More Buildings Being Demolished Downtown

Above: The former Evergreen Arms apartments, yesterday

Two vacant former apartment buildings just north of Peoples Church are being stripped of asbestos and will be coming down soon. The brick structures at 341-345 Evergreen Avenue, known as the “Evergreen Arms” and situated near Valley Court Park, are being cleared of asbestos in advance of demolition of the buildings. This was confirmed for ELi this morning by East Lansing’s Director of Planning, Tim Dempsey.

These are privately-owned buildings which WGR Finance of Chicago purchased following a foreclosure auction. WGR also purchased the “big bank building” at the corner of Grand River Avenue and Abbot Road as well as the commercial structures on Grand River Avenue between the “big bank building” and Peoples Church.

East Lansing’s City Manager George Lahanas announced in April that these all blighted buildings would likely be demolished by the end of this year. At that time, Mayor Mark Meadows said, “WGR Finance LLC has continued to be cooperative and willing to work with the City to address this blighted corner in downtown East Lansing.”

Meanwhile, destruction of the property at 303 Abbot Road—the “little bank building” across the parking lot from Dublin Square—is also continuing. That property is owned by East Lansing’s Downtown Development Authority. We reported earlier its complicated political history. That building is shown to the right in the photo below, taken yesterday.