Southside : Development News

Source: Anton Prenaj, Athena's Diner
Writer: Natalie Burg, Development News Editor

Six weeks hardly seems like enough time for an organization to get back on its feet after a major disaster, but thanks to local generosity and a focus on the future, the St. Vincent De Paul resale shop re-opened for business in just that amount of time following the fire that destroyed their building in December.
 
“We’ve had a large outpouring of support from the community,” says Steve Maiville, St. Vincent De Paul store director.
 
After setting up temporary offices in donated space at St. Gerard Church in Lansing in the week following the December 18 fire, the non-profit went straight to work on gathering new donations and finding a new location for the store.
 
“Effectively, everything was lost,” says Maiville.
 
St. Vincent De Paul celebrated the opening of their new store at in 11,000-square feet of commercial space at 5136 S. Cedar on January 28. The move was made possible by a discounted lease rate given by the property owners, as well as the donation of display racks and fixtures from Meijer and Barnes and Noble.
 
“We’re pleasantly surprised how quickly our customers came back to us,” Maiville says, “and how much the community has embraced us after the fire.”
 
Two local Meijer stores also contributed gift cards totaling $1,300 to the non-profit. The Cedar Street location will remain the home of the St. Vincent De Paul store until their South Washington location is rebuilt. Maiville hopes the organization will be back in their 23,000 square foot facility in one year.

Going to the neighborhood Dairy Queen may be a part of several families’ traditions, but few families are as tied to the restaurant as Angela Karkou’s. Her grandfather owned the Dairy Queen on Cedar Street for 26 years before her father purchased it and has been operating it for 25.
 
“I’ve worked there since I was ten,” says Karkou.
 
Though she still works at Dairy Queen, she’s now calling herself the boss. Karkou now owns a brand new Dairy Queen and Orange Julius store on West Saginaw. The addition of the Orange Julius is in keeping with the corporation’s new business model.
 
“We’re now open year round and Orange Julius offers more sandwich offerings,” says Karkou. “We have a wider menu with paninis.”
 
The 1,410 opened last week. The new Dairy Queen includes a drive through and interior seating for up to 12 diners. Karkou will hire 12-15 employees to operate the location.
 
A grand opening celebration is scheduled to take place from December 16 through December 18 including promotions such as half priced Dairy Queen cakes. 

When the new Augie’s Chicken opened its doors on Oakland Avenue recently it did so with the advantages of a long history in the industry and a brand new food concept.
 
Owner Anne Ganakas and her siblings and co-owners have owned Arby’s restaurants in Lansing for more then 30 years. When Ganakas closed the doors of the Arby’s restaurant  between Cedar and Larch on Oakland, she suspected the secret to success would be in offering an entirely different kind of menu.
 
“We needed to open with something else,” she says. “We came up with a concept on our own. Our broasted chicken is made with pressurized cookers so the chicken is juicer and better for us.”
 
Not only will the chicken be special, but Augie’s will feature homemade side and an in-house baker who will prepare fresh pies and treats daily.
 
“And we’d like to get out in the community and do catering as well,” says Ganakas.
 
Preserving the jobs of her former Arby’s employees was important to Ganakas, and she now employs 30 in the new restaurant. The 3,000-square foot casual dining restaurant seats about 60 and underwent significant remodeling. All Lansing-area contractors were used during the project.
 
“We’ve lived here all our lives and we’ve been in the Arby’s business for 30 years,” says Ganakas. “It was important to use local contractors because they’re a part of our community.”
 
Augie’s will announce their grand opening event in the near future on their new Facebook page. 

The insurance industry is nothing new to Rodney Saddler. The son and father of an insurance agent, Saddler worked in the same industry in Grand Rapids for several years. When the Lansing Everett High School graduate moved back to the state capitol with is wife in 2003, he took some time away from insurance – but not for long.
 
“I found this opportunity with Farmers’ Insurance,” says Saddler. “I loved the program and loved the company, so I started an agency.”
 
Though the 750-square foot Saddler Agency opened its doors to its Cedar Street location in December, the new business celebrated their early success with a ribbon cutting two months ago.
 
“Thing have been really excellent, actually,” says Saddler. “We’re going to a lot of events, trying to get our name out into the community.”
 
Saddler says one of the reasons he values Farmers’ Insurance Group is the company’s commitment to Michigan. The company’s University of Farmers recently opened a second training facility in Caledonia. The first location operates in California.
 
“Farmers’ brought 650 jobs to the state of Michigan,” says Saddler, “and we’re looking at bringing 1,100 more.”
 
Playing his own role in job creation, Saddler now employs three workers in his new office. He plans to grow into an even larger agency in the future. 

After retiring from the Lansing Board of Water and Light, Tom Marlow decided he needed something new to invest his time and talents into. As he and wife Carol looked around to see what kind of business would be best suited for the pair to open, one option he didn’t think they’d choose was a drug and DNA testing lab.
 
“This was low on our list,” he says, “but as we checked off other options, we realize that no one else in the area is doing what Arc Point does, and it began to look really nice.”
 
Now the owners of the new Arc Point lab in south Lansing, the Marlows now offer the comprehensive testing solutions they weren’t finding in other area labs.
 
“This is really a business-to-business operation,” says Marlow. “We offer education and training for businesses as well as drug testing.”
 
In addition, Arc Point also offers walk-in testing, including drug screens, DNA testing and – arguably the business’ most fun option – doggie DNA testing.
 
“When I was young we used to call them ‘mutts,’” says Marlow. “Now we call them ‘designer breeds,’ and people are paying a lot of money for those dogs without really knowing what kind it is.”
 
