Flint development news

[robk1982]

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?se...cal&id=7829004

Flint due to take possession of Genesee Towers Wednesday

FLINT (WJRT) -- (12/07/10) -- The Genesee Towers officially changes hands from the outgoing owner to the city of Flint.

Just a day before the move, anyone walking by could see a flurry of activity as the outgoing owner moved out just about anything in the building that was not nailed down.


.........

Also Wednesday, Flint's City Council Finance Committee agenda contains an item that asks the mayor's office to talk about what will happen with the money if the Genesee Towers is sold or rented. The question comes as Flint property taxpayers are now finding winter tax bills with an extra assessment to pay for the city's nearly $9 million price tag to acquire the building from Vemulapalli.

The mayor said in the past that there are some people who have expressed an interest in renovating the building.

The uptown reinvestment group has said the building needs to come down.

There is no word yet on its future.

[robk1982]

The options for extending I-475 can be seen here:

http://geneseeconnect.org/wp-content...t-9-3-10-3.pdf

[Rizzo]

I''m sure Grand Blanc area residents are just thrilled . . . . .

[uaarkson]

Does Flint need this?

[Rizzo]

The city of Flint? No, they don't. It only benefits people on the periphery or long distance travelers have improved access through and around Flint. I mean, heading NB on US23, it's still very convenient to take I-69. This may help relieve some bottlenecks near Bishop International, but that's about it.

The only new freeway construction I could see marginally beneficial on the East side of the state is an extension of I-275 up to Flint. Yet it would still be worse off with all the sprawl it brings...or would it be that more convenient for Flint areas residents to drive to Metro Airport vs Bishop.

[hudkina]

With US-23 around, there doesn't seem to be a point to extending I-275 up that way. In fact, if they do extend I-275 it would make more sense to bring it around to meet up with I-75 via the M-5/Pontiac Trail/Square Lake corridor. Granted, there's far too many rich white people along that corridor for it to ever happen...

[DetroitMan]

Purchase, interest in land around Genesee Valley raises casino speculation
Ron Fonger
December 11, 2010
Flint Journal

Buzz has been building since the October sale of a 28-acre parcel of real estate in the area of Dutcher and Lennon roads, long promoted as some of the county's best undeveloped commercial land.

The same Detroit-area broker who helped put the sale together still has options to purchase additional, adjacent parcels that could double the size of a potential development, according to the real estate company that's representing the sellers.



Jerry Preston, president of the Flint Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, said he has heard the casino speculation.



“We understand there's been a land purchase by what could be an Indian tribe,” Preston said Friday.

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...10/12/sss.html

[robk1982]

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...move_forw.html

By Blake Thorne | Flint Journal


FLINT, Michigan — A missed procedural vote in the Senate earlier this month looks like it won’t derail a developer’s plans for the Michigan School for the Deaf campus.

Lawmakers behind the measure to sell the about 80-acre campus on Miller Road knew last week they had their work cut out for them if they wanted to get at least 25 Senators back on the Senate floor to fix the oversight keeping the bill from passing.

.......

On Wednesday morning, 36 senators returned to Lansing to give immediate effect to the bill and a handful of other bills with similar problems, said Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, who sponsored the Senate version of the bill.

Plans call for developer Lurvey White Ventures to put $36 million into the campus, building a new school for the MSD and renovating an existing building into a new home for Powers Catholic High School.

........

"All the parts of the puzzle are together," Gonzales said.

The vote is the second step forward for the project this week. On Monday, the state awarded Lurvey White a $5.6 million brownfield tax credit for the project.

.......

The project isn’t without opposition. Leadership of an alumni group had called for people to protest at the steps of the Capitol, claiming the deal “"lacks needed accommodations of MSD students and will cost exorbitant amounts that will drive the school out of existence," according to a release from the Michigan School for the Deaf Alumni Association.

More than a half-dozen protesters rallied against the legislation outside the state Capitol before lawmakers came into session. Protesters carried signs that read "No Deaf Child Left Behind" and had other messages saying the sale could put jobs at risk because of privatization.

........

John Ehlke | The Flint Journal
The Michigan School for the Deaf's Fay Hall.

[robk1982]

Originally Posted by DetroitMan

Purchase, interest in land around Genesee Valley raises casino speculation
Ron Fonger
December 11, 2010
Flint Journal


http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...10/12/sss.html

That would be the worst spot for a casino ever.

[LMich]

Originally Posted by robk1982

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...move_forw.html


John Ehlke | The Flint Journal
The Michigan School for the Deaf's Fay Hall.

It's crazy how much that building looks like one of the buildings on the campus of the former Michigan School for the Blind, here in Lansing, which, coincidentally, is also being renovated.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by LMich

It's crazy how much that building looks like one of the buildings on the campus of the former Michigan School for the Blind, here in Lansing, which, coincidentally, is also being renovated.

I was thinking the same thing.

It also looks like a great starting block for a private liberal arts college...LOL.

[Rizzo]

I think this is the first time I've ever seen it up close in the photo. Impressive.

[robk1982]

Not good...from ABC12

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?se...cal&id=7896792

Downtown Flint businesses struggle with McCree Building closed

Angela Brown

FLINT (WJRT) -- (01/13/11)--It's been more than six months since the McCree Court Building closed in downtown Flint due to flooding. Many court cases and workers have been shuffled to new locations, which means a lot of business has moved away from nearby stores.

The doors are still locked and the signs are still up. That means fewer customers across the street. Labor Day flooding at the McCree Building washed out courtrooms and dried up business at Mike's Triple Grill across the street.

