It wasn’t business as usual for The Post Bar on Monday night.
Long known as a local bar at 213 Ann St., the inside of the bar is in the process of being taken down to clear the way for part of a new development project that has been in the works for nearly a decade.
The location, along with two other now vacant spaces, is slated to be a part of St. Anne Lofts, a four-story building with retail space on the first floor and a restaurant with an open-air dining option on the second.
Kris Elliott, owner of The Post Bar and developer of St. Anne Lofts, was not available for comment at press time.
East Lansing Planning and Community Development Director Tim Dempsey said the city currently is receiving bids for the environmental clean up work that needs to be done on the project.
Dempsey said the exact start date is not yet known, but construction could begin within the next month.
“If we can get everything in order, they could potentially start it as soon as the next week or the week after,” Dempsey said.
The second piece of the project, an eight-story mixed-use building consisting of retail and rental space, is scheduled to break ground in April 2012, Dempsey said.
In a previous interview with The State News in March, developer Doug Cron said with the proximity of the two projects, the close timing of the development construction made sense in terms of infrastructure.
“It just kind of worked out that way,” Cron said.
Zachary Neal, an assistant professor in the College of Social Sciences with a specialization in urban economic development, said adding new retail space to an area already spotted with vacancy signs might not be the best option for the city, especially with the recent announcement of Barnes and Noble’s closure in a prime location at 333 E. Grand River Ave.
“In addition to existing vacancies, we know that there will be a giant vacancy where Barnes and Noble is — the creation of even more retail space may be very difficult to fill,” Neal said.
“It could be too much shake-up in the area all at once, making it hard to predict how it’s going to turn out.”
Although the loss of The Post Bar in its current location is a sad one for history, philosophy and sociology of science senior Margie White, she said she didn’t think the bar scene in East Lansing would suffer too much.
“East Lansing still has a lot of really good bars,” White said.
“I don’t think it’s going to keep business away on the weekends for people going to the bars.”
Continue to check The State News for further updates on St. Anne Lofts and The Post Bar’s closure.
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