Lansing-East Lansing, MI Development

[LMich]

The South Lansing Pathway is moving forward. It's amazing how much the city's trail system has grown under Bernero. This will be better connect east and west. Lansing has good connections north and south, but relatively weak east-west connections.

South Lansing path moving forward

By Ken Palmer | Lansing State Journal

August 22, 2013

City leaders are poised to move ahead with an estimated $2.1 million walking and bicycle path that would bisect the city’s south end, connecting with the Lansing River Trail and a planned pathway into Holt.

Decades in the planning, the South Lansing Pathway would add more than five miles to the region’s nonmotorized trail network, running from Waverly Road east to Cavanaugh Road. The route runs mainly along a Consumers Energy right-of-way.

The Lansing City Council on Monday is expected to commit funding for the west and middle segments of the pathway.

...

The project would link south Lansing neighborhoods to the 13-mile-long Lansing River Trail and the Delhi North Trail Connector that eventually will tie the River Trail to an existing pathway between Holt and Willoughby roads.

Future extensions would connect Michigan State University and areas west of Waverly Road.

...

Construction of the asphalt path would begin next spring and be completed in the fall, said Andy Kilpatrick, the city’s transportation engineer.

As part of the project, a section of Pleasant Grove Road will be restriped to create bike lanes that will connect to the pathway, he said.

Signals would be installed at certain road crossings, and a series of short extensions will connect the path to schools or parks.

...

Description:

» The west section (1.7 miles) would run east from Waverly Road to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, passing near Wexford Elementary School and the Southside Community Center and through Benjamin Davis Park.

» The center section (1.7 miles) would run between MLK and Pennsylvania Avenue, passing near Attwood Elementary School, Ingham County Human Services and Gardner Middle School.

» The east section (1.8 miles) would go from Pennsylvania Avenue east to the railroad tracks, then north to Jolly Road and east to Aurelius Road, where it would connect with the River Trail and the proposed Delhi North Trail Connector. It would continue north through Biggie Munn Park and on to Cavanaugh Road.

Here is Lansing's Non-Motorized Plan for anyone interested.

[Michagain]

My beautiful, 10-storey 1916 building suffered a partial roof collapse today. Actually it was the brick ledge. The bricks had been bending out for some time, gravity did the rest. I believe the building itself is fine, although that ledge is NOT.

I was inside, directly underneath as it all came down outside my window. Can't say I wasn't expecting this...

One of my photos: http://i.imgur.com/9myDdDv.jpg?1

WILX story: http://www.wilx.com/topstories/headl...220952661.html

[Michagain]

Let's hope the powers-that-be are kind to the engineering assessment and simply fix the ledge.

[LMich]

I actually drove near (Washington and Kalamazoo) here the day and time it happened, and was wondering what had happened up the street since I saw the cop cars. I was hoping it wasn't some kind of violent crime.

The facade never looked safe to me. Fortunately, it was the part within the alley that collapsed (I'd originally thought something had fallen on Allegan). It's not like the building is abandoned, so you'd think it would have been kept up better. What I'm worried about is what effect this will have on the Biggy Coffee on the ground floor. A lot of people probably are going to be scared away by this.

[Michagain]

I just spoke with one of the owners. They're going ahead and doing further assessments on the north-facing and west-facing facades to check for problems. He mentioned they will most likely do some work on those walls as well to clean up perceptions at the very least. He's making the rounds to all the offices and I saw him speaking to the owner of our neighboring building to the west.

Biggby is open today. But without an air conditioner. The external unit was destroyed by the debris. Sidewalk scaffolding has been set up since yesterday to cover pedestrians, etc. Building was opened at about 7pm on the same day.

The rest of the building is safe and operating normally. I have AC which will be sorely needed today I suppose.

[Rizzo]

Yikes. Could have been worse. The parapets at the top of a building are definitely a place to keep an eye on. From what I can see in the photos, it looks like the face brick veneer (non structural) is what peeled away from top. If you get water infiltration in the coping or it seeps through the back of the parapet from the roof you'll get ice freezes and thaws or rust on brick ties. Sometimes its the expansion of water that will push the facade out of line and people will notice 'bowing' It's very important parapets around the top of the building are inspected often since it's where your roof plane meets and where water and snow come in contact with the building first.

[Michagain]

So lucky no one was hurt. Lots of people, including myself, use that alley all of the time.

