively courting them, because they could go build a suburban headquarters on much cheaper land. My hope is that they move from the current building and design a new high-rise or tear down the current building and build another. IMO, it's pretty ugly, and is simply a recladding of an older building a vertical addition.

Once again, though, I'm more worried than anything else.

[hood]

i'm pretty comfortable that Accident Fund will stay downtown. Just look at there headquarters and how they maintain it, they seem proud to be downtown. Accident Fund is a large insurance company, if any major business is attracted to downtown it is a major insurance companies, along with banks, they are always wanting landmark buildings, that's why I think that if Bernero put even a little effort into it he could even convince Auto-Owners to go downtown. When it comes to AF I wouldn't sweat too much, but if they do choose to move out of downtown it would be a VERY bad sign.

[RustTown]

Of subject, but right across the street, the entire Cooley Center is now opened. They just opened up the 3rd and 4th floors from what I heard. I really like the look of the building.

[hood]

Have you heard any word as to what they are doing with the old Masonic Temple? I thought I might of heard that they were going to keep using it for longer than they origionally thought.

But, back on topic. Assuming AF does intend to stay downtown, what kind of building would you like to see them build (assuming 250k-300k sq ft) and where do you think it should be?

I would like to see a modern building, actually I would kind of like to see a quality glass building, not somply a glass box, but with some angles and facets in it. I think it should be built either down towards the freeway, on North Washington, or where the Tower ramp is.

[RustTown]

I heard that LeDuc is working (but slowly) on getting ideas of what to do with the building.

I would love to see a glass building, too, even if it's a simple, but well designed, box. Actually, though it's almost certainly not going to happen, they could easily build Lansing's tallest if they pick a smaller site, or they could at least have the second tallest if they decided to take their current headquarters vertical.

[RustTown]

Well, it looks like Accident Fund will be staying put. Though he didn't directly say anything about this issue, tonight, the mayor made it clear that he is partnering with Accident Fund on quite a few projects, and I can't imagine them moving after that. It seems all that is left is to figure out the best way to expand downtown.

[hood]

His State of the city address was very vague, as are most State of... addresses. But it does sound like he will have some nice intitiatives going. I'm going to be waiting to see details, especially for the river development plan.

[RustTown]

I was surprised that it was only 30 minutes. I really thought he was going to cover more subjects than he did. It would be fair to say that most of the things that he announced were already known, or weren't that big of a deal.

Though, I must say that the "Wireless Lansing" initiative sounds promising. Though something small, it's those kind of things that help attract and retain young professionals in town.

[hood]

Those wireless programs can do great things to attract tech companies also, its part symbolic, part real help. Also, thinking about tech compainies, an Mlive article suggested that BioPort is one step closer to building a $75 million addition: House votes to allow BioPort to be eligible for tax credits.

[RustTown]

I guess BioPort is in a good location because of what it does, but I kind of question that because I'm not really sure what they do. Would it be such a problem to have them move in closer to the city? I know they make the anthrax vaccine, and for that you need tiny amounts of the actual virus, but how much of a hazard does the facility really create? If it does, why is it still in near neighborhoods and the airport, at that.

[hood]

I think they like being able have some setbacks and tight security for one, and who would want to live anywhere near it? I know I wouldn't. It would doom any area that is was moved to, just the ora around the word "anthrax" would have people running scared, regardless of the real threat.

[RustTown]

Yeah, but if that's the case, they should really move it out somewhere else. Like in some industrial complex, or research park. It would be great if they could move it to the new tech area off of Collins road to interface with the other companies in that park.

[hood]

It would be nice to have them over there in the Tech park, they could have a real impact on growth in an area like that. But, I'll take what I can get with a $75 million tech investment. It might not be exactly what we want, but it's a move in the right direction.

[hood]

In the full LSJ story Accident Fund says they are committed to downtown Lansing:

Accident Fund plans even more growth

I'm wondering if they plan an entire new building, leaving the old one, or if they just want additional space.

[davidb]

I would also like to see a glass building, maybe 20 or more stories if possible, and I like the idea of moving closer to the 496. That may spur some more development south and would certainly add to the skyline and the perceived size of downtown.

[davidb]

oops, double post..

[hood]

Thats what I would favor, but apparently AF already owns a couple lots near their current headquarters and thats where they plan to build. Ithink a realistic height for their new headqusrters, if they are planning on building an entirely new HQ, would be between 15 and 20 floors.

[RustTown]

Very sparse information, but it simply seems that they are looking to build on (or simply resuse) the small, two-story building that Linn and Owens currently resides in, and then build a smallish building on the surface lot at the northeastern corner of Capitol and Washtenaw, directly across the street from their current tower.

[hood]

I highly doubt that they woul build or use two additional buildings. I also highly doubt that they would reuse the building with Lynn & Owens, they aleady are leasing the entire Landmark building and do not have enough room, that building is 33,000 sq. ft. I Think they will build at least a 50,000 sq. ft. new building, even if they decide to keep their current headquarters.

[RustTown]

My point was is that the expansion will not be more floors to their tower, rather an additional building(s).

[hood]

I wouldn't want them to build additional stories anyway. That building is prety ugly and they would have no reason to make any upwards addition look any different. Even if all they build ends up beign a 5 floor secondary office building I would behappy, especially if they include ground floor retail.

[RustTown]

I had always imagined that parking lot next to the Temple Building to be home to something of at least 200 feet. It's really only one of the last surface lots in the core on Capitol, which can hold a tower and take the traffic. It's really one of the last lots to really make the center core look sizeable.

I'd prefer them to tear down, or at least reconstruct their current building, but I know that's not going to happen.

And the more I think about it, they could actually expand on two floors above the Townsend Street Parking Structure. We all know that that is what it was built for, for future office or residential space, and the ramp was actually partly constructed for Accident Fund parking.

[hood]

Thats an idea I haden't thought of. Two floors on that ramp would be 74,000 sq. ft. Can't there be 2-3 floors added to Capitol View itself?

[RustTown]

From what I heard later on during the project, was that everything was reduced, so I believe the building can only hold two more floors, now.