Downtown development: Developers looking for repeat success

The view to the North from the Stadium District building is the Cooley Law School Stadium, home of the Lansing Lugnuts. The Gillespie Group announced a similar project in Midland across from Dow Diamond. The view to the North from the Stadium District building is the Cooley Law School Stadium, home of the Lansing Lugnuts. The Gillespie Group announced a similar project in Midland across from Dow Diamond. Photo: NEIL BLAKE | Nblake@mdn.net Photo: NEIL BLAKE | Nblake@mdn.net Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Downtown development: Developers looking for repeat success 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A building that helped revitalize Lansing's downtown could be replicated in Midland on an even larger scale. The developers are working to secure funding, receive a state Brownfield Redevelopment tax credit and build connections in Midland to ensure its success.

Gillespie Group, an East Lansing-based development company, built a residential, office and retail building across the street from what's now the Cooley Law School Stadium, home of the Lansing Lugnuts. The Lansing Stadium District project sparked a revitalization that stretched into downtown Lansing, filling vacant storefronts.

Now, Gillespie Group is teaming with Caddis Development Group on the Midland Downtown Stadium District, which would bring a four-story, 230,265-square-foot office and retail center to the old McKay Press property at 215 State St., across from Dow Diamond.

The parallels between the projects haven't been lost on any of the people involved. Both are near an established downtown district. Both are across the street from a minor league baseball stadium. Both are meant to be a catalyst for change, bringing office employees into the district during the day and visitors at night. And both are Brownfield sites requiring cleanup of past contamination in order to build.

"This is a model that worked for us in Lansing and it's what attracted us to Midland," Gillespie Group President Patrick Gillespie said recently while sitting inside the Lansing Stadium District building. "We're actually looking at other communities that have minor league stadiums because this has been so successful. We'd like to, I guess, not reinvent the wheel, but look at what we did here, learn from our mistakes and do it in Midland. The one in Midland is supposed to be two and half times the size of this one."

Restoring urban sites presents challenges because pollution must be cleaned up before construction can begin. One of the biggest challenges is paying for that cleanup.

"That's why we've applied for the environmental grants and state Brownfield assistance we're going after right now," he said. "You have to spend all that just to make the site buildable and that's a challenge, but I think everyone will agree this urban shift is green. You're not using up more land, you're tying into existing streets and infrastructure that's already there, you're putting people into downtown so they're probably closer to other services. That shift is going on, you can feel it. We're feeling it in Lansing, and it's growing."

While the potential tenants for the Midland location are not being named, Gillespie said they hope to attract businesses that would appeal to professionals and young adults who live and work downtown.

"We don't want to duplicate anything that's there, but complement," he said. "We'd love to have a piano bar, we'd love to have a sports bar, a coffee shop or Panera-type shop. That type of product."

Kevin McGraw, president of Caddis Development, said building excitement locally is critical to the plan.

"We try to figure what the needs and desires of the community are, weigh that with what makes sense in this climate and economic environment, and try to generate support for that," McGraw said. "In the end, it's not our project. It's a project that's had a lot of input from a lot of stakeholders that includes government and community leaders."

Part of the mission is to add vitality to downtown Midland, which gained traction with the H Hotel renovations and Dow Diamond construction.

"I don't see this as a new project; I see this as the continuation of what's already started there," McGraw said. "We're going to create a live, work and play environment that revitalizes not just the stadium district, but the entire downtown. That's going to have far-reaching positive implications throughout the city."

That is exactly what one young Midland resident says he and his friends want.

Jason Singer, 19, envisions a place he could go to at night to enjoy music and spend time with friends.

"I always go to Detroit or Grand Rapids or even Mount Pleasant to hear stuff or see stuff or do stuff," Singer said. "It'd be nice not to have to spend the money on gas to do good stuff."

The lack of cities with the right appeal is one of the reasons state officials say young people leave Michigan.

"I've thought about moving to Nashville or Grand Rapids or Austin," Singer said. "It seems like there's a lot more opportunities, more entertainment, more to options for people my age. Midland is more, I don't want to be offensive, but it's more an old person's town."

The Great Lakes Loons did offer the community a giant step forward in entertainment options.

Paul Barbeau, president and general manager of the Loons, said the Michigan Baseball Foundation hoped the Loons would be a catalyst for projects like the proposed building across the street. The foundation has gone as far as lending the developers office space at Dow Diamond as they work on the project.

"We're excited about the development team that has come together to do this proposed (project)," Barbeau said. "They have great expertise, track record and vision. They want to do more than just build a building, but build something that would be transformational for downtown."

The new building would serve as a connection between the stadium on one end of the district and the rest of downtown, creating a whole block's worth of new storefronts. Barbeau said having more restaurants and retail next to the baseball diamond will complement the downtown businesses.

"Part of what I get excited about is as you put more people into downtown, you start to establish a critical mass that gets other developers interested in things," he said. "I think it helps existing operators downtown, but also encourages more new things as well."

Lansing leaders saw this firsthand after Gillespie's Lansing Stadium District building opened across from the Lugnuts' stadium.

"It's definitely enhanced the retail sector near the development. It has helped us recruit and bring in new businesses to downtown," Lansing Economic Development Corp. CEO Bob Trezise said.

Trezise, who is familiar with downtown Midland because he was on the team that picked Midland to be a part of the Michigan Main Street Program, said this type of development would benefit the city.

"It's going to be good for Midland," he said.

One of the tenants in Gillespie's building in Lansing is the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau, which now benefits from all of the foot traffic from people heading to Lugnuts games and nearby restaurants.

Julie Pingston, senior vice president of the bureau, said the mix of tenants interact with each other, creating a network for referrals that wouldn't exist without the building itself. The project created the Stadium District of Lansing, a name that's taken hold with the public.

"It's nice that this is a dynamic, impressive building that really welcomes people and shows there's vitality in our community," Pingston said. "I know it used to be a parking lot, which wasn't as welcoming or engaging a facility to have."

Scott Walker, CEO of local economic development group Midland Tomorrow, hopes a similar feeling can be created in Midland.

"It's an extension of what the community had hoped for when the minor league ball diamond was first contemplated -- that there would be new development that would occur based on that ball diamond," he said.

When retailers left downtown Midland for the mall area, the downtown became stressed, Walker said. He said the office building now occupied by Chemical Bank was built to bring people back downtown so the district could grow again.

"This project grows on that," he said. "Having 200 to 300 additional people working downtown adds critical mass to allow downtown to continue to grow."

The project is not yet a sure thing. The developers are seeking Brownfield credits from the state, which would help cover the cost of the cleanup. They were given expedited support from the City of Midland to qualify at the state level in time before funding before the program ends. But the hurdles to completion go beyond that.

"It's contingent on several things," McGraw said. "It's contingent on finding acceptable and viable anchor tenants, adequate economic incentives and financing."

The pair hope the pieces fall into place and Midland can be their next success story, not just for their sake, but the community's as well.