Although additional green space would be a bonus, residents and students would benefit more from a grocery store and farmer’s market. Especially since a park is included in the first plan and Valley Court Park is at most a 10-minute walk away, there are better uses for the space than a plaza area.

The closest grocery stores are miles from campus and downtown. An affordable store within walking distance could save students from doing their shopping at CVS Pharmacy or having to ride on the bus to a large grocery store such as Kroger or Meijer.

If officials still want to retain permanent residents and make East Lansing a less transient city, building another hotel is not the right step. Although it’s likely the hotel could draw sufficient customers, East Lansing does not need another hotel on top of Kellogg Center and the Marriott at University Place. What we need is more affordable housing for students and lower-income young families, and it’s encouraging that both plans also include apartment space.

Now plans to demolish Spartan Village are moving forward, making living in the city cost-effective is an even greater priority. This is the perfect opportunity to create more student housing or to diversify residents downtown by making apartments accessible for either young professionals or young families.

The options on the table for the most part look promising, but as we learned from the failure of City Center II, even the best laid plans can go awry. Cue Strathmore Development Co., the developer in charge of previous plans to revive the chunk of land.

Strathmore was officially ousted from the job in June 2012, when city council deemed City Center II financially infeasible. But City Center Two Project LLC, which is affiliated with Strathmore, still owns a huge parcel of land planned to be used for the Park District project: the dilapidated building across from Rick’s American Cafe. DTN has been in negotiations with Strathmore Development Co. President Scott Chappelle and others affiliated with the former project for months to buy the land, and has exclusive rights to negotiations until Dec. 11. Unfortunately, those affiliated with the former project have been clinging onto ownership of the property since it went into foreclosure, and just recently redeemed it.

DTN Management Co. President Colin Cronin said he’s confident the parcel of land will be back in DTN’s hands, and East Lansing City Manager George Lahanas said plans for the Park District will move ahead regardless of whether City Center II Project sells the parcel.

But we’re nervous that yet again, Chappelle is holding the property hostage and will play a role in the success or failure of downtown development.

For the success of the project, DTN and the city of East Lansing must do everything in their power to get the property out of Chappelle’s hands.

After years of disappointment and failure, a grocery store and new apartments are exactly what this city needs.