“We are definitely continuing to work hard to bring in a great anchor tenant to the City Center space as soon as possible, but there’s nothing specific we can report on regarding a new tenant at this time,” Bailey said.

East Lansing Planning and Community Development Director Tim Dempsey said the city has worked closely with the landlords to find a tenant that would be suitable for the downtown area. He added the property owners mainly are focused on finding a single tenant to lease to, but a multiple tenant situation is possible as well.

Dempsey said there has been some interest in bringing a grocery store to the downtown area, but the size of the storefront — in addition to its two-story plan, which does not fit with many business models — has made it difficult to bring a larger, franchise store to the location.

“It’s too large for a lot of retailers and it’s too small for some of the larger stores,” Dempsey said. “Fitting a Meijer or Kroger into that spot wouldn’t be feasible (and) there aren’t many independent grocery stores around anymore.”

Mayor Pro Tem Nathan Triplett said finding a tenant for the empty storefront remains a priority.
“It’s an anchor space in the downtown and we need to fill it,” Triplett said.

Triplett added he is less concerned about the type of business brought into the location, and more about the activity it would bring to the area.

“One of the great things about Barnes & Noble is that it brought people in to buy books, but they also got food, or coffee or shopped in other (downtown) stores,” he said. “It promoted vitality — (and) I’m not as interested in what specific use we find for that place, but that it adds vitality to
our downtown.”