Lansing-East Lansing, MI Development

[LMich]

I was thinking the same thing. I'd like to see the corners saved for some small residential towers and local retail so this area isn't completely dead in the evening like it currently is.

Oh, and just to be clear, that is a decade's old rendering that will be used as inspiration for whatever they ultimately come up with. The map will definitely be part of this, where it will be and its size will be decided during the planning process of this project.

BTW, here is a picture taken from the Capitol Complex looking directly west for those not familiar with this area...


Hall of Justice 2 by NewCityOne, on Flickr

...and looking directly east from the Hall of Justice:


Capitol Complex 2 by NewCityOne, on Flickr

Along with the Hall of Justice now talking up the western end of this plot of land, you still have the Veterans Memorial, which means in that rendering, above, this park would only extend to about as far west as Butler, or about half of what that old proposal meaning you'd lose the amphitheater and a bit.

[LMich]

Marketplace and Midtown updates courtesy of the Gillespie Group's Facebook page:

Looking west from Cedar - January 15th


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Looking north along Cedar at Michigan from the Stadium District - January 22nd


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Now, Midtown...

Looking east toward East Lansing from Frandor Plus - January 16th


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[LMich]

Nothing huge - actually, something rather minor - but it's good to know that the land bank isn't dealing in a game of musical houses, and that buyers are coming form outside the city and region:

Land Bank sales help drive residents to Lansing

By Veronica Gracia-Wing

February 14, 2014

The city of Lansing is becoming a popular living destination for those outside the region and state, according to data released recently by the Ingham County Land Bank.

The Land Banks 2013 property sales figures indicate 46 percent of its single-family and owner-occupied property sales in the city of Lansing were to out-of-city and out-of-state residents.

The Land Bank driven influx to Lansing has picked up in recent years. From 2006 to 2011, a total of 18 Land Bank homes within city limits were sold to out-of-state and out-of-city residents compared to 26 in the past year alone.

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The Land Banks home sales last year totaled 60, up from 53 in 2012. Last years numbers will likely be a peak as inventories decline due to less available program dollars at the state and federal levels.

As we look at how the Land Banks funding is changing we also have to be willing to change and adapt, says Jeff Burdick, executive director of the Ingham County Land Bank. An anticipated decline in home sales in 2014 will give us the opportunity to focus on some of our other efforts in the region, like commercial redevelopments and community gardens.

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I'm excited they are going to focus more on commercial real estate, this year. Our retail districts could really use their help. I'm really thinking about West Saginaw between MLK and Pine. That downtown border district is an absolute embarrassment.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by LMich

I'm excited they are going to focus more on commercial real estate, this year. Our retail districts could really use their help. I'm really thinking about West Saginaw between MLK and Pine. That downtown border district is an absolute embarrassment.

I agree. However, I really wish they'd road diet that area, landscaping and widening sidewalks. I think that would go a long way toward revitalizing the area. Good luck with that considering it's a state trunk line, though.

[LMich]

I mean, they already did a partial road diet when they took out an auto lane for the bike lane reducing that portion of the street down to three lanes. Councilwoman Yorko was key in working with MDOT on this, so it's not a pointless exercise, at all. But, yeah, the streetscape needs major enhancement. Before the bike lane, they were concepts to turn it two way - which would have eliminated paralell Oakland, altogether, turning it into a long strip of greenspace for pedestrians. It would have also added a parking lane on at least one side of the street, I think.

Maybe, I'll contact Yorko to see if the bike lane was what replaced the full-on road diet, or if the plan is at least still on the shelf to do more to Saginaw in that area.

[subterranean]

Originally Posted by LMich

I mean, they already did a partial road diet when they took out an auto lane for the bike lane reducing that portion of the street down to three lanes. Councilwoman Yorko was key in working with MDOT on this, so it's not a pointless exercise, at all. But, yeah, the streetscape needs major enhancement. Before the bike lane, they were concepts to turn it two way - which would have eliminated paralell Oakland, altogether, turning it into a long strip of greenspace for pedestrians. It would have also added a parking lane on at least one side of the street, I think.

Maybe, I'll contact Yorko to see if the bike lane was what replaced the full-on road diet, or if the plan is at least still on the shelf to do more to Saginaw in that area.

Yorko had to fight and fight and fight for this. MDOT eventually succumbed as this was the first of its kind in the state, but I don't think they wanted to set a precedent.