The sandwich shop closed after seven year in business downtown. Nextdoor, Paul's Pipe Shop is still holding on -- barely.

"We have been down here since 1944, so we are trying to hang in there," said manager Dan Spaniola.

The store is still open, selling pipes and lottery tickets and other items, but hours have been cut.

........
(Copyright ©2011 WJRT-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

[uaarkson]

God it would blow if Paul's closed down.

[robk1982]

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...see_count.html

Genesys planning massive medical campus around hospital, consultant says 6,000 new jobs could be created
Published: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 5:25 PM Updated: Friday, January 28, 2011, 8:30 AM
By Ron Fonger | Flint Journal

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- Genesys Health System is planning for a massive expansion on land around its medical center, a development that a new report commissioned by Genesee County says could create more than 6,000 new jobs on site and another 15,000 spinoff positions.

Genesys, already one of the county's largest employers, confirmed it is "actively formulating plans" to develop a much larger medical campus, and just last month met with township officials to discuss the concept privately before filing formal plans, Supervisor Micki Hoffman said.

Joe Corradino, project manager with The Corradino Group of Michigan Inc., told the county Board of Commissioners Wednesday that plans call for senior citizen housing, retail and other medical services on the Genesys campus and suggested spending $46 million in road improvements in the immediate area from 2015 to 2019.

"This proposal has significant merit," Corradino wrote in a summary report to the county. "It is forecast that by 2020 this project would create more than 6,000 jobs directly on site and another 15,000 support jobs throughout the region, mostly in Genesee County."

Corradino didn't back away from those projections Wednesday, telling commissioners, "This has the potential, from all we have been told, for being real ... This is a viable project."

.........

[robk1982]

http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-mi...5_percent.html

Former Durant Hotel 75 percent full, interest exceeds tenant move-in timetable set by developer
Published: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 4:43 PM Updated: Thursday, January 27, 2011, 8:51 AM
By Kris Turner | The Flint Journal


FLINT — The former Durant Hotel is filling up faster than anticipated and its developer is eyeing other downtown buildings for future housing projects.

Since reopening last fall following a nearly $30 million renovation, the Durant’s 93 apartments are already at 75 percent occupancy.

That’s ahead of schedule and vastly exceeded the expectations of Richard Karp, the Lansing-based developer behind the building’s overhaul.

........

It also has led Karp to begin surveying other properties for redevelopment.

“We’re interested in a number of parcels,” he said, adding that he won’t reveal their locations until he controls them.

.......

Commercial space on the first floor is filling up as well, Karp said.

A lease for the southwest corner of the building is close to being inked, said Karp, who declined to elaborate until the deal is finalized.

The lower-level, commercial areas most likely will be leased for office use, he added.

“We’d really like to see some quality retail,” he said, adding that those businesses would be financially stable and well respected. “Unfortunately, we have to deal with what the marketplace presents to us.”

.........

[robk1982]

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/inde...tml#incart_mce

Construction could begin this spring in Bishop International Airport expansion
Published: Tuesday, January 25, 2011, 9:31 PM Updated: Wednesday, January 26, 2011, 10:38 AM
By Khalil AlHajal | The Flint Journal

FLINT, Michigan — After the Bishop International Airport Authority Board cleared the way for contractors to start preparing bids for another expansion, officials said the airport will be large enough to serve 2 million passengers a year by fall of 2012.

Construction could begin this spring in a $16.8 million project, the last phase in a series of expansions.

"It's a big move," said board member Guy D. Briggs. "This is definitely the right time to make the move. We've held off on it for a long time."

The airport completed a smaller-scale expansion last year, spending $3.2 million to add a restaurant, a bar, and a store while installing new, carpeting, flooring, lighting, computer stands and air conditioning and ventilation systems. Another $1.4 million was spent last year on replacing two jet bridges and building a new one.

This time around, construction will include doubling the size of the corridor in which passengers walk to and from their planes and pass through security checkpoints.

Four new gates and about 47,000 square feet of new terminal space will also be added, said Airport director Jim Rice.

......

[uaarkson]

Now that was a damn fine set of good news.

[LMich]

Yeah, no kidding. Three very solid, meaningful pieces of good news. The Genesys project sounds particularly impactful. That's some serious potential for jobs, right there. There are only two other projects planned in the state at the moment that get up to those levels of potential jobs, and that's the Detroit Medical Center expansion and the Detroit River International Crossing.

BTW, I've envy what's been going on at Bishop over the past decade. Whoever saw Bishop's potential and positioned it for growth way back in deserves some major kudos. Here at Capital Region International in Lansing, we just got through posting our 6th consecutive year of passenger decline, though, for the first time in years it was a single percent drop (3.2% drop for 2010 after a 38% drop over 2009). We've had a 61% drop in passengers since 2000. And, after many good years for cargo, we've had a percipitous drop when the national recession hit in 2008, though, that slowed to in the last year (2.4% drop for 2010, which followed a 21% drop in 2009)

[Rizzo]

It has everything to do with location and convenience. When I used to live in Saginaw, flying out of DTW was horribly inconvenient. Flying out of Flint was always easy. Quick trip down I-75, easy to park and that's it. Security was always quick.

Bishop international as it is or has been is way over-designed...and that's going to work well in its future. The terminal skybridge, check in counters and baggage areas are oversized, and the design permits almost infinite expansion of airside and landside concourses. Whoever designed it gets alot of credit IMO.