The Lansing City Council recently approved tax credits that will help developers start construction on a proposed $22.5 million Grand Avenue development.

The project, nicknamed the “Capitol Club Tower,” includes a 12-story mixed use space in Downtown Lansing. The Capitol Club Tower will be sandwiched between the Grand River and Grand Avenue. 

Plans for the condo include 13 penthouses and a fitness center. Preliminary plans also connect two of the tower floors to the existing parking garage on Grand Avenue, giving condo owners easy access to covered parking. Developers Shawn Elliott and Allen Drouare plan to renovate the existing parking structure.

Drouare says they want the building to include other amenities, such as a restaurant, coffee shop and dry cleaner.

“This is going to be a cool place to live,” Drouare says.

Construction is projected to start in early 2008. Drouare and Elliott are already taking reservations from those who want live in the condos.

“There’s a market for high rise, urban luxury condos in this area,” Drouare says.

Source: Allen Drouare

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Christman Construction is nearly finished with its $12 million restoration of the 60,000 square foot Mutual Building in downtown Lansing.

Christman Construction is well-known for restoring old buildings and has restored both the Michigan state capitol and the Virginia state capitol. Christman Construction will move from its 408 Kalamazoo Plaza headquarters to the Mutual Building when the renovation is complete.

“The Mutual building kind of came at the right time,” says Christman spokeswoman Angela Bailey. “We’re kind of looking at it as a living, breathing representation of what we do.”

Christman Construction is adding a sixth floor to the building and updating all interior systems. The building will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified.

The building, located at 204 North Capitol near Ottawa Street, was built in 1928 and is on the national register.

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Lansing Community College (LCC) and 10 other statewide community colleges are gradually filling up a 75,000 square foot building in downtown Lansing that LCC bought from the state as a home base for its new Global Corporate College.

The 11 community colleges will combine business and technology expertise to develop training curriculums that are attractive to international businesses, nonprofit organizations, governmental entities and emerging economic industries.

“We saw this as a really good opportunity to increase the footprint of the college,” says Chris Strugar-Fritsch, executive director of LCC’s Administrative Services Division.

LCC bought the building, which is located on the corner of Ionia and Washington Avenue, for $4.2 million.

Source: Chris Strugar-Fritsch, Lansing Community College

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Get out your cash register. The development surge that started in Lansing two years ago has hit the $700 million mark. In the last two years, private investors invested more than $538 in new city developments. The city fueled these investments by giving developers more than $163 million in financial incentives to start their projects.

“We’re clearly on our way to making Lansing a world class city,” says Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero.

The $538 million in investments includes the $25 million Capitol Club Tower project, the $14 million Kalamazoo Gateway project and the new $24 million national headquarters of Lansing-based TechSmith. These financial estimates don’t include nearly $45 million that will be put into the city when developers put up the new Michigan State Police headquarters or the Market Place and Ballpark North projects.

Lansing Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) President Bob Trezise says the investment has created a positive business climate, which has prompted private developers to put even more money into the area.

Trezise and Bernero say the investment has created 2,839 jobs and prompted more people to stay in the area.

“We know that we’ve got the commodity that will sell,” Bernero says about the area.

Source: Virg Bernero, City of Lansing

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

All Photographs © Dave Trumpie

Developer Gene Townsend is starting 2008 with a full plate. The green developer has announced plans to put up a $12 million mixed use development near the Hall of Justice in downtown Lansing.

This is the second green development Townsend plans to start in 2008, the first being the $13 million Kalamazoo Gateway project in downtown Lansing.

Townsend’s latest plans include developing 5.6 acres of land bordered by Ottawa Street, Ionia Street, Butler Boulevard and Sycamore Street. The area includes undeveloped green space and five houses. Two of these houses will be demolished. 

Townsend’s plans include adding 65 new condos and flats that will sell at prices that are attractive to different economic groups.

“Urban developments typically do well when there’s a wide range of housing types and therefore a wide range of people,” Townsend says.

Creating a neighborhood that includes college students,Michigan State University (MSU) professors and retirees is a good way to create a stable neighborhood, he says. Fostering economic diversity through development has worked for his highly successful Printers Row development in downtown Lansing.

The smaller condos will be 1,100 square feet, and the larger flats will be 2,000 square feet. All of the units will encircle a community park. Townsend hopes to break ground on the project in the spring of 2008.

Source: Gene Townsend, Odeena Development Group

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has approved a $2.27 million brownfield grant to help developer Gene Townsend get his Kalamazoo Gateway project off the ground.

Townsend’s $13 million project will convert a parking lot on the north side of Kalamazoo and Cedar Streets in downtown Lansing into a 13,800 square foot mixed-use development.

