Ottawa Street Power Station: Redevelopment

[jaredw]

One thing I've been very dissapointed with is that there isn't any news outlet that keeps up on development going on, such as the way the City Pulse used to.

I second you on that. Sometimes the State News posts some alright articles updating development in East Lansing, but then other times they screw up the article. In a recent article, they displayed a map of new residential developments in the Northern Tier of East Lansing, and had The Beaumont development on State Rd when it is actually on Coleman Rd.

[hood]

Another thing is that none of the municipalities around here post their meeting packets from their commissions or councils, seeing these would be very benificial becasue they ususally have plenty of details and are supposed to be public anyways. Lansing is the biggest joke in that field, they dont even post their planning commission agendas most of the time. I think the best thing that can be done is for each city to set aside a portion of their website to update projects and news in the city, that would be great if at least Lansing and East Lansing could do that and more importantly keep it updated.

[RustTown]

I agree Hood, LanCity, and Jared. Those are all good points, and the area could do MUCH better in setting up some hype, or even just some weekly publications of all of the development news that going on. I'd like to see something like Model D, for Detroit:

http://www.modeldmedia.com/

BTW, I am in correspondence with the head of the Lansing Principal Shopping District (PSD), and he's heard of the "Association" project, too, but wouldn't divulge anything beyond that it would be a HUGE thing for Lansing. He even said that it would alter the face of downtown, including traffic patterns (vehicular and pedestrian), and night life, and is not connected with any other project or rumor current for downtown. I've picked my brain and it must be something totally new and fresh.

[hood]

I couldn't even imagine where it would be, there simply aren't any contiguous tracts of land in central downtown that could be that huge. It would seem like it would require either land to be stiched together or it would be outside the core area, maybe the old GM site? Or state parking lots?

[RustTown]

I was thinking the state parking lot lands, as well. I was thinking it may have even had something to do with the block bound by Washington, Kalamazoo, Capitol, and Washtenaw, as that will be the site of three large developments if they should ever happen (i.e. Knapp Center renovation, Cooley Auditorium/Preforming Arts Center, and Accident Fund Expansion), but we keep being told it has nothing to do with anything currently going on or rumored. Hmm...

Anyway, I'm really interested to see how this Power and Light District will turn out. Between that and the city seeking a Cool Cities grant for a 12-block Stadium District, things are really starting to line up for downtown.

[hood]

The one thing that I hope for most about this "Association" project is that it is not so large that it is simply unrealistic, like the Project X in GR.

Did you ever get any more info about what exactly the "Stadium District" thing with cools cities includes? Also, one last question for LanCity, since you seem to be on the inside track of development, can you give any further info on already publicly known projects, mainly the MSP headquarters and Cooley project?

[hood]

From the LSJ midday updates: Lansing works to sell developers on Ottawa power

It says that seven development teams are expected to show up for the workshp scheduled today, thats great news, I didn't really expect more than a couple to show. Of course I would think that other development teams could also submit proposals without going to the cities workshop if they wanted to.

[RustTown]

Yes, this was the city being proactive and offering to answer questions about the possible projects that could take place here. Any developer is still allowed to big, though, even if they didn't show up. I really like how proactive Mayor Bernero is being, in terms of redevelopment of downtown, instead of how reactive the city usually is, usually not knowing anything about a project until they've almost sold it away to the developer. This gives the city more say in what is done here instead of a developer springing projects on the city and forcing them down its throat which almost happened with the state DIT bid.

[hood]

The full article: Developers eye power plant

As usual, nothing really new from the midday update.

[RustTown]

I'm starting to hate the mid-day updates. lol I'd much rather be surprised. In fact, if I'm up long enough in the early morning to read the paper online, I wait until I wake up to read it.

[hood]

I noticed the website moves to the next day at exactly 4 AM everyday. I hear you on the midday updates, but I think that the lack of further information is more the problem sometimes, I doubt the LSJ would have a hard time getting more out of some of these stories. For instance, look at all the articles (3 or 4) they have done on the Stadium district, at least 2 of them were relativley recent. In all those they never really said nothing new, they just recycled the same story added a few new quotes and gave some new dates.

[RustTown]

Papers do this all of the time. Just look at the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. Their business/development writers routinely regurgitate old development news. But, this is better than them not covering them at all.

[RustTown]

Just a heads up, developers have until Friday to submit a proposal.

[Jasoncw]

Today is Saturday, does anyone know what happened?

