City officials hope East Lansing and Lansing will be taking care of some business.
Both cities have been working to develop office space.
East Lansing’s City Center project is nearing completion and Lansing has just laid the ground work for a new 12-story office complex in its downtown area.
The Lansing complex development, slated for 2004, is being developed by the Boji Group of Lansing.
The developers hope to lease a restaurant, pharmacy, bank and customer service area in the complex that will reside just south of the Capitol, at Allegan and Townsend streets.
John Truscott, spokesman for the Boji Group, said these projects are meant for mixed use.
“We are trying to get a little more retail and restaurants, things that will try to get a little more foot traffic after 5 p.m.,” he said.
Truscott said with parking attached to the office building and the services available in the lower levels, tenants may stick around to enjoy the city’s night life.
“There is a lot going on in the city of Lansing and East Lansing, so hopefully it will be a few exciting months,” he said.
The new addition might be what is needed to fix the downtown area’s poor vacancy rate, said Eric Rosekrans, senior vice president of Richard Ellis/Martin, 1111 Michigan Ave.
“But the Boji project is two years away, so the effect of that building has no affect right now,” he said. “In two years the market might be better, and that is what everyone is banking on.”
In East Lansing there is nearly 250, 000 square feet of office space available east of U.S. Highway 127.
Rosekrans said the vacancy rate for this area is reasonably healthy.
Lansing City Councilmember Larry Meyer said projects in the two cities are positive signs of a possible trend.
Meyer said the projects are more attractive to people when they see what is around them.
“I think both areas are being recognized as more useful assets,” he said.
Mike Bailey, part owner of the East Lansing City Center project, said while the market for office space is quieter than it was six months ago, the group has not done much in the way of marketing the property.
The project already has its lower complex leased to Cosi, a restaurant chain known for its bread and coffee, and CVS/Pharmacy.
Bailey said the group is just now gearing up to begin marketing the area for businesses to move in.
East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows said all the new office space is filling a void in East Lansing.
He said the city is only guessing the success of the project, but in the last seven years several residential projects in the downtown area have been pretty successful.
“When the City Center projects are occupied, then we will be able to gauge how we are with that type of stuff,” Meadows said.