Brownfield credits and other tax incentives have made all of the recent, big economic developments in downtown Lansing possible, says Bob Trezise with the Lansing Economic Development Corporation.

“Every one of these projects in the urban corridor are terribly upside down,” Trezise says. Many of the properties are contaminated or have existing structures that need to be destroyed or completely redone, which is extremely expensive. The only way developers can afford to fix these properties is by using tax credits

“Financially it’s just not feasible for developers to take on these projects unless some sort of incentives are involved,” Trezise says.

Source: Bob Trezise, Lansing Economic Development Corporation

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Larry Nakfoor with Wenco Properties is putting $1.2 million into the renovation of four Washington Square lofts in downtown Lansing.

Each of the four lofts will have an attached garage on the first floor, a unique asset for downtown Lansing lofts.

“We didn’t want to do it without a garage solution,” Nakfoor says. “We thought the garage would distinguish us from the market.”

Nakfoor converted 25 square feet of the commercial spaces below the lofts into garage space. He also added a third floor to the building, making room for four separate lofts.

The lofts are located at 212 and 214 S. Washington Square. The lofts facing Washington Square are two story, 1,600 square foot lofts. The two lofts in the rear are one story, 1,700 square foot lofts. Nakfoor expects the lofts to sell for $250,000 to $275,000 each.

The lofts should be available by spring 2008.

Source: Larry Nakfoor, Wenco Properties

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

The City of Lansing’s decision to open up the former Washington Square pedestrian mall to traffic has prompted Lansing Community College (LCC) to construct a $200,000 welcome wall at the intersection of Shiawassee Street and Washington Square.

Chris Strugar-Fritsch, LCC’s executive director of Administrative Services, says the college likes the idea of Washington Square linking the city and the campus, but wants to make sure drivers don’t continue driving north into campus when they hit the Shiawassee intersection.

“The opening of North Washington Square created a wonderful opportunity for LCC to develop a more accessible, attractive, safe entry point and gathering place for our students and visitors,” Strugar-Fritsch says.

The idea is that the drivers will see the large welcome sign and continue on their way by turning right or left rather than plowing through campus. The sign is also part of the campus’ beautification initiative, which was created to make the campus more visually appealing to students and visitors.

Source: Chris Strugar-Fritsch, Lansing Community College

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

The City of Lansing has plans to give the Common Ground music festival, other musicians and performance artists a permanent space on the Grand River with the construction of a $1.7 million outdoor amphitheater.

“This will really bring our parks up to a national level and we’ll look like Chicago or Seattle,” says Murdock Jemerson, Lansing Parks and Recreation director. 

The amphitheater will be in the Adado Riverfront Park off of Grand River Avenue in downtown Lansing. The proposed theater will include a stage, speakers, storage space, restrooms and dressing rooms, and will weigh 50,000 pounds.

Funding for the Lou Adado Riverfront Park will come from the sale of the current City Market building. The sale is part of the city’s plan to move more market businesses down to the riverfront. Developer Pat Gillespie is planning to buy the City Market and redevelop the area around the property, turning it into a $45 million mixed use space.

“This will help us become an entertainment district and be a magnet for people all over the country,” says Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero about opening up the riverfront.

The city hopes to break ground on the project in 2009.

Source: Randy Hannan, City of Lansing

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Honigman Miller employee and dog lover Ann Andrews couldn’t find one place to leave her dogs for training and care during her long workday in downtown Lansing, so she and fellow Honigman employees Angela Brown and Robin Hiar, decided to build AnnaBelle’s doggie daycare.

They are spending $1.1 million to renovate and transform a doctors office at 600 Capitol Ave. in downtown Lansing into the city’s first full service doggie daycare. AnnaBelle’s will be opened 24 hours a day, seven days a week to accommodate other Lansing professionals who work outside the typical 9 to 5 workday.

“We wanted to offer something in Lansing that bigger cities have,” says Brown.

Andrews says more than half of the 20,000 Lansing commuters don’t know what to do with their dogs during the day. Soon, they’ll be able to bring them to AnnaBelle’s.

AnnaBelle’s will have cameras in the daycare and each of the 18 different 80 square foot overnight rooms, giving dog owners the opportunity to get on the Internet and check on their dogs during the day.

Hiar says this facility will make Lansing a travel destination for dog lovers.

“We don’t plan our vacations without our dogs,” Hiar says. “If the place is not dog friendly, we don’t go.”

The women will likely expand the outdated 6,000 square foot building into a cosmopolitan 9,000 square foot space. The daycare will hold 40-45 dogs a day and is slated to be up and running by September 2008.