[RustTown]

Update from today:

Two firms interested in rehab of BWL site

Lansing extends deadline for Ottawa station plans

By Jeremy W. Steele

Lansing State Journal

There still are no solid plans in hand to save the riverfront Ottawa Power Station, but a city search to find a developer for the project has generated interest from two firms.

Officials extended until 5 p.m. Monday a deadline for proposals on redeveloping the plant, hoping to allow a second developer time to declare its intention to pursue the project.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...90344/1001/news

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Not the best news, but not the worst.

[RustTown]

Well, this is kind of disappointing, but at least there is interest. But, there has been "interest" in this building many, many times before:

2 firms interested in Ottawa power plant

By Jeremy W. Steele

Lansing State Journal

August 22, 2006

Two firms want to work on a potential redevelopment of the riverfront Ottawa Power Station.

Chicago-based Morningside Group and Lansing-based Abe Property Investments met a 5 p.m. Monday deadline to tell the city they're interest in the mostly vacant power plant and 3 acres of adjacent riverfront property.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...20315/1001/news

[LanCity]

I think it shows promise, at least its better than Derek Melot or whomever at the LSJ giving the city permission to tear it down... Anyone think they'll feel the same about the Knapps building after its sat idle for 15 years?

Well, this is kind of disappointing, but at least there is interest. But, there has been "interest" in this building many, many times before:

2 firms interested in Ottawa power plant

By Jeremy W. Steele

Lansing State Journal

August 22, 2006

Two firms want to work on a potential redevelopment of the riverfront Ottawa Power Station.

Chicago-based Morningside Group and Lansing-based Abe Property Investments met a 5 p.m. Monday deadline to tell the city they're interest in the mostly vacant power plant and 3 acres of adjacent riverfront property.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?A...20315/1001/news

[RustTown]

Quite a few people at the LSJ have been seeding doubts in the public on saving the building. IMO, tearing it down was never and option. It's far too unique a building that someone will eventually renovate. Same goes for the Knapp. Lansing doesn't have a lot of outstanding architectural gems left compared with other cities its age, as our city was never built to be grand. We need to keep what little we have left, and the Knapp and OSS are easily the most unique structures of our larger structures in the city.

The reason I'm pessimistic is that MANY people and groups have shown serious interest in saving this building. And, in fact, bigger names than the two that have shown interest. Where I do have faith, though, is that the downtown is seeing more interest in redevelopment than it has in a few decades, so that's something the project has going for it. Downtown Lansing is a different area even than five years ago.

[bleedgreen]

did anything ever happen with this?

[hood]

It's still a work in progress, I couldn't pry any info from the city's EDC director last time I contacted him. He did say it was moving forward, but did not say when we would see some movement on the project.

[RustTown]

What we do know is that two companies were interested, one local and one not. We also know that neither made solid committments (i.e. written agreements), but did show interest. It's my opinion that this is no different than the last plans that never materialized, some, in fact, that got further along in the process than this. Let's just say I'm not holding my breath.

EDIT:

I got an message back from Bob saying much the same thing he said to Hood, and that is that things are still moving forward. I always take this with a grain of salt, because these guys are paid to spin.

[bleedgreen]

what i'd do if i had a billion dollars to burn through:

1: purchase a few of the adjoining properties - i know that they mentioned a privately held building that could be acquired that sat on .54 acres in the RFP

2: purchase the rights to an arena football team and a minor league hockey team (name suggestion - Lansing Power)

3: redevelop the first three floors of the power station in addition to the acquired land to build an arena

4: floors 4 and 5 - Capital City Casino

5: floors 6 & 7 hotel

6: floors 8 & 9 condos

once i finished with that i'd probably take a run at the knapps building and turn it into something like The BOB in grand rapids. after that i'd spend the rest of my days reading fan mail

what do you guys think? am i completely insane?

P.S.: their website for this is still active...www.lansingriverfront.com

[RustTown]

Because of the very tall floors, I imagine most of this as an entertainment center with lots of restaurants and retail. Perhaps, I'd make the top floor very pricey condo units. I also always liked the idea of dedicated one floor to museum space, but with Impression 5 looking to go at the Oliver Towers site that would just be wishful thinking.

I imagine it being a smaller version of the Power Plant Live district in Baltimore. It's a very interesting example of what you can do with an old powerplant. I went to the ESPN Zone:

http://www.espnzone.com/baltimore/

Power Plant Live!

http://www.powerplantlive.com/

[hood]

I still see this building as being mainly hindered by the cooling towers, and to a lesser extent, the North Grand Ramp.

However, Like Lmich I see this buildings main potential as an entertainment venue. But I would be happy with any quality redevelopment at this point.