MSU Planning for New Multi-Generational Housing

Above: MSU's 1855 Place, which also offers family housing, at the corner of Harrison Road and Kalamazoo Street.

Michigan State University is in the early stages of planning a new on-campus housing project that would not be home for students, but rather would provide living space for MSU employees, senior citizens, families with children, and others.

The location of the proposed project is off Harrison Road, south of Trowbridge, where Spartan Village is currently located.

East Lansing Public Schools (ELPS) Superintendent Dori Leyko and representatives of the City of East Lansing met recently with MSU officials about the possible project. The project would fall in the ELPS district. MSU pays no property taxes because it is a tax-exempt nonprofit institution.

This re-development of Spartan Village, dubbed the Crescent Road Master Plan, could consist of an undetermined number of units for families of MSU employees, as well as living space for employees of the McLaren Health Care.

Last year McLaren announced it would combine two of its Lansing hospitals into a new $450 million facility to be located on land purchased from the MSU Foundation in the University Corporate Research Park near Collins Road. (That land is in the City of Lansing.)

It is expected that facility will result in a number of MSU-McLaren collaborative projects, including clinical research, clinical trials, and more robust recruitment of researchers, physicians, nurse practitioners, and other health professionals.

In addition, the housing project also could include living space for seniors, aged 55 and older. This could include benefits such as assisted and memory care, health and wellness options, plus all of the advantages that would come with living within close proximity to MSU, including access to sporting events, cultural opportunities and MSU’s health programs.

The space also could eventually be home to some retail operations, such as a coffee shop or dry cleaners, as well as offices and a hotel. It also could include walking trails and athletic facilities.

MSU officials said the proposed project would help attract and retain world-class faculty and staff, as well as take advantage of the revitalization of the Harrison Road corridor.

That revitalization, said Residential and Hospitality Services communications director Kat Cooper, is “spurred by the McLaren project, the multi-modal station, Trowbridge redevelopment, 1855 Place construction and recent renovations to the Breslin Center.”

The MSU Board of Trustees has given Residential and Hospitality Services the go-ahead to begin planning for the project. However, Cooper stressed that it is in the very early stages of development and no timeline nor budget have been established, although there are discussions of a public-private partnership that would defray costs to MSU.

Spartan Village consists of about 300 apartments and is home to, among others, visiting scholars and some students. That long-standing housing complex is set to be phased out and eventually demolished, Cooper said.

Reporting contributed by Karessa Wheeler and Alice Dreger.