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You are on eastlansinginfo.org, ELi's old domain, which is now an archive of news (as of early April, 2020). If you are looking for the latest news, go to eastlansinginfo.news and update your bookmarks accordingly!
When large development projects come before East Lansing's Planning Commission for possible approval, citizens are normally alerted by a public hearing notice. Because the proposed ten-story downtown building being reviewed this Wednesday at 7 pm at Planning Commission has been previously discussed, no such notice is required to be issued and many citizens appear unaware that a major decision may be made this Wednesday on this project. In public discussions around the plan, some citizens strongly favor any possible progress at the long-blighted site, at the corner of Abbot Road and Grand River Avenue. Others have serious reservations about the proposed plan, including in terms of: the size of the proposed building; the ability of the area to manage the associated increase of car traffic; and the developer, PDIG, a company with a principal owner who has caused concern for the failed last go-around at the site, as well as for problems with projects in other cities.
The building if constructed would include commercial tenants, including a hotel, as well as residential space. It would reach ten stories, topping out at 122.5 feet, or about seven stories above the main roofline of Peoples Church to the immediate west. The Grand River Avenue frontage of the building would extend from Abbot Road across what is now Evergreen Avenue (the existing public roadway would have to be ceded to the development) and into the lot of the old commercial building next to Peoples Church's garden.
The large building (known as "Building A") would also take over the land of the "little bank building" at 303 Abbot Road, a property currently owned by the Downtown Development Authority, a public entity. The building at 303 Abbot was supposed to have been demolished by the developer under the City Center 2 plan. Instead the developer salvaged reusable materials from the publicly-owned building and then ceased work on the site. (For the FOIA that shows that City staff hastened the developer's ability to start demolition on the building in order to avoid having the agreement between the building and developer "time out," click here.)
City Manager George Lahanas has indicated in an email interview with ELi that the $10,000 bond given by the developer to the City prior to demolition of the publicly-owned structure, as required by law, fell well short of being enough for the city to complete the demolition after the developer salvaged materials and stopped work. In 2012, Lahanas received bids for demolition that ranged from $35,000 to $174,350.
Chris Root, a member of East Lansing Citizens Concerned, has asked City Planning staff to obtain and share drawings that show the scale of the proposed structure in the street-view context of neighboring buildings, in order to get a sense of how the building will look in its planned environment. She has received indications that City Planning staff has requested the drawings but has not yet received them.
The Planning Commission meeting will be this Wednesday, September 24, at 7 pm in the courtroom at City Hall. If they approve the building plan, it will then move toward final approval by City Council. Residents can view the agenda here, and can view the City staff's presentation of the project in PDF form here. Residents wishing to express views on the plan may do so during public comments near the start of the meeting. For ELi's report on the Transportation Commission's review of the plan, click here.
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