“(College Park Abbott Place) is all about the incentives,” said Danielle Barnes, leasing manager for Abbott Place. “We’re offering Visa gift cards for everyone who signs a lease and even $15 gas cards, which is a first for us and very unusual.”

Currently the alternate route leads drivers left on Lake Lansing Road, right on Coolidge Road, right on Coleman Road, and continuing right until the detour eventually winds through the apartments to return to the northbound lane.

The southbound lane of Abbot/Chandler is still open to traffic, and by the end of the year will be part of a four-lane road with medians and pedestrian pathways. The budget for the project is about $2.93 million, and should be completed by mid-October 2008.

Abbott Place plays off the extensive detour since northbound Abbot Road closed in January.

The complex’s campaign, “Take a tour with the detour,” encourages prospective residents to stop by the apartments on their way to see what they have to offer, said Barnes.

But residents may not find a detour so useful.

“I hate it,” no-preference sophomore Kelsey Gay said. “My apartment is really close to where the road is blocked off, but I end up driving a long way around the complexes to get to my parking space.”

Though the current number of lessees at Abbott Place is not far behind last year, Barnes said it is a continuous process of marketing to the right people to ensure apartments get filled, construction or not.

Marketing has been easier for The Beaumont apartments recently, as the Abbot/Chandler detour leads cars directly past the buildings, which opened in October, said Megan Brooks, leasing consultant for the complex.

“Our business has had a huge increase, probably because before the detour people didn’t know we were here,” she said.

“Now they know we’re giving them another option.”

Alternate routes may not be needed as long as predicted.

Jack Schineman, engineering technician for the city of East Lansing, said construction plans are ahead of schedule, and will possibly finish in October rather than November.

Drivers traveling on Abbot Road and local apartment-dwellers will still encounter detours and roadwork into the fall, but Schineman said apartment residents’ convenience has been in mind since the project started.

“We’re trying to keep traffic from apartments to campus or work sites as quick as possible,” said Schineman. “They can take a little more time getting home.”