“We’ve had continuing ongoing discussions with the small handful of large property owners, because if we don’t get the large property owners, we don’t have a prayer,” he said.

Properties in the East Village area include Cedar Village Apartments, fraternity houses, several businesses and other residences.

In order to acquire the land, The Pierce Company has offered property owners three ways to participate in the project: They can sell their land to The Pierce Company for an inflated price, become an investor in the project, or essentially lease their land to The Pierce Company.

The Pierce Company is optimistic that these financial options are sufficient, but if they aren’t, it will find another way to acquire the properties, said Theresa Nakata, The Pierce Company’s vice president for marketing and communications.

“We’re going to keep negotiating until hopefully we can satisfy whatever (the property owners’) needs are,” she said.

While Nakata said preliminary discussions have been successful, at least three property owners in the area have expressed concern with The Pierce Company’s efforts — one of them being FarmHouse Fraternity, 151 Bogue St.

Nakata said The Pierce Company had a productive conversation with FarmHouse regarding the property acquisition about three months ago, but George Quackenbush, a member of the FarmHouse Alumni Association, said the fraternity would prefer to redevelop its property independently.

“We appreciate our proximity to campus,” Quackenbush said. “That’s something that’s very important and a benefit to us and our members.”

Employees at Georgio’s Gourmet Pizzeria II, 1010 East Grand River Ave., which is included in the East Village boundaries, said the restaurant has been contacted by The Pierce Company, but wouldn’t comment further.

Joe Maguire, president of Wolverine Development Corp. which owns the McDonald’s restaurant in the East Village area, said he’s concerned with past attempts by the city to declare the area blighted, which might give the city legal grounds to employ eminent domain.

“I’m not critical of the project, I’m critical of the way it’s been pushed by the city which is really through their own initiative to declare the area blighted,” Maguire said. “I have no problem with entertaining offers on our property. We’re not actively looking to sell our land because it’s a great property for us.”

Colin Cronin, area director of student properties for DTN Management Co., which owns many rental properties in East Lansing, including Cedar Village Apartments, didn’t return multiple calls from The State News.

The East Village project was originally bounded by Hagadorn Road on the east side. In April, Prime Housing Group President Nancy Kurdziel released a statement that said the company would maintain ownership of its seven properties between Stoddard Avenue and Hagadorn Road, and redevelop them independently when they felt the time was right. After her refusal to sell her properties, East Village was reduced, bounded by Stoddard Avenue on the east side.

Prime Housing Group-owned properties include Cedarbrook, Norwood and Stoddard Apartments.

“We have never been anti-development and we are looking forward to working with the city to make our properties an exciting part of the overall East Lansing experience,” Kurdziel said. “However, we believe that we have the right to move forward on our own without being pressured into a project promoted by the city or another developer.”