A rendering of the planned Red Cedar development project. COURTESY OF CONTINENTAL/FERGUSON LLC.
After years in the making and seven different development agreements, the Lansing City Council approved the $250 million Red Cedar project during its April 22 meeting.
About 36 acres of a former golf course land along the Michigan Avenue corridor will be transformed into two hotels, a student housing complex with 1,100 beds, a multi-family housing complex, a restaurant and an assisted-living senior village.
Developers Frank Kass and Michigan State Trustee Joel Ferguson began pushing the project through the process of city approvals in 2014. Developers received approval from the Lansing Brownfield Authority in February.
The project site requires a series of infrastructure and environmental improvements, some of which were already planned by the Ingham County Drain Commissioner’s office. The projects in tandem will provide a public boardwalk and park space that connects MSU to the Lansing River Trail.
The project's approval shifts the cost burden of soil restoration and public pathway construction from Ingham County to the developers, Ingham County Drain Commissioner Pat Lindemann said last month.
The Red Cedar Project will be funded in part from tax increment financing, or TIFs. This process will use the increased property tax value from the development to reimburse its investors approximately $50 million over 30 years. The agreement does not require public bonds.
The project's timeline sees some portions of the project plan finishing before others. Two student housing buildings, the restaurant and retail space and the market-rate housing complex plan to be completed by the fall of 2021.
Developers plan for full project completion in July of 2023.
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