Joel Lichty managed his wine shop Friday distracted by a new source of entertainment as he looked out of his store window on M.A.C. Avenue.
A set of new parking spots across the street from CVS Pharmacy, which opens today, gave Lichty, owner of Veritas Wine Shop, 211 E. M.A.C. Ave., a welcome change from the construction there, which he has seen for the past year.
“We’ve been looking at (the parking spot), waiting for the first person to take advantage of it,” he said.
East Lansing opened the northbound M.A.C. Avenue as part of the second phase of the City Center project, providing greater access and parking for city stores such as Lichty’s.
“Merely having the street opened is good for the business,” he said.
The avenue’s opening marks the next step in East Lansing’s City Center project. CVS Pharmacy is the first business to open in the M.A.C. condominium center.
The project is part of the city’s goal of revitalizing the downtown, said Mike Bailey, part owner of the project.
“You’re trying to move all the occupants to the downtowns instead of suburbs,” he said. “In the downtown you have a finite amount of land and you try to maximize the use of it.”
The project will ultimately include 39 condominiums sitting atop the CVS and its neighbor Cosi, a new deli-style restaurant.
Cosi will be the next portion of the project to open, and the city is courting two businesses to fill a third space on the first floor of the center.
As for the condominiums, internal construction continues with leases signed for 32 of the 39 units.
A pharmacy may not seem like the best fit for a project highlighted by condominiums and upscale restaurants, but Councilmember Vic Loomis said the drug store’s inclusion comes from public demand.
“In the studies that we did over the years, what the community wanted to see in the downtown was a drug store,” he said. “It is really a full-service drug store plus more - it will be a traffic-builder.”
While providing all the services expected of a drug store, the opening of the more than 10,000-square-foot pharmacy will help out already established M.A.C. Avenues businesses.
With the construction of the project, the road was closed, preventing a high level of traffic from passing the local shops.
With the project nearing completion, the hope is that stores lining the Grand River Avenue side street will see an increase in business, Director of Planning and Community Development Jim van Ravensway said.
“It is going to make that area more congested with customers,” he said. “It is going to bring a lot of people in there that would not have gone there.”
East Lansing resident Bill Hartwig agreed, believing the finished project will create a good place for residents to walk and shop.
“The development that is occurring is bringing the kind of services they would want in the neighborhood,” he said. “It is going to open up (the area), it is more of a walking environment for things you want to do. The pharmacy is an anchor.”
For some business owners, a return to business as it was when the site was home to Small Planet will be good news.
“I think it will help people and bring them back to M.A.C.,” said Cory Curtis, owner of Cool Creations, 209 E. M.A.C. Ave. “It will be nice to see things go back to normal. It will be nice to have a drug store in the downtown. I know it will be nice for me.”
Shaun Byron contributed to this report.
Aaron Johnson can be reached at john1187@msu.edu.