Developer: To be determined

Source: Ann Andrews, AnnaBelle’s

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

All Photographs © Dave Trumpie

Lansing Community College (LCC) is putting the final touches on an $11 million renovation that connects the Old Carnegie Library with a modern, brand new University Center.

The new 40,478 square foot University Center, which includes the Carnegie Library, will act as a home base for universities from all over the state that want offer LCC students bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Visiting professors will have their own administrative space in the new building.

The new building also has computer labs, laptops, observation classrooms, a student lounge and seminar rooms.

“We have different configurations to try and provide the best space for different types of learning,” Stephanie Shanblatt of LCC says about the new building.

Located at the intersection of Capitol Avenue and Shiawassee Street, the facility will host its first students in January.

Construction Manager: Granger

Developer: Lansing Community College

Source: Stephanie Shanblatt, LCC

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Lansing homeowner and long time real-estate agent Diane Sanborn has always shared her beautiful, historic 1906 home with visitors, but this year she transformed it and a neighboring house into Lansing’s first bed and breakfast.

In September, Sanborn opened the Cozy Koi Bed and Breakfast on Seymour Avenue in Downtown Lansing.

The main house was built in 1906. Sanborn bought it in 1988 and restored the building for about $125,000. The entire house, including the third floor where Sanborn lives, has beautiful original oak floors.

This year she bought a neighboring, dilapidated, moldy, five-unit rental that was built in 1896, completely restored it to the tune of $200,000 and turned it into the cottage portion of her bed and breakfast.

“My neighbors love me, absolutely love me for doing this,” says Sanborn who notes business has been good.

She’s hosted a lot of out-of-state and out-of-country travelers. She even rents two rooms to monthly borders who work in Lansing.

“This is a destination and it’s an attribute to Downtown and it’s an attribute to Old Town,” Sanborn said.

Source: Diane Sanborn, Cozy Koi Bed and Breakfast

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Lansing developer Pat Gillespie is doing something he’s been wanting to do for a long time – creating enough attractions by the Grand River in Downtown Lansing that citizens go there to live, work and play.

“We always hear that we’re not Portland, we’re not San Antonio, we’re not all of these other cities that people utilize for bikes and kayaks,” Gillespie says. “Everything seems to pull you away from the water. Now we’re trying to push people toward the water.”

Gillespie recently announced a $24 to $26 million development plan that includes putting several properties along Shiawassee and Cedar Streets, including two residential towers with 130 to 160 units, a 10,000 square foot commercial property on the water and an entertainment park near the water.

The plan encompasses the old City Market, which Gillespie wants to redesign and move closer to the riverfront. The mixed use building on the river will include boat slips, bike rentals and kayak rentals.

Gillespie wants to break ground on the project by 2009.

Source: Pat Gillespie, Gillespie Group

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

For the third time in three weeks, the City of Lansingunveiled a major residential development that will further expandeconomic growth in Lansing’s growing Downtown. And this time, Lansing’sgoing green.

The $13 million, environmentally friendlydevelopment, nicknamed the “Kalamazoo Gateway,” will be constructed on1.3 acres at the corner of Kalamazoo Street and Cedar Street. The mixed use building will include 43 residential units,parking, commercial space and a walkway that will act as a gateway tothe River Trail.

The building will be LEED(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, which meansit will adhere to energy-efficiency and environmental responsibilitystandards set forth by the federal government.

“I think it’s about time that Lansing has a significant LEED certified building in downtown,” says developer Gene Townsend.

Townsend envisions the new development linking the Eastside, Southside and REO Town to Downtown’s economic center.

The Lansing Board of Water and Light,with headquarters across the street from the development site, willhelp develop a new entrance to the River Trail. Townsend is workingwith the Lenawee Company to break ground on the project by next spring.

Developer: Gene Townsend, Odeena Development Group

Source: Randy Hannan, City of Lansing

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

 

The recently installed roundabout at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Washington Avenue in Downtown Lansing caps a summer in which the city poured more than $3 million into street improvements, pedestrian crosswalks, flower beds and benches leading up to the intersection.

“Part of it was about improving safety at that intersection and part of it was about aesthetics,” says Randy Hannan with the City of Lansing. The roundabout opened in the middle of October and "is designed to help pedestrians make their way through traffic, not help speeding cars get Downtown faster."

Unlike other city roundabouts, the one at this intersection has a stop sign at each entrance point. This means that cars stop before entering the roundabout, giving pedestrians a chance to cross.

It also helps the visually impaired, who wait to hear the traffic stop before they cross. A traditional roundabout never stops traffic, discouraging pedestrians from crossing, Hannan says.