The nearly 2,000 square foot Arc Labs location opened in April and currently employs five workers. The Marlows plan to add to that number soon as they consider expanding their services into wellness testing. 

A new 23,000 square foot Planet Fitness gym opened in Delta Township eight weeks ago, and according to manager Fred Mussehl, the business’ welcoming philosophy has been a key factor in their early success.

“Our motto and everything about us is that we’re a judgment free zone,” says Mussehl. “Everyone is welcome to come work out and not be intimidated.”

The gym, which is located near the Lansing Mall on Saginaw Highway, is equipped with 87 pieces of new cardio equipment and all machines are integrated with plasma televisions. Planet Fitness now employs 14 workers.

“We cater toward physical fitness than powerbuilding,” Mussehl says. “We’re also known for what we call our ‘absurdly low prices.’” He add that their low rates also come with training and group fitness instruction.

“That gives you something Lansing has never had before,” he says.

Source: Fred Mussehl, Planet Fitness

Writer: Natalie Burg, News Editor

The folks at Alexanian’s Central Flooring know a lot about installing carpet, tile and hardwood floors. They ought to, as they’ve been servicing the Lansing area since 1917. When the former owner passed away in 2005, one of their own decided to continue their tradition of quality floor installation.

“I come from the service end of this business,” says current owner Rodney Patterson, who worked as an installer for Alexanian’s for 30 years. “Quality workmanship is what we’re known for.”

And now they’ll carry that reputation from their current East Lansing location to their new, 3,000 square foot facility on South Waverly in Lansing. They plan to make the move by the first of June and celebrate with a relocation sale.

Surviving the recent recession is another reason that Alexanian’s feels like celebrating. When Patterson took over in 2008, he found there were many adjustments to be made to the business to fit the current economic climate.

“I needed to downsize,” he says, “ and cut the overhead as much as possible. We backed out of the oriental run business, because you can’t have $150,000 worth of inventory sitting on the floor.”

The right-sizing turned out to be a good plan.

“Now that the economy looks like it’s coming back,” Patterson says, “I was at the end of my lease, so I decided to move closer to where we were originally located.”

Source: Rodney Patterson, Alexanian’s Central Flooring

Writer: Natalie Burg, News Editor

In some ways, a lot has changed about Metro Bowl in South Lansing. In others, it’s business as usual.

“We still have the full bowling area, two nightclubs and a sports bar in there,” says Metro Bowl manager Chris Siedelberg.

Though the layout has remained the same, and the businesses have remained open and fully functioning, everything else about Metro Bowl has been changing - for the better - since the building has been in receivership.

The now bank-owned business has seen more than $500,000 in interior renovations in the past eighteen months, including updating the bowling lanes, furniture, carpeting and tile. Union Bank currently owns the property, the receivership of which is being managed by Rehmann-Robson.

“We really changed the look,” says Siedelberg. “We’ve cleaned up the place in terms of trying to make more a family-oriented place.”

And that’s just the interior. Plans to begin façade and signage work on the property’s exterior are slated to begin this summer. For Metro Bowl employees and fans, the investments being made to retain the business at the property is a great thing.

“They’ve got to do it in order to sell it,” Siedelberg says of the renovations made by the bank who now owns the property. “There’s something here that they’re liking or else they wouldn’t be putting so much into it.”

In addition to the physical changes happening to the 50,000 square foot facility, Metro Bowl now offers a variety of music entertainment on the weekend.

Source: Chris Siedelberg, Metro Bowl

Writer: Natalie Burg, News Editor

Tucked neatly and unexpectedly in the heart of the Moores Park Neighborhood in South Lansing is a 1,200 square-foot salon, Swank, offering everything from a haircut and highlight, to manicures.

At 711 West Barnes Avenue in Lansing, Swank is next door to the Moores Park Neighborhood Community Gardens.

“I’m the heirloom tomato guy,” laughs Brian Kohls, co-owner of Swank. Kohls lives in the Moores Park neighborhood and owns the business with his partner, Jeremy James.

“I had owned salons in the past and really had no intentions of doing it again,” says Kohls. “But we lived in the neighborhood, and Jeremy bugged me to look at this building for a couple of months until he finally wore me down. It looked like a good project.”

After two years of solid renovations and bringing the two-story building up to code, the salon and the two apartments above it were finally open.

Aside from Kohls loyal clientele who have followed him over his 25 years as a stylist, Swank also sees many of the Moore's Park residents “popping in” for services.

“It’s such a romantic idea, to be able walk from your home to get a manicure or a haircut . . . so I’m glad Swank is able to provide that.”

Source: Brian, Swank Salon

Writer: Suban Nur Cooley 

All Photographs © Dave Trumpie

The new Lake Trust Credit Union branch at 6445 S. Pennsylvania Avenue in South Lansing celebrated its grand opening on Monday Dec. 6. The 5,000 square foot facility is located on a former brownfield site where the Regent Inn once stood.

“We serve more than 15,000 members each month in South Lansing, and from the ongoing interest and enthusiasm we’ve seen during the construction phase, we know members [have been] anticipating the grand opening of the new branch,” says Danielle Brehmer, marketing director at Lake Trust.

The new branch is also LEED-certified, with recycled materials used in construction. Now, the site also features special soil erosion control measures and several other energy enhancing components.

“With increased access to the branch right on Pennsylvania Avenue, the convenience of four drive-thru lanes and a comfortable interior environment, we’ve created a great experience for both existing and new members to take advantage of,” adds Brehmer.

Source:  Danielle Brehmer, Lake Trust Credit Union

Writer: Suban Nur Cooley