LCC University Center

[hood]

I decided to go ahead and start a new thread for the LCC University Center, since there will be plenty of constructuion updates and a few demolition updates to come.

The University Center will be 37,000 sq ft total, 22,000 sq ft of new construction and 15,000 sq ft in the rennovated Carnagie Library building. The building will be on the Northwest corner of Capitol and Shiawasee, on a fraction of the Old Central site. There are early plans to build a large parking structure on the rest of the site at a later date, but for now it will be converted to park. Construction on the new building is slated to begin in July. There is a small rendering below, and I'm still waiting to see if I can get a larger one.

Here is a pic of how Old Central used to look, pre 1920's:

Here are a couple pics of the Old Central demolition:

[statedude3]

Man, they really messed the place up when they put the 50's style cheese grater on the outside of the building.

I do think it is about time for this building to come down. LCC is experiencing the biggest growth in it's history, and this can only help.

[MJLO]

how many students attend LCC?

[statedude3]

how many students attend LCC?

I believe it's 19,000+ with full and part time students.

[RustTown]

Actually, I think it's a bit over 20,000, and the downtown campus is literally bursting at the seams. I hope that the college continues to invest in its downtown campus. I'd hate to see them continuing to move programs to their west campus out in the middle of nowhere. I can't believe how far they moved when they really didn't have to go that far.

[hood]

WIth the things they do at west campus it definately wouldn't of been able to be put downtown at any realistic cost. But your right, there are plenty of large pieces of land nearer to their main campus that they could of built on, for instance they could have built on one of the GM parking lots. They would have had of made it a little more urban and dense, but that is a good thing. I don't see LCC holding out on their downtown campus at all, they already plan a new parking garage on part of the OC site and rebuilding the one they have currently within 10-15 years. I also see their four-year degree programs growing exponentially. I wouldn't be suprised to see the University Center in need of expansion after a year or two, the only limit to LCC's growth is funding.

[hood]

They now have virtually all of Old Central tore down, now they just have to clear it away:

[RustTown]

Interesting pan. Did you have to reach over the fence to get it?

[hood]

Yeah, I just sat the camera on top of a fence post and kept it as level as I could. It sucks mainly because it's my old camera, also why the sparrow pic I took today came out grainy. I had to patch together the pic with InDesign, which is why the colors aren't even.

[hood]

A larger rendering of the LCC University Center:

[statedude3]

Two things come to mind...

1. Is this connected to the office building next door? It appears to be, but I would not seen any functional reason for it to be. Perhaps it is just built up to it.

2. With LCC's downtown campus very overpopulated right now, why would they build something that has obviously less square footage than Old Central had?

[hood]

1. Yes it is connected to the old Carnagie Library, the old building will become a part of the new University Center.

2. The reason LCC is building something that has only a fraction of the space of Old Central is partially because thats all they can fund for now, and they rennovated a massive amount of space in the GVT building where the vocational programs were that moved to West Campus. LCC already has plans of building a parking structure on this site in the near future.

By clicking on the link I put up, you can see more renderings and a site plan for the development, as will as a bit more info.

[RustTown]

Yeah, I heard that with the recent renovation of the Gannon Building squeezed every last ounce of space out of the structure, but it was an overall increase in space. Let's not forget that relatively recent construction of the new Health Building on the northern part of campus that added quite a bit of space, and the shipping away of some programs to West Campus, too.

[GR8scott]

Here is a pic of how Old Central used to look, pre 1920's:

man thats an awsome looking high school, to bad it wasnt preserved, when was it torn down?

and what school replaced lansing central, easern?

[RustTown]

It was torn down this year, though, it was replaced years ago by that building at Kalamazoo and Pine, which is now the headquarters for the Lansing School District. Old Central was simply remolded beyond recognition over the years, but lasted until this year.

Scott, didn't you see, though, that the picture you posted had already been posted above? Also, Hood's photos show that the school still stood under all of those "modernizations." Look at the corners.

[hood]

The school admin building was actualy West Junior High. I think Eastern and Central coexisted, until Sexton was built and Central finnaly closed.

[RustTown]

It wasn't a high school?

I hate how they "modernized" Central Administration, though.

[hood]

No it was a middle school, and actually the smaller building was Kalamazoo St. elementary. They were sort of joined.

[RustTown]

I can't seem to remember, but has the middle school been closed yet? I think I remember hear something about it closing even after they made it into a magnet.

BTW, I've been hearing rumors about the demolition of Pattengill since day one when they decided to build the new school. As great as LSD has been in selling off its old schools, it really wouldn't make sense to demolish this one. I could easily see it becoming the new headquarters for the Sparrow Foundation, or simply an office building for the consolidation of Sparrows branches located all along East Michigan.

[hood]

West Junior was the school where they sent students with varius problems, expelled, pregnant, ect... they moved that program to Hill as far as I know a couple years ago.

I've argued all along that Pattengil should be saved. It would make a great site for lofts, marketed to Sparrow emloyees, for medical offices, or any number of creative uses.