It's nice that there is a bike lane ROW carved out now. However, I wouldn't look at its current configuration as ideal, but a stepping stone to something better. A two lane protected cycle track would be ideal, but even if it were physically buffered for only one lane, you could remove the 4' painted "buffer" and extend sidewalks. The barrier-less bike lane does nothing as a traffic calming device. If anything, it makes drivers more aggressive. But if there were true traffic calming design elements: narrower roadway, street trees, on-street parking, cross walk signals, etc., I think this would go a long way for promoting economic development on the strip.

[LMich]

Man, Market Place is crawling. From February 18:


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BTW, I still can't quite tell what the first/partial basement floor is supposed to be.

Midtown seems to be going more quickly (from the 19th):


Facebook

[LMich]

Good news: The area is getting it's first Apple Store.

Less-than-optimal-news-from-an-urban-perspective: It's going in Eastwood.

Apple plans store in Lansing

By Lindsay VanHulle | Gannett Michigan

February 20, 2014

LANSING — Apple is looking for employees for a new store apparently planned for Eastwood Towne Center, documents show.

A contractor for the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology company filed an application with Lansing Township officials to start work on a nearly 6,000-square-foot retail store at 3025 Preyde Blvd., which is part of the shopping center near U.S.-127 and Lake Lansing Road.

That address is between existing Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret stores, where there is a vacant storefront. Eastwood officials, however, would not confirm a store location.

Apple has posted 13 job openings in Lansing to its website, including store leaders and managers.

An Apple spokesperson did not return messages seeking comment. Eastwood general manager Emily Desrochers declined comment, saying tenant news would be shared when available.

Apple has five stores in Michigan: in Ann Arbor, Clinton Township, Grand Rapids, Novi and Troy.

[LMich]

Some news on the Grand River/Michigan Avenue BRT:

Public input begins soon for Lansing-Okemos bus rapid transit line

By Scott Davis | LSJ

February 23, 2014

Lansing-area residents will have the chance to offer their input in March and April for a proposed bus rapid transit line between Okemos and downtown Lansing.

The Capital Area Transportation Authority is hosting a series of meetings in Lansing, East Lansing and Meridian Township to hear ideas and concerns regarding the proposed line that planners hope will stretch along Grand River and Michigan avenues.

The federal government has not approved funding for the $195 million project, but it is now doing an assessment of the project’s impact on the local environment, said Debbie Alexander, CATA’s assistant executive director and project manager for the project. That review, which includes public input from the community, should be completed this fall.

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Alexander said CATA and federal officials want to hear public input on such issues as left-turn lane access, preservation of medians, the location of stations and design concerns for bicyclists and pedestrians.

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The bus line also is addressed partly in a “Capitol Corridor Vision Report” that will be presented Wednesday at Hannah Community Center in East Lansing. That presentation, hosted by the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, follows weeks of study and public input that examined housing, traffic, the proposed bus line and other issues associated with the Michigan Avenue/Grand River Avenue corridor.

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Speaking of Okemos, the paper also has a story on the revitalization of the Meridian Mall - the eastern terimuns of CATA's Route #1 and the new BRT line. It never quite fell like some other malls did, but it seems to be filling back up with slightly more upscale options, returning to its roots:

Meridian Mall turnover making way for new, larger retail space

By Lindsay VanHulle | LSJ

February 23, 2014

OKEMOS — Meridian Mall is in the middle of a makeover.

The 45-year-old enclosed mall is quietly being transformed from a collection of smaller, specialty stores into a retail center with much larger tenants amid an exodus of merchants in the past few months. It’s a move some retail experts say is evidence an improving economy is creating new competition for more — and — larger retail space.

For Meridian Mall shoppers, the shift means the loss of a handful of clothing and accessories stores that once made up the corner of a wing anchored by Plano, Texas-based department store chain J. C. Penney Co. Inc. and stretching to center court.

Since the beginning of the year, women’s clothing retailers Christopher and Banks/CJ Banks and The Limited have left the mall. So has teen-oriented apparel chain Abercrombie & Fitch and Icing, which sells jewelry and accessories. Those storefronts have been boxed off, believed to be the future home of Swedish fashion retailer H&M, which will open this spring.

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Perhaps the most apparent example of the transformation at Meridian Mall is the opening last month of Planet Fitness, a Newington, N.H.-based gym franchise that moved into the Macy’s Inc. anchor wing and has its own exterior entrance. Mall officials hope it will draw customers into the mall for dinner or shopping after a workout.

