Some business owners in East Lansing say that’s partly thanks to high rents making the notion of opening up a business close to campus a risky one.

Since downtown East Lansing is such a densely populated area, leasing out commercial buildings is more expensive than if you were to lease out a building on the outskirts of the city or a neighboring city like Okemos.

Tarek Chawich, who owns Chateau Coffee Co., said he experienced the difference in pricing when opening up his third shop on M.A.C. Avenue in downtown East Lansing. He attributes the higher rent to scaring away business owners from the central location, even if it provides a steady stream of customers during the school year.

“One of the big fear factors that I think people have when going in on Grand River and downtown Michigan State is that the rent is a higher price per square foot just because of it being in East Lansing,” Chawich said. “There are a lot of students, and the area is super busy, but they still have to think about how the rent is inflated for that reason.”

Rent prices in East Lansing vary depending on the type of structure, when it was built, the location and the size. Most commonly, leasing a building near campus will cost between $20-$35 per square foot as opposed to buildings outside of downtown that have seen rates around $12 per square foot.

“Most landlords are pretty firm on the rent here as well due to the location,” Chawich said. “With our East Lansing location, we pretty much just had to take the price that we were given.”

Another major challenge that some business owners have run into has been the parking situation in East Lansing. Street parking is extremely limited, and the vast majority of people are required to pay for parking in parking garages. Carson Patten, the vice president and retail advisor at Martin Commercial Properties, cites the parking as a reason some may choose to go elsewhere. 

“Parking is always a challenge you have to work through in East Lansing,” Patten said. “If there is not a nearby parking garage, that can be a deterrent, and some of these groups that want to be in the heart of East Lansing understand that.”

With the East Lansing consumer base primarily being students, business owners have to keep the demographic they are attracting in mind. Students often leave school and return to their hometowns for breaks and also may not have as much spending money as older shoppers.

Better aged vintage owner, Austyn Daggett, took this into account when opening his store on Grand River Avenue.

“College students only have so much money,” Daggett said. “You have to take into account that they will pick and choose what they spend their money on. The slower season also plays a big part in everything, in general East Lansing is not a spot you are going to visit for vacation or frequent if you don’t live here or aren’t associated with the school. It’s a college town, and other than that, there is not really much going on. It is something that we think about.”

Even with the struggles that an East Lansing summer can bring to a business, Chawich says that it is something he is prepared for.

“I think that businesses have to plan for the summer months, and you can assume that would be a loss for them anyway,” Chawich said. “We would be cutting down on labor and hours in the summer to adjust for there not being many students here in the summer.”