Ballein has proposed replacing the site with a mixed-use project called The Howard, which would include student housing and retail.

At a July 9 Planning Commission meeting, commissioners discussed the project in relation to the city’s Downtown Diverse Housing Requirement and debated a possible “fee-in-lieu” option, allowing developers to pay into a city fund rather than building affordable units directly.

East Lansing adopted the Downtown Diverse Housing Requirement in 2016, mandating that 25 percent of new downtown units be affordable to low- and moderate-income residents.

Ballein has supported the fee-in-lieu option, which would allow developers to avoid building units directly while still contributing financially toward the city’s housing goals.

At the City Council’s July 15 meeting, Ballein’s attorney said redeveloping the Student Book Store site into The Howard could generate nearly $58 million in city revenue over 20 years, compared with about $2.7 million if the site remains as is.

While city officials weigh potential economic benefits, the closures are already affecting those who frequented the corner.

Starbucks store manager Cody Seelye said he is sad to see the store close but noted a new Starbucks will open next to Trader Joe’s in Okemos.

“We’re treating it like a relocation and not so much as a closure,” Seelye said.

The East Lansing Starbucks opened in 1999 as part of NBA legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s partnership with the company.

A year earlier, Johnson entered a 50–50 venture with Starbucks called Urban Coffee Opportunities, which aimed to bring stores into underserved communities across the U.S. The partnership opened more than 100 locations in neighborhoods such as Harlem, Bronzeville and the Crenshaw District. Johnson sold his remaining stake in 2010.

“The amount of time it’s been here since 1999, there’s been generations of MSU students that have visited the store,” Seelye said. “Last summer, we had an impromptu wedding in our café where they exchanged vows, and it’s just touching to be part of a community where stuff like that can happen.”

The closure is being felt by students and alumni who made the Starbucks a daily stop.

Emily Briko, a former MSU dancer, recent graduate and now an assistant coach for the MSU dance team, said she will miss the memories made at the Starbucks, where she stopped almost daily as a student. Before games, coffee runs had become a team ritual.

Like Briko, sophomore advertising management major Ava Ferry said she was upset to hear about the closure.

For many students, losing the café means adjusting routines, from grabbing morning coffee to finding a quiet study spot.

“The closest one (Starbucks) is the drive-through down the road and not everyone has cars or wants to walk all the way down there, and this was such a convenient location” Ferry said. “I also think it’ll make the library a lot more busy too.”

For more than two decades, the Starbucks was more than a café. It was a landmark where students, residents and alumni came together.

Its legacy, tied to Magic Johnson’s vision for urban communities, lived on in the daily routines and small moments that turned the corner into a campus gathering spot. Seelye said he will miss being part of that history.

“Magic Johnson opened this back in the day and it was just cool to be a part of that history and I guess for me it seems to be the bookends of this chapter,” Seelye said.

As one era of the corner comes to a close, another is set to begin. The redevelopment proposal for The Howard could reshape downtown East Lansing with new housing and retail. Still, for many, the Starbucks will be remembered less for what it sold than for the role it played as a landmark of community and routine.