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[LMich]

Looks like the BRT project got a website, this month, and it included these graphics:







The first two graphics are from the Tri-County Regional Planning agency's recently released The Capital Corridor study, which studied the short and long-term plans for Michigan and Grand River avenues from the capitol to Webberville.

[LMich]

Harry Hepler, who renovated the Prudden Motor Wheels factor into lofts and business center, is looking to put up modular apartments across the street, which is also across the street from Gillespie's Prudden Place apartments:

Building outside of the box, with boxes

By Andy Balaskovitz | Lansing City Pulse

February 26, 2014

Lansing developer Harry Hepler is coming off a figurative two- to three-year vacation.

Emerging, like others in his business, from a recession that caused a lending freeze from banks, Hepler has spent some time thinking about a new way of building homes. With lean times came ingenuity. Now Hepler has put together a vision that rethinks how we fill vacant urban spaces with homes.

In a break from the decided trend of mixed-use commercial/retail and residential developments, Hepler is bringing prefabricated apartment housing to Lansing. Small and compact, Hepler’s new modular pods start in a warehouse and will emerge in 400-to 500-square-foot units, stacked on top of each other four stories high. He’s laying the groundwork for the first Lansing complex: four buildings just north of the Prudden Tech Centre on May Street. Ultimately, he wants to load train cars on an adjacent railroad line and ship them across the country.

“When people first hear it, they don’t think quality,” the 50-year-old said in his May Street office earlier this month. “Probably because when you hear ‘modular’ … it sounds moveable and scary.

“This will provide a working model for anyone considering one of these,” he said.

Hepler’s also playing up to housing trends among the under-40 demographic.

“The Y Generation wants small, functional space,” he said. “They don’t want an enormous space.”

Hepler’s planned 200-unit Metro Flats complex would sit just north of his signature apartment complex, Motor Wheel Lofts along Saginaw Street. Hepler has turned the former Motor Wheel factory at Cedar and Saginaw streets into a residential and commercial space that also holds the Lansing Police Department’s North Precinct.

The prefabricated pods would be stacked on top of each other. They can be connected in such a way that multiple units can make up two- or three-bedroom apartments.

“It’s as simple as it sounds,” Hepler said. Hepler said he plans to apply for a special land use permit from the city soon so he can build residential on the industrially zoned property. He hopes to be building in 2015, assuming he receives city approval. He said rent will range from $550 to $650 a month for a one-bedroom unit and $950 to $1,150 for a two-bedroom.

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[LMich]

With this investment, and the recently announced logistics center (and years ago with LCA and LGR), it looks like GM replaced most of what they demolished in Lansing a decade or so ago as far as their operations in the city go. Of course, it's with a smaller footprint and considerably fewer workers, but we've done better than a lot of places they largely left for dead. I hear Virg is also seriously working behind the scenes on pulling in Fiat and VW operations whenever they want to expand:

Greg DeRuiter | LSJ

GM to build $162M stamping plant at Lansing Grand River, add 65 jobs

By Lindsay Vanhulle | Lansing State Journal

March 6, 2014

General Motors Co. will bring more jobs to Lansing with plans to build a $162 million stamping plant here, the latest investment the carmaker is pumping into its mid-Michigan factories.

Local economic development officials Thursday said the Detroit automaker plans to build the 225,000-square-foot stamping facility near its Lansing Grand River assembly plant, which makes the Cadillac ATS and CTS luxury cars. It would create 65 jobs.

GM would not confirm details, including the exact location of the plant on the Lansing Grand River campus near downtown or when it would open. Lansing-based spokeswoman Erin Davis said only that GM “is developing a business case for a potential future investment at (Lansing Grand River).”

But a second stamping plant in the region — GM has had one in Delta Township since 2003 — could be a sign the company plans to build future vehicle lines here.

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[uaarkson]

Awesome.

[LMich]

Here are the Metro Flats proposal mentioned in the February 28th post:



Terrible site plan (really with the perpendicular drive-up parking spots right out front? Really? Where are we? Okemos?), and even the architecture is cheesy. I'm also a little annoyed that he didn't render them into the existing neighborhood.

The only reason I can't totally lose my stuff over this, though, is that it's just beyond the northwest corner of downtown, and it will take up an existing surface lot (to an extent, obviously). Hepler tries to keep in the aesthetic with the area by matching the color with the Gillespie Group's nearby Prudden Lofts and his own Motor Wheels Lofts across the street. But, beyond that, this was not what I was expecting.

