Lansing Mayor Andy Schor announced Tuesday that the city will lease the former Lansing City Market building to a Detroit-based development company with plans to turn the site into the Lansing Shuffleboard & Social Club.
“Using our riverfront is so important in showing the excitement of Lansing, and the City Market area, adjacent to the wildly popular Rotary Park, is one of the best riverfront properties in the city. I am excited for Detroit Rising Development to redevelop the building to bring a variety of new food options, as well as entertainment,” Schor said in a release.
Formerly as the Lansing City Market, the building once housed a restaurant and farmers market.
"It brings all sorts of different food vendors that will be there, that's the plan," Lansing Communications Manager Valerie Marchand said. "And also entertainment, community events, things like that. It'll activate that area right by Rotary Park."
The development company is Detroit Rising Development (DRD), a real estate development and construction company based in the Motor City. DRD said in a release that the projected opening is likely to not be until Spring or Summer of 2022 with construction beginning in 2021.
"We are really excited about this opportunity to bring our creativity and our passion to the City of Lansing," DRD Founder Jon Hartzell said in the release. "Our intention is to transform the existing market into something more vibrant, more active, and more welcoming to all of Lansing's diverse residents and visitors."
This project is the first the DRD has outside of the Metro Detroit area.
DRD has yet to finalize financing for the project, per the release. City officials said in the release that it will include requesting loans from both the Lansing Economic Development Corporation and the Lansing Brownsfield Redevelopment Authority.
Both loan requests will go before the LEDC and LBRA Boards in October or November for approval, the release said. Kirstie Hardy, a development project manager for DRD, said that the expected cost is roughly $3 million at this time.
“This is our first branch out and we were really drawn to Lansing because of all the re-investment that's happened in the riverfront in the last couple of years,” Hardy said.
In February, the city, prior to closing the location altogether, announced that it was planning to rent the space out by the hour until it could find a more permanent occupant.
“I have continuously said that my priorities for repurposing the former City Market building include activating the space, ensuring that it is a lasting activation and not needing a yearly subsidy from the City," Schor said in the release. "This project meets all of those conditions and will be a great reuse of the space."
Support student media!
Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
Discussion
Share and discuss “Lansing City Market to become 'Lansing Shuffleboard & Social Club,' Mayor Andy Schor announces ” on social media.
