It seems that some local proprietors - including Murasaki Restaurant owner Hiroshi Tanimoto - aren't extremely upset by developers pushing in to town to level businesses in the name of cleaning up the area.
After having gained a special-use permit from East Lansing City Council on Tuesday, developer Corey Partnership is looking to construct a four-story building where Murasaki Restaurant, Peking Express and Team Telecom now sit. About 5,700 square feet of retail space and 22 apartments would replace where businesses like Tanimoto's stood for years.
If owners are OK with it, then we at The State News don't have a problem with development there. And some, like Tanimoto, are just plain ready to move on. Others like Peking Express are planning to move elsewhere.
This is an opportunity for city developers to come together and bring back some character to our beloved town. The GAP and Barnes & Noble Booksellers are fine, but places like The Peanut Barrel Restaurant, the Curious Book Shop or Caffe Latte have a gritty city life of their own, are older than students and make East Lansing the city we love.
What worries us the most, though, is if some current trends in East Lansing development continue, we may see a whole lot less of what made East Lansing stand out in the first place. The former Blue Note Coffee Café and Sidestreets Deli are two recent victims of management hiking rent to crippling levels, eventually ushering out the independent business era in East Lansing.
Developers should level the playing field and keep the door open for small independent business, not just corporations. If this can't happen, then small business owners should band together and assert their role in the community to the proper local authority. To do nothing, if this behavior continues, would be to choose unemployment for proprietors and any who work under them.
Freshmen new to campus have a great responsibility and opportunity to pick up the slack where others before them have failed. It doesn't matter if you've only been here a few weeks, go out and support the independent businesses you walk by every day. If you've seen any cool local stores, go in and buy something. Starbucks Coffee Company isn't evil, but it's not the most deserving of your dollar in our town. As the largest freshman class at an enormous university, you have much more power than you'd first guess to make a difference.
In this case, though, the decision to completely redesign the building could be beneficial. The building is old, Murasaki itself had been there for 17 years, and it doesn't even have the proper wheelchair access the city now demands from all buildings. It will help those already frustrated by impassible curbs get where they really want to go. A new structure might have a different, more modern look, thereby attracting students to it.
Developers need to allow locally owned businesses to remain in a position to where they could actually compete, fill the new space and afford the rent. If developers can't play fairly, we all stand to slowly lose one more piece of the city that used to cater to MSU students.
