While construction on the City Center project is wrapping up on M.A.C. Avenue, Albert Avenue will be closed near the Marriott Hotel at University Place, 300 M.A.C Ave for the week.
Two cranes are being placed in the area between M.A.C. Avenue and Charles Street to update communications equipment on top of the hotel.
The work is expected to take all week but shouldn’t interfere with the opening of the CVS Pharmacy, Jim van Ravensway, East Lansing’s director of planning and community development said.
The pharmacy opens for business today after construction `kept M.A.C. Avenue to one lane of traffic for a year.
“The city engineers worked closely with the CVS people and they don’t think it will (interfere), so they feel comfortable doing it,” van Ravensway said.
The work involves installing a larger satellite on the top of the building, he said.
Westbound Albert Avenue traffic will be detoured south on Charles Street to Grand River Avenue. Drivers can then go west on Grand River Avenue to Abbott Road then turn North on Abbott Road to get back to Albert Avenue.
But eastbound traffic will remain open on the avenue in the southernmost lane next to the curb and curb parking will be suspended.
“We were waiting until Tuesday to close the road because the pharmacy opens on Monday and we will have one lane open,” said East Lansing’s assistant director of public works, Todd Sneathen.
Finishing touches on the City Center will continue as planned and both the Charles Street Parking Garage and the Division Street Parking Garage will remain open.
While there may not be too many worries on either the business or the city’s side, some are expecting to face a few difficulties.
“Most of our kids walk in or they use the ramp,” said Jenni Hartsuff, owner of Tanning Co., 432 Albert Ave.
As long as the Division Street Parking Garage is open, The Fortress Comics & Games Inc. store, 425 Albert Ave., won’t see a huge impact, owner Eric Treanor said.
Most of the people that come into his shop often park elsewhere in the city anyway he said.
“It will be a little bit inconvenient, but it won’t be the end of the world,” he said.
