The shopping center at the intersection of Holmes and Pleasant Grove has seen businesses come and go: a pharmacy, pizza chain, a grocery store, among others.

It's now home to a catering business, specialty meat store, a hair salon and other business. It has vacancies. It's seen better days.

"The plaza was different back in the day. Today, it looks neglected. It looks old and like somebody hasn’t cared for it," said Rachelle White, owner of Center of the Plate, a catering and events company located in the shopping center. "You want a place where people can go and do things. Right now, the general consensus is it’s not getting us that."

The parking lot of the plaza is highly trafficked. Some people loiter. Cars cutting across the lot to escape red lights has increased the number of pot holes.

But by the end of 2020, a 5,000-square-foot section of that parking lot will be redeveloped into a park-like setting with trees, walkways and and public art that represents the multicultural southwest Lansing community. Organizers are calling it the Town Square.

“This has been a longtime coming,” said White, president of the Southwest Action Group, a non-profit collective of stakeholders working to revitalize southwest Lansing and the group spearheading the development of the Town Square.

“We’re looking at it as — we are setting an example to move the area forward and grow it positively rather than letting it deteriorate.”

Community-developed Town Square

The path to developing the Town Square hasn't been easy.

For many years, the shopping center was owned by a Detroit businessman. A current plaza tenant, Von's Market owner Amarjit Singh, bought it in summer 2018.

When Southwest Action Group sought to buy the 5,080 square feet of land, they discovered the shopping center had multiple liens that were never cleared after a previous tenant, Terranova's Grocery store, sold the property.

White went to the home of the 91-year-old former owner of Terranova's and discovered from his son, who manages his father's trust, that the liens were due to improperly filed paperwork.

"I walked everyone through process of what we needed to do to clear title," White said.

Southwest Action Group raised $6,000 from community donations to buy the land and secured a $80,000 community development block grant to construct and landscape the Town Square.

The group also receiving a $75,000 grant from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing to place public art on the site.

“There was a consensus to create a focal point of interest that would beautify the area and make a statement about the area: We’re not just a poor backwater of Lansing, but we have something special,” said David Wiener, board treasurer of the South Side Community Coalition.

Southwest Action Group held several community meetings to receive feedback on what the artwork should look like.

What resulted was a design consisting of four different 6-foot-wide,12-foot-tall panels made of stainless steel and Corten, a steel that ages with a burnt orange tint.

Each panel shows four images: A face looking up into the cosmos to represent those in southwest Lansing who generate ideas or plans; a large hand and a small hand to represent family; three cogs to represent industry and perseverance; and a tree to represent those with roots in southwest Lansing.

At least eight languages will be featured on the artwork.

“These conversations are driven by the community. The decisions are made by the community. People like me are helping to facilitate,” said City Councilmember Adam Hussain, who represents southwest Lansing.

“People are rolling up their sleeves to say let’s be part of the solution," he added. "That’s beautiful to be a part of.”

Attracting new businesses

Southwest Action Group's community-minded approach to building the Town Square is what attracted the 517 Coffee Co.

The local coffee producer will open its first brick-and-mortar store in a 3,500-square-foot space that once housed a dance studio.

“We have a passion about Lansing in general, but we live in south Lansing. We wanted to be where we live,” said James Defrees, a co-owner of the 517 Coffee Co. “We also like the community-driven aspect of what’s happening. It’s not a developer driving these changes. It’s the community doing that.”

The city must approve the company’s design plans, which will also include a meeting space.

“We want to connect with the community and have them help us decide how to serve them,” said James Defrees, a co-owner of the 517 Coffee Co.

Defrees and his three business partners started the company as a mobile café at farmers markets in 2014.

They eventually secured a commercial roasting facility in south Lansing and sell their bagged coffee to retailers and coffee shops across the Lansing metro area.

The coffee shop may be joined by new restaurants. Southwest Action Group has been working with the Lansing Economic Area Partnership to fill other vacant buildings in the shopping center.

“We have been contacted by folks that want to start businesses within the plaza,” said Kris Klein, an economic development specialist at LEAP. “We are looking at how we can assist them and seeing if they need resources to start their businesses.”

Sparking change in southwest Lansing

The city of Lansing has also been helping business owners who operate in the plaza.

In 2017, Revan Herfy applied for a façade grant offered by the city for business owners. He then worked with the city to redesign his specialty meat store, 1910 Food Market.

Prior to the renovation, 1910 Food Market only had one door and looked like an outdated house no one could find, Herfy said. He added new signage, plantings and modernized the store’s exterior

“I want to set a trend for other places around me to do the same thing we’re doing,” Herfy said. “Everybody has to do more.”

Southwest Action Group is also encouraging other business owners in the plaza to obtain grants to update their facades.

“This is literally a grassroots approach we’re taking within the area,” said White. “We think some of things we’re doing will push the community in that direction and will have a snowball effect.”

Contact Kristan Obeng at KObeng@lsj.com or 517-267-1344. Follow her on Twitter @KrissyObeng.

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