EAST LANSING — East Lansing City Council will soon vote on a $90 million mixed-use project that would sit at 530 Albert Ave., right behind the well-known Peanut Barrel, and both councilmembers and residents remain unabashedly uncommitted.
Both parties have mentioned how developer Cody Dietrich of Minnesota-based Tareen Development Partners has been accommodating and amenable to their concerns.
But there is hesitation due to parking issues.
Councilmember Mark Meadows has warned that he’s not sure how he’s feeling about the 13-story project’s height and he’s unlikely to approve the project without certain agreements in place.
“I’m probably not going to vote yes on this unless we have a contract with the city associated with this with regard to the parking and control of the parking structure if it is built and also a proposed contract with the city with regard to the other parking spaces that you’re going to be leasing,” councilmember Meadows said during a March 17 meeting. “I want this property, this location, to be functional and a positive thing within the community.”
Dietrich needs four of five City Council members to approve his special use request to build 13 stories of commercial space and more than 200 new apartments primarily for Michigan States University students in downtown East Lansing at the Albert Avenue site.
Neighboring business owners have expressed parking concerns considering 530 Albert Ave. is one of the last large surface lots in the city.
Dietrich’s project would replace a lot of 86 parking spaces with 83 parking stalls on two levels of parking for downtown visitors. Residents, however, would have to purchase parking passes for offsite ramps or commuter lots.
Pros and cons
Al Bay has spent more than 40 years on Albert Avenue, first as a Michigan State University student, then as a property owner and now as the proprietor of the Wild Goose Inn that opened more than 20 years ago next to the proposed 530 Albert Ave. build site. He has been communicating his concerns with Dietrich.
“I started looking at his two-story parking garage, which is adjacent to my building, as a two-story privacy wall,” Bay said with a laugh. “I do appreciate that the building doesn’t then go up directly there. It then sets back and then goes up. I mean I won’t see the sun rise again but I chose to be in a downtown. There are some benefits absolutely and there are some negatives.”
He helped defeat a developer’s 2023 plans to convert 530 Albert Ave. – a less than an acre parcel with a $1.9 million land value, according to online county records – into a five-story mixed-use building with more than 100 apartments because it had no parking provisions.
If Dietrich’s project is built, with construction possibly starting by the fall and finishing by August 2028, Bay envisions residents walking blocks with their groceries or parking on Albert Avenue to take up their groceries before returning outdoors to park their vehicles.
“I think we have a developer that is willing to work with the city, and I would hope that the city would take full advantage of that and take advantage of the opportunity to provide more parking,” Bay said. “I don’t want to see it approved in its current configuration. I’d like to see them work with this developer to come to a better solution.
“The need is there. There is no question. We will never have another less expensive opportunity to add more parking than we have right there.”
Whether it’s too late for better parking solutions is up in the air, and Bay said he’d prefer Dietrich’s project rather than risk another proposal.
Council is scheduled to vote on the special use request on April 7, and Dietrich made it clear at the March 17 council session that he is doing what he can.
“The parking is a burden on us. It’s going to put us in the hole,” he told councilmembers before his request was tabled. “But we were committed to do that for the neighboring business owners. It’s actually really disheartening that some of them have changed their tune.”
‘Parking is a money loser’
Mayor Erik Altmann emphasized during the March 17 meeting that “parking is a money loser.”
“It’s not obvious to the community because they pay for parking,” Altmann said. “Nobody realizes that the amount they pay for parking is a fraction of the cost of the parking, because the rest will get subsidized from some other source. A critical aspect of this proposal is that you are using the extra height to pay for the parking that the business owners asked for.
“Can you put numbers on that that are good enough for us in the community to understand the tradeoff here? I’m thinking ahead to our next meeting and can you potentially generate a memo that puts some numbers on this to help us and help the community understand what it means to say you’re using the extra height to pay for the parking?”
Dietrich said during the meeting he could provide the answer. He did not respond to the State Journal’s calls and messages for comment.
He has been working with neighbors, businesses owners, city officials and other stakeholders to build the project that would include 236 one-, two- and three-bedroom units with amenities geared toward MSU students and young professionals.
Dietrich had said his project could relieve a lot of pressures on the local housing market that could also have some import throughout the region. He’s considering monthly rents of about $1,500 for a studio, $2,500 for one-bedroom units, in the low $3,000 range for two-bedroom units and in the low $4,000 range for a three-bedroom unit.
There would be flex workspace, a fitness center, indoor pool and spa, basketball court, bike workshop and storage, grilling stations, outdoor fire pits, a pet spa and ground floor coffee shop.
Mayor Pro Tem Chuck Grigsby said he’s open to downtown development if it’s the right fit.
“This is definitely something I’m really considering but it’s something I really need to understand,” he said.
Altmann, despite his parking concerns, said that he’s worried about the future if council rejects another proposal for 530 Albert Ave.
Council rejected the 2023 proposal and, if it turns down Dietrich’s proposal, Altmann is concerned the next developer will submit a less attractive proposal of eight stories with fewer nice touches like parking.
“The next project that comes in, the third attempt, will make no one happy,” he said, adding a concern that the 530 Albert Ave. owner – who is listed as Fabian Enterprises LLC in county records – also might one day accuse the city of not letting it develop 530 Albert Ave.
Until March 27, state records associated Fabian Enterprises LLC with East Lansing resident Denise Campbell, who did not respond to requests for comment. The new representative is Frederick Fabian III of Royal Oak, who could not be reached for comment.
Contact editor Susan Vela at svela@lsj.com or 248-873-7044. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: East Lansing City Council to vote on $90 million downtown development
Reporting by Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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