Hannan says this is all part of a plan to get more residents walking around and hanging out in Downtown Lansing.

Source: Randy Hannan, City of Lansing

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Developer Pat Gillespie hopes his plans to construct two 120,000 square foot buildings overlooking the Lansing Lugnuts minor league baseball stadium in Downtown Lansing will draw out-of-state corporations to Lansing.

The Ballpark North development will include what Gillespie refers to as two “six-story corporate pads” where businesses can put their headquarters.

“Now all of a sudden we have a couple of exciting pad sites to market around the country,” Gillespie says. “It just gives businesses another reason to come to Lansing.”

The buildings may also be used for residential or other commercial use. Gillespie has already been contacted by a day spa that wants 14,000 square feet for its proposed Downtown retreat.

Gillespie’s goal is to get the project moving by late 2008 or early 2009. He estimates the investment to hit $22-26 million.

Source: Pat Gillespie, Gillespie Group

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Accident Fund Insurance Company of America is moving its national headquarters to the old Lansing Board of Water and Light’s Ottawa Street Station power plant in Lansing.

The Accident Fund projects that it will outgrow its two present sites by 2011. To accommodate that growth and the addition of 500 new jobs, the company decided to embark on the largest overhaul of a power plant in the state.

“Accident Fund will preserve a downtown landmark while transforming it into an exciting state of the art business camp,” says Accident Fund President, Elizabeth Harr. “This redevelopment will be a catalyst to a strong revitalized downtown and the Lansing community.”

The seven-acre project site extends from Ottawa Street to Shiawassee Street between Grand Avenue and the Grand River.

Harr says the site is large enough for ample office space and a 1,000 car parking lot. Plans also including adding an adjoining building to the site and a linear public park on the riverfront.

Developer: The Christman Company

Source: Micki O’Neil, Accident Fund

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

All Photographs © Dave Trumpie

The concrete pedestrian park between the 200 and 300 blocks of Washington Avenue in Downtown Lansing is being torn out, allowing Washington Avenue to extend to the Lansing Community College campus.

The park was put in roughly 35 years ago, the idea being that closing the road to traffic would encourage pedestrian use. That didn’t work, however, so the City of Lansing is using $3 million to open it back up.

“It became a barrier to people connecting with and using our downtown,” says City of Lansing Spokesman Randy Hannan of the pedestrian park. 

The street extension will open in mid-November. The majority of the project is funded with grants and road money. The city will add 200 new parking spots to the area, new pedestrian crosswalks, rain gardens and benches.

Source: Randy Hannan, City of Lansing 

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

 

The trolley that shuttles people between Downtown Lansing and East Lansing recently moved its 10,000 rider between the two entertainment corridors.

The Entertainment Express is a collaboration between the City of Lansing, the City of East Lansing and the businesses on the route to help facilitate more activity at neighborhood businesses.

“We’re getting the message to [students] that cool things are happening in Downtown Lansing, and there’s a way to get here,” says Randy Hannan, with the City of Lansing.

The Entertainment Express started a year ago, thanks to nearly $500,000 in media sponsorships and local business donations to the $90,000 a year operating cost.

Hannan says eventually the city will add routes bringing REO Town and Old Town into the loop, so these major area shopping districts are linked.

He also says the city may add a lunch-time express that would loop around the Capitol building during lunch, so those who work outside of the Capitol can easily get downtown for lunch.

Source: Randy Hannan, City of Lansing

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

The $3 million Michigan Ave. street renovation leading up to the Capitol in downtown Lansing is nearly complete, with the road expected to be open by the end of the month.

Since last spring, Michigan Ave. has been closed from Grand Ave. to Capitol Ave. to allow the city to repave the road, put a roundabout at the intersection of Michigan Ave. and Washington Ave., add pedestrian walkways, plant rain gardens and construct a fountain.

"We're in the capital city and it's about time that we look like it and act like it," says Randy Hannan, spokesman for Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero. "Aesthetics are important to people as part of community pride."

The fountain will be in the middle of the roundabout at the intersection of Washington Ave. and Michigan Ave. Preliminary designs have the fountain shaped like the dome of the Capitol building.

The city received $3 million in state grants to pay for the walkways, street landscaping and road construction. A private investor provided funding for the fountain.

"We're the centerpiece of the state of Michigan. We're the focal point for the state and it's very important that we project an image that shows the grandeur of the state," Hannan says.

Source: Randy Hannan, City of Lansing

Ivy Hughes is the development news editor for Capital Gains. She can be reached at ivy@capitalgainsmedia.com.