[LMich]

Originally Posted by Michagain

So lucky no one was hurt. Lots of people, including myself, use that alley all of the time.

I see Cooley students using it as major path to get around the central business district all the time. It's a very busy alley.

BTW, isn't the neighboring Farnum Building (the one you mention to the west) owned by the state? Or does the state simply lease it? I'd always thought they were the owners.

[Michagain]

There's a building in between Capitol and Farnum. Small 2-storey brick structure.

[LMich]

The Lansing Housing Commission is looking to redevelop Oliver Towers housing project in downtown Lansing. It's been out of action (save for the housing commission's headquarters) for thirteen years, now, unable to find a reuse. I don't know why this isn't a dormitory or student housing for Lansing Community College seeing as it's right across the street.

Open House

By Andy Balaskovitz / Lansing City Pulse

August 29, 2013

Thursday, Aug. 29 — The Lansing Housing Commission is actively trying to sell its abandoned, eight-story Oliver Towers building downtown and will host two public open houses next week in an attempt to gauge redevelopment interest.

The Housing Commission, which owns the building, moved out of it last week and into offices on Cherry Street that were once occupied by Davenport University, Housing Commission board Chairman Tony Baltimore said today.

The Housing Commission may end up issuing a formal Request for Proposals to redevelop the property, Baltimore said, but for now is bringing in the public to see if there’s any interest.

“This at least starts the process,” he said.

The open houses are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sept. 3 and 5 at 310 Seymour Ave. downtown. The building lacks electricity, and the Housing Commission is asking participants to sign a waiver before walking through due to liability issues and to bring a flashlight.

The Housing Commission has planned to move out of the building for years. Various redevelopment plans have surfaced since a fire in February 2000 made most of the building uninhabitable. None of those were successful. Built in 1968, the eight-story high-rise building served as subsidized housing for about 100 apartments for low-income senior citizens.

The latest controversy swirled in 2011 as the Bernero Administration announced a tentative land swap deal that would have moved Davenport University into the structure and the Housing Commission into Davenport’s former campus at Cherry and Kalamazoo streets. Lansing Community College protested the deal because it felt it had been cut out of redevelopment plans even though LCC had an interest in it. Davenport eventually bailed out of the land swap due to the controversy with LCC and found a different location on Allegan Street.

“It’s really been frustrating just because after the Davenport deal fell apart, we were looking to move ahead,” Baltimore said. “So now we’re going to open this thing up and see what the interested parties are and move ahead.”

Baltimore said there have been interested parties in acquiring the property, but he declined to give specifics.

A pic of the building I took some time ago:


Oliver Towers by NewCityOne, on Flickr

The good thing is that since the ground floor has been occupid the entire time, the housing commission kept it from turning into an abandoned building. And, with the building literally being two blocks north of the capitol, there is no reason this building (or the site, at least) shouldn't attract attention.

[Rizzo]

From your photo, the building appears to be in great shape. With some interior renovations this could make for some great student housing.

[LMich]

Update on the Knapp's renovation courtesy of Rod Sanford of the Lansing State Journal"


Rod Sanford | Lansing State Journal


Rod Sanford | Lansing State Journal


Rod Sanford | Lansing State Journal


Rod Sanford | Lansing State Journal


Rod Sanford | Lansing State Journal

Much of the work throughout this year was cutting an atrium into this old department store. As you can see, the new metal panel facade is going up. It's actually doesn't "pop" like the old facade, and it seems far less reflective than the old panels, but if this is what it took to get this thing renovated, I'll be fine with it. Old renovation plans proposed stripping the old facade, entirely, and wrapping it in a glass curtain wall. They also did a decent job with the new windows.

[Rizzo]

The Knapp building is shaping up beautifully. Lansing is really gaining some exciting office space in its portfolio. It's something to be celebrated. This is why I really push for creative renovations. Millennials want to work in cool and interesting offices in downtowns, not the bland cubicle farms under an 8'-6" drop ceiling.

[LMich]

The office portion is dominant, but you're also getting retail and a business incubator on the ground floor and second floor mezzanine, three office floors above that (mostly offices for the company renovating the building), and apartments on the top floors (with a roof top deck and open patios).

