I spent a little more than an hour on the Grand River this week, courtesy of Pat Gillespie and his company, the Gillespie Group. He put a pontoon on the river between Lansing Shuffle and the Lansing Center and gave tours to show the progress, and the potential, of Lansing’s riverfront.
It was part history lesson, from how the dam in Old Town was founded to Ransom E. Olds’ working along the river as he launched the first horseless carriage in the U.S. And a reminder of major changes along the tributary.
I had not been on the river in a couple decades, and it made me think of the transformation of Michigan Avenue. The stretch of Michigan, east from Grand Avenue toward Michigan State University, was in the late 1980s when I moved to the Lansing area generously described as an eyesore. Some 35 years later, the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow campus has grown dramatically, Jackson Field turns 30 this year and block upon block of Michigan Avenue has been redeveloped. Gillespie is this summer renovating the former Lansing City Rescue Mission properties at Michigan and Larch, the most recent overhaul of the area.
The river, between where the Red Cedar joins it north to Old Town has undergone major changes. There are still plenty of opportunities, but workers were installing glass on the Tower on Grand, which sits at the water’s edge and at 28 stories will become Lansing’s tallest building. The stretch on the east side of the river from the Lansing Center north to Lansing Shuffle and Gillespie’s Marketplace Apartments now includes a sand beach, kayak rental and wonderful views and access to the river. Across the river and further north, the Capital Region Community Foundation led efforts to install a playground that comes to the water’s edge at Rotary Park.
The trip reminded me how far efforts to make the river more accessible have come, and how far Lansing has to go to fully embrace the possibilities.
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This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: A trip down the Grand River shows Lansing’s progress
Reporting by Al Wilson, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Al Wilson, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
