Upon reviewing the final due-diligence report, the council came to the decision that the nearly decade-old, $105 million mixed-use development project was financially infeasible, and passed this information on to Strathmore President Scott Chappelle, who then asked to withdraw from the project. At the meeting, the council passed a motion proposed by Mayor Pro Tem Nathan Triplett that found the project not practical for the city as presented, effectively terminating the project. The project could have vastly changed the landscape of downtown East Lansing.

“I’m making a decision based on a particular financing plan that I think is an undue risk to the city based on the analyses that we’ve been provided,” Triplett said during the meeting. “This would be a very different conversation in my mind if what was before us was an applicant with $105 million at his disposal to be able to build a project that’s been proposed.”

The proposed project called for the construction of a 10-story, mixed-use building that would house a 400-seat performing arts theater, a boutique hotel, office, retail and restaurant space, residential units and a public exhibition. An adjacent four-story building would have retail or restaurant space on the first floor with residential or office units on the remaining stories, and a proposed parking garage would have been built along Evergreen Avenue to serve the development.

“I think this project would have added tremendous vitality to our downtown,” Triplett said. “It’s the type of project we need to continue to pursue. But with this financing plan, we can’t afford to do that, and I can’t support we move forward with the due-diligence process.”

The project first began when the Downtown Development Authority, or DDA, acquired property for its development for $700,000 in 2001. Planning and Community Development Director Tim Dempsey said determining the total cost of the project would take much time and research to come up with a concrete number.

He added the project’s lengthy history contributed to the rising costs.

“Everyone wishes that could have been done in a shorter time frame, but that’s not the way the world works, especially in real estate development,” he said. “You can always second-guess yourself, but the reality is all of these projects are developed where you make the best decision you can with the information you have at that time.”

Moving on
Although City Center II as proposed is dead, East Lansing citizens still are left looking up at a vacant building in a prime location along Grand River Avenue.

“It’s going to take some time to sort through some things and figure out where we’re going to head.”

Dempsey added that Chappelle no longer was obligated to complete demolition of the building at 303 Abbot Road, a stipulation that was set in place when the city entered into a predevelopment agreement with the developer in April. Dempsey said Chappelle had begun the abatement process for demolition, and the city now would look at what work has been done at the site to determine how it would proceed.

Community communication
Chappelle said the point of the project was to change the landscape of East Lansing and make it a more favorable community for local and family residents.

“A project like City Center is difficult because it goes against what the market wants,” he said. “The market in the East Lansing Central Business District is student housing and retail that caters to the university demographic.”

Councilmember Don Power has been a major proponent of encouraging communication between the council and community members, and said during the meeting that determining the desires of East Lansing’s citizens will be integral as the city plans to move on in developing the property.

“Now is the time — we have the opportunity — to look at this as it is developed and determine what the community wants,” Power said. “We need to sit down as a council with the people here and all of the people in the city and find out what that is.

“There will be differing ideas, but we have to listen.”