Yeah, the last time the building was occupied, it was used as a state office building (before the State vacated it in 2002), and they'd filled with bland partitions and drop-ceilings and the like. This will allow the building to "breath", again, especially since they carved an atrium to it. It reminds me what the state did with the old Hotel Olds (now George S. Romney Building) across from the capitol, except in that case, they boxed in the old hotel light court to make a multi-story atrium.

The only disappoint was that they weren't able to use the basement as underground parking like they did in the Arbaugh down the street. Apparently, it was something about the spacing of the load-bearing concrete columns that didn't make it feasible. I guess they were grouped too closely together, or in such a way as to make it prohibitive to renovation. So, they are just going to use on-street parking and the downtown garage system. Had they been required to off on-site parking, that may have forced them to make the basement work, but there is no such requirement in downtown for residential uses.

[subterranean]

Knapp's is looking good. I wish bookstores in Michigan downtowns still worked. I'd love to see an independent book/music store in that building. Hell, any anchor retail would be awesome. Somebody get Bob Gibbs down there.

[LMich]

Another sprawly student housing complex is going up. sigh

The House will be a 145-unit renovation of an old hotel at the corner of Dunckel & I-496/US 127 that will include studios and one-bedrooms marketed to upper classmen and graduate students. This is technically in Lansing right at the border of the township and East Lansing in probably one of the most unwalkable locations in the city. I honestly don't get why developers are developing so far from denser parts of campus. This development is literally across the street from one of MSU's massive research/experimental farms.


An aerial rendering of The House, a new student housing development from what was formerly a Clarion Hotel on Dunckel Road near U.S. 127.

I guess the only saving grace is that there will be a shuttle to campus. Completion is slated for August of next year. There was an entire story done on student housing going up in the area discussing many of the same issues we've recently been discussing, but I can't get more than the first two paragraphs to show up, for some odd reason. I was able to get this little blurb attached to the article, though:

By The Numbers

The image of East Lansing as a city of renters is not unfounded. In 2010, nearly 67 percent of the city’s 14,774 occupied housing units were leased, Census figures show. That ratio is mostly unchanged from 2000, although the number of occupied units has risen by nearly 400 over the past decade. City data illustrate that further: Its licensed rentals alone can hold more than 26,000 people (which would be about 53 percent of MSU’s total student population, although students are certainly not the only renters). The city of Lansing has added more than 1,000 new rental units since the start of 2012, for a total of 23,194. Meridian Township has 7,638 rental units. That number has grown by more than 400 since 2009, with more than half coming from a single development — the first phase of The Lodges I.

[LMich]

Well, now the article wants to show up:

Complex residents enjoy a weekly summer pool party last month at Chandler's Crossing in Bath Township. Kevin W. Fowler | for the Lansing State Journal

Is East Lansing student housing market reaching a saturation point?

by Lindsay VanHulle & Matthew Miller | LSJ

September 9, 2013

A group of young women in bikinis drank cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon in a hot tub.

A gaggle of twentysomethings splashed and floated in the pool in lime green inner tubes. A DJ soundtracked the bright August afternoon with synth-pop, the Capital Cities crooning, “I can lift you up…”

It was the last pool party of the summer at the Village at Chandler Crossings, one of the perks the Bath Township apartment complex offers its residents, who are generally college students and almost universally young.

“You can literally roll out of your bed and be like, ‘I’m going to chill here for the next five hours and do what college students do,’ ” said Ray Hidalgo, a Michigan State University senior who was back for a visit. He had lived in Chandler Crossings for two years, but moved out just the week before.

“It’s a good social atmosphere,” he said, “but it’s three miles away from campus.”

...

Builders say they’re banking on an upward swing in enrollment at MSU, that the marketplace is forcing them to recreate the comforts of living with Mom and Dad or risk missing out on potential tenants — and that students themselves are driving the trend. But the brisk pace of growth at MSU appears to be slowing, which would mean less room for new additions to the off-campus housing market.

...

If MSU’s enrollment increased annually by 200 students, a “sizable” apartment building could come online every year and absorb that new group of likely renters, Dempsey said.

But MSU has grown much faster. The university added nearly 3,000 students between 2007 and 2012, many of them graduate and professional students, or from other countries and states, falling just shy of 49,000 students last fall. But the trajectory appears to be leveling off. Last fall’s incoming class was the largest in the university’s history, at 8,200 students. This fall’s class is closer to 7,800.