Anyway, anyway, Market Place and Midtown from a few days ago, courtesy Gillespie Group's facebook page:

Market Place



Midtown

[subterranean]

The corridor is densifying, the corridor is densifying! I love it when surface parking, gas stations and strip malls go "urban".

But seriously, I'm staring at a residential target market analysis for the corridor, with a coverage area stretching from the Capitol to Webberville. The analysis was done late last year and states that, extremely conservatively, the corridor could support an additional 374 urban style units every year for the next five years and they would be absorbed very easily. A "total" capture of the market potential would be 2,677 urban format units per year, for five years (over 13,000 units). These numbers include for sale and rental.

I know this latter situation is a pipe dream. But to even go with 500 units per year means the potential to create and easily fill 2500 new units within walking distance of Grand River/Michigan. That means we'd be looking at almost double that in terms of population due to average household size. That would be an enormous boon for the corridor.

[LMich]

You can tell the demand is there. The minute the stuff goes on the market, it's just about sold out. These places have months-long waiting lists a lot of the time.

BTW, I was just going through the annual APTA transit report. It seems that by the skin of its teeth, Lansing's CATA has hung on (despite a small fourth quarter drop) to it second place showing for average weekday ridership for transit agencies in the state 44,800 passengers per weekday vs. Grand Rapids' The Rapid weekday ridership of 43,800 passegers per weekday for the fourth quarter of last year. The Rapid will almost certainly pass us up in the next year - and probably passed us this year on an annual basis - given the BRT line coming on line, and CATA having just generally not even talking about a general expansion of service (even just to increase frequency) in years. Detroit's DDOT ridership absolutely cratered, but that's because the measurement caught it right in the middle of a huge reduction in service, which is now being slightly revered as the system is transitioning and finding its way through the city' bankruptcy.

I really want to see us start talking general expansion of service. I'm glad for the Michigan/Grand River Avenue BRT, for sure, but that's still years off. I was on CATA last week (I use it sporadically) and some of the wait times could really be reduced. If you're not on the #1, expect waits that should be 20 minutes on some of the secondary lines (not even the really light lines) that are often 30 to 40 minutes.

Ann Arbor has a millage for a major expansion of service (I think 20%+ expansion of service) that is almost certain to pass, this year. I want to hear CATA getting proactive and being aggressive at retaining its second place title. It's a bit disconcerting to see the region - and particularly the inner-city's growth - and transit not keeping up with and complementing the progressive growth.

[LMich]

Well, jeeze. No sooner than we're talking about housing that this comes out of nowhere: The Outfield









So, the city has been wanting to renovate Oldsmobile Park (I'll be d@mned if I ever call it Cooley Law School Park) for years, and are finally going to pull the trigger. Instead of just doing some structural and cosmetic upgrades, though, they are going to add housing and an on-site restaurant, too. The city has decided to issue bonds for this, and it sounds like this is already planned, as they want to issue the bonds by May 1st, and have this done by opening day in 2016.

- The city will bond out for $10 million for the actual stadium upgrades such as new concrete, lockerroom upgrades, a new roof, new lights, and a new field. The team is going to kick in a million for a new scoreboard...even though the scoreboard was just recently updated. lol

- The private developers will put in $11 million for the housing (80 to 100 units) and restaurant, with the city selling the air rights for $100,000. The city will also knock down the old municipal garage immediately north of the site for surface parking. Apparently, though - and luckily - it appears this will still leave room on the rest of the block to the north for development, eventually. So, this won't be a giant surface lot, and it will still leave room to reconstruct part of the streetwall, eventually.

[LMich]

In other news, Councilwoman-at-large Kathie Dunbar is crafting a formal RFP to try and attract a small grocer, downtown:

Supermarket Could Be Coming to Downtown Lansing

By David Sidorowicz | WILX

March 11, 2014

City and economic leaders are in the early stages of developing a plan to recruit a grocery chain to downtown Lansing.

Council member Kathie Dunbar, who is spearheading the effort to put together a comprehensive recruitment package, says it's about time.

"This is not a new concept, this is something residents downtown, business owners, anybody involved in urban revitalization has been talking about," Dunbar said.

"If we don't, we are missing a huge opportunity and all the dollars folks have down here are bleeding outside the city because they're shopping outside the city."

