Former Lansing gas station may get new life

Ken Palmer
Lansing State Journal
April 27, 2013

Former Lansing gas station may get new life

Offices, apartments sought for corner of Michigan, Larch


A Lansing City Council committee is mulling a rezoning request for a long-vacant parcel owned by the Ingham County Land Bank at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Larch Street.

Studio Intrigue Architects, which asked for the rezoning on behalf of the land bank, is proposing a three-story building with retail and residential space for the site of the former gas station and car wash across from the Stadium District.

Developer Pat Gillespie has an option to buy the property, which fell to the land bank in a tax foreclosure action in 2011.

In December, the Lansing planning board voted to recommend the property be rezoned from light industrial to a G-1 business designation, but the request didn’t make it to council’s development and planning committee until earlier this month.

Studio Intrigue showed sketches for a three-story building on the gas station site, with retail or commercial space on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors, during the committee’s April 17 meeting.

Committee members tabled a resolution to set a public hearing on the rezoning for at least two weeks amid concerns about how soon the project might happen once it’s been approved

They asked for timelines for developing the parcel and two other projects involving Gillespie — the Marketplace development near Cedar and Shiawassee streets and the former Silver Dollar Saloon site on East Michigan Avenue.

The Marketplace project, for example, was approved more than four years ago. The committee wants to know why it hasn’t gone forward, said Councilman Brian Jeffries, who chairs the committee.

“We’re getting absolutely no tax revenue from it, and we want to get this site redeveloped as quickly as possible,” Jeffries said. “We want to make sure all of the these developments are moving forward. All we’re asking them to do is put some timelines on it and give us some more information.”

The G-1 business zoning has minimal parking requirements and is better suited to a mixed-use project like the one proposed. It’s also consistent with master plans for the area, city officials said.