“You definitely have to question when does supply outpace demand?” Dempsey said. “If we’re not already there, we’re getting very, very close to it.

...

But on-campus living seems more conducive to inside-the-classroom pursuits. Research has generally shown students who live on campus are more engaged in campus life, more likely to persist in college and more likely to graduate.

MSU has the largest single-campus residence hall system in the country — with beds for 17,500 students in the dorms and apartment housing for 2,500 more — and the university’s leaders are increasingly treating its dorms and dining halls as places to build community and bolster student success. It now offers tutoring services, academic advising and health clinics right in the residence halls.

...

“The people who are building new developments in the outskirts are going to have to get high rents,” DTN Vice President Raji Uppal said. “We think that the supply and demand of student properties is at an equilibrium, to be honest with you, and so we don’t believe in product that’s far away from campus.”

Meridian Township’s board last month narrowly approved a 282-unit apartment and townhouse development near the Hannah Plaza, despite concerns from neighboring homeowners that it would become concentrated with students.

...

[GRap]

about the last two post. I've wondered the same thing myself after spending time at both WMU and MSU and especially noticed in Kzoo that despite a declining student enrollment, new complexes were going up year after year and further and further away from campus.

The best reason I can think of is that they build these places pretty cheap and through in a few "cool amenities" to attract students. Many students would rather live in a new place that has a pool and lounge free shuttle ect than pay the same for something closer to campus. This comes at the experience of older rental properties that get rundown over all the years. Its interesting because many of these places were built within the past 15 years, what will become of them in another 15 when it will undoubtedly be saturated?

The good thing about the project above is its in the city of Lansing and in a area that could use more density. Being marketed to upper classemen, the location could make sense as many of them spend much less time on campus and more time in the field, work, ect so that location could be very attractive to the people who drive and do not want to deal with traffic in and around traffic.

[LMich]

The locations of these would make sense if these cities were particularly dense, thus pushing up land values. But, Lansing and East Lansing still have many locations near their cores where these things could be built, and I know this because local student housing companies like DTN, for instance, do build new housing in or around the core. Of course, there is a market for stuff further out, and I realize that it is harder for these closer-in complexes to offer things like pools, but at the end of the day, a lot of these locations are just strange, particularly places like The House and all of the complexes way up Abbott Road in Bath Township.

Anyway, more sprawl news. Looks like another suburban hotel is setting up at Eastwood Towne Center:

Second hotel coming outside Eastwood Towne Center

By Lindsay VanHulle | Lansing State Journal

September 9, 2013

LANSING TWP. — A second hotel is coming to the area around Eastwood Towne Center, ramping up the competition for travelers and boosting development around the upscale “lifestyle center” open-air shopping mall.

A 121-room Fairfield Inn & Suites is scheduled to open in November 2015 near U.S. 127 and Lake Lansing Road. That will come on the heels of a Hyatt Place hotel that is part of an adjacent project known as The Heights at Eastwood.

Both developments will surround the Eastwood mall and will bring the total hotel investment to about $25 million, and add nearly 250 rooms to an area that already has three other hotels nearby.

The $10 million Fairfield Inn, part of Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International Inc., could be under construction by Oct. 1, said Steve Hayward, executive director of Lansing Township’s Eastwood Downtown Development Authority. It is planned for a stretch of land east of Preyde Boulevard and west of the freeway, north of the Champps restaurant and bar.

...

The Fairfield will be a franchise hotel owned by developer Mike Eyde’s Preyde One LLC and will be privately funded. It will join the 128-room Hyatt Place hotel that is under construction north of the shopping center, part of the $47 million public-private Heights development. Foundations have been laid, Hayward said, and block walls could rise starting next week.

...

I do wish Benero would fight harder for this stuff. He won't get everything, but there has been a lull in development, and he isn't out there like he was. Lansing has literally ONE inner-city (not just downtown, but even around downtown) full-service hotel, and it's been this way for years. This is an embarrassment for a capital city.

[Rizzo]

Originally Posted by LMich

Well, now the article wants to show up:

It's a good article. Even building closer to campus doesn't always mean higher construction costs and land acquisition / taxes is a bad thing if you charge higher rents. The problem with amenity communities is they really need to fill up those apartments. They can't just raise rents as easily like a building with a good location. Because with a good location, residents won't leave until they graduate, and if they leave before that, there will always be someone else next in line ready to pay more.