The Lansing Economic Development Corporation, Lansing Area Economic Partnership, or LEAP, Downtown Lansing Inc., Downtown Development Association, and even the governor's office are all actively involved in the conversation, according to Dunbar.

"There's a lot of energy and money that can make this happen," she said.

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According to data from the Lansing Economic Development Corporation, there are 75,000 people working within a two mile radius of downtown.

Those are numbers that play well for Dunbar who is modeling her ideas off two urban stores she recently visited in Ohio.

After researching and visiting The Hills Market in Columbus and Constantino's in Cleveland, Dunbar said she was shocked.

"The statistics they used for market analysis to open both those businesses had lower occupancy rates, lower density and lower income than what we have in Lansing and those stores are thriving," Dunbar said.

In both those cases the retail spaces were less than 14,000 square feet, which is a size Dunbar says could very well accommodate either a smaller independent grocer or a larger chain looking to open in a more urban space.

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The potential location for a supermarket is still being determined, but Dunbar said she's eying a space west of the Grand River and north or I-496, near the Capitol Loop.

I bet you they are talking about K'zoo and MLK.

[LMich]

After years of prep work - though, some pretty serious and heavy prep work, and some actual construction of supporting buildings - the FRIB is finally under construction, having been granted priority in the federal budget.

Matthew Dae Smith, Lansing State Journal / AP

MSU, lawmakers celebrate start of construction on physics research center

Associated Press

March 17, 2014

East Lansing — Members of Michigan’s congressional delegation broke ground Monday on a $730 million physics research facility at Michigan State University, more than five years after the federal government announced the project.

U.S. Sens. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, were among those celebrating the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, a nuclear research center funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Levin called the project “another step on the human quest to know more” that will create “tangible progress” in scientific research and national security.

The research facility, known as FRIB, is expected to open between 2020 and 2022, and will be available to scientists from any university or country. It will contain a high-power superconducting linear accelerator, a machine that can produce beams of subatomic particles traveling at half the speed of light. The collision of those beams with a target produces rare isotopes that are no longer found on Earth.

Roughly 1,350 scientists around the world are involved in the study of rare isotopes, which could help answer scientific questions about the evolution of the universe. Isotope research also could improve techniques for destroying nuclear waste and develop uses for diagnosing and curing diseases.

President Barack Obama has proposed spending $90 million in the coming budget year to keep the project on track. Congress approved $55 million for the current budget year.

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Backers estimate FRIB will produce $1 billion in economic activity and will create 5,000 construction jobs and 400 permanent jobs.

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[LMich]

The City Pulse does a poor job of explaining exactly why, but it seems that Red Cedar will be a more expensive project ($75 million more in private investment) because of parking plinths/podia and an increase in density. It will be interesting to see how they wind the drain under and through the mixed-use development.

Red Cedar growing

By By Andy Balaskovitz | Lansing City Pulse

March 19, 2014

The Red Cedar Renaissance project on Lansing’s East Side just keeps getting bigger and denser. Developers and economic development officials say it could surpass $200 million in private investment — $75 million more than what has been planned thus far.

“We couldn’t be more excited about what we hear as potential developments,” said Bob Trezise, president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Area Partnership. Building on the Red Cedar River floodplain is a contributing factor that will increase construction costs. The developers, Lansing-based Joel Ferguson and Columbus, Ohio-based Frank Kass, plan to build foundational plinths, which act as risers, throughout the site. However, it may also be a more dense development than originally planned.

“They’re going to have to build more density to make money on the project,” Trezise added. “It’s good news for all of us.”

And that $200 million figure only includes the private investment side of the project. Trezise said public infrastructure improvements, led by Ingham County

Drain Commissioner Pat Lindemann’s efforts to redesign the Montgomery Drain to stem the tide of runoff pollution into the Red Cedar River, could be in the $50 million range.

At a public meeting last week, Kass said it was now a $200 million project. Ferguson said Monday that the project is “expensive,” but he declined to give details about a final investment number.

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Meanwhile, Lindemann’s portion of the project continues to move through necessary legislative approvals. The Lansing City Council’s Ways and Means Committee last week scheduled a March 24 hearing for the drain petition, which allows for public comment before he starts work redesigning it. Ultimately, Lindemann will bill most of the costs to the city and the county. The city can then decide how to pay for it, which could include money from the sale of the property or by assessing property owners in the Montgomery Drain.