Several MSU students will call West Village "home" next year, since their parents reserved property in the new residential development.
"A lot of parents are interested in buying for their children, so those will be owned by the family, not licensed for rental," West Village spokeswoman Lisa Spaugh said.
More than half the properties in the village already have been reserved, and construction begun on the complex. Prices on the properties range from $100,000 to $300,000. The development is located off West Grand River and Hillcrest avenues.
The development also could lead to the renaming of two surrounding streets.
The 15 townhomes and 33 flats are expected to open in summer 2007, and the condominiums and retail space will make their debut sometime in 2008. Floor plans are still being finalized for the condominiums, so West Village officials don't know how many there will be, Spaugh said.
The flats are the main type of property appealing to students and their families, whereas the townhomes and condominiums are catching the eyes of permanent residents, Spaugh said.
"It's spanning all age groups — from young professionals to empty-nesters," she said.
About 9,000 feet of retail space will be included below the village's Park Place condominiums, and developer Jerome Abood, of Lansing-based Abood Properties Inc., said he's received a lot of interest for the space.
"The city has been great to work with, and we've gotten a great response from the community and potential buyers," Abood said.
In December, Abood asked city officials to consider changing the names of two roads in the West Village area to create consistency for future residents. Abood wants Valley and Hillside courts to be known collectively as West Village Circle.
"It would make it so all the units are more of a community and sitting on the same address," Abood said.
Such a request has never been made to the city before, so officials are still deciding on a course of action.
"We have a process of naming new streets, so we're trying to check the law to see what the process is that we would have to follow if we were to rename a street," said Jim van Ravensway, East Lansing's director of planning and community development. "We're also looking at what impact that would be on other property owners, so we want to be cognizant of that."
City Council member Kevin Beard said he has concerns about the impact this name change might have on surrounding neighborhoods and future developments in East Lansing.
"I'm uncomfortable with the idea that we'd set a precedent that developers could expect name changes on streets," Beard said. "I don't think that's something you should do willy-nilly."
