5 Lansing-area development projects to watch

From golf courses to car factories, the Lansing region is home to several sprawling development projects.

General Motors Co. is investing hundreds of dollars at its two local plants to help it build more cars and crossovers. Two former golf courses in the city of Lansing are poised for redevelopment.

And the city of East Lansing hopes to see a mixed-use project at a blighted downtown corner take off.

Below, five local development projects to watch:

• Park District

What it is: Park District Investment Group LLC plans a $92 million development at the corner of Grand River Avenue and Abbot Road. It would include an eight-story building with apartments, retail and 83 hotel rooms for Hotel Indigo, a boutique brand of British hotel chain InterContinental Hotels Group PLC. A second, four-story building on Evergreen Avenue would have retail, offices and apartments. The project includes 273 underground parking spaces.

Lansing Township-based DTN Management Co. withdrew a separate plan to redevelop 2.8 acres of publicly owned property after East Lansing voters rejected a proposal to sell three city-owned parking lots to help DTN build its project.

What's next: East Lansing leaders will hire consultants to review drafts of a development agreement and brownfield plan, as well as examine Park District Investment Group's finances to make sure the project is financially sound and that the city is protected in case the project falls through.

• Red Cedar Renaissance

What it is: At $276 million, it is the largest redevelopment project in Lansing's recent history. Lansing developer Joel Ferguson and Frank Kass, chairman of Columbus, Ohio-based Continental Real Estate Cos., plan to turn the closed Red Cedar Golf Course into a mixed-use complex with retail, restaurants, student housing, townhouses and pathways. The property also would include a full-service Hyatt hotel, the namesake brand of Chicago's Hyatt Hotels Corp. About 22 acres would be preserved as parkland because it lies in the Red Cedar River floodway and can't be developed. Ingham County Drain Commissioner Patrick Lindemann simultaneously will redesign the drain that empties stormwater into the river.

What's next: Lansing City Council approved selling roughly 30 acres of the golf course property in February for $7.1 million. Developers have said the project could break ground in the spring of 2016 and be completed by 2017.

• The Heights at Eastwood

What it is: A $47 million public-private development project north of Eastwood Towne Center in Lansing Township. The project will include hotels, apartments, a parking garage and restaurants near Lake Lansing Road and U.S. 127.

What's next: A $15 million, 128-room Hyatt Place hotel, part of Hyatt Hotels Corp., is expected to open May 8. Its website says the hotel is taking reservations starting June 1. A $10 million, 121-room Fairfield Inn & Suites could open in October, said Steve Hayward, executive director of Lansing Township's Eastwood Downtown Development Authority, which oversees the Heights project. Completion of the Fairfield, a brand of Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott International Inc., has been delayed from its earlier projected summer opening.

Hayward said he expects to receive a building permit for a 109-room Hilton Homewood Suites, an extended-stay hotel from McLean, Virginia-based Hilton Worldwide, by the end of the month. Construction on the hotel could start this spring north of Showtime Drive and west of Towne Center Boulevard, with a tentative opening date in 2017.

In addition, a $17 million apartment building from Lansing Township-based DTN Management Co. — called The Vista at the Heights — could be finished in September or October, rather than April or May, due to construction delays, Hayward said. The building will have 124 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

• Waverly Golf Course

What it is: A Detroit-area development firm and restaurant franchise owner has purchased the closed Waverly Golf Course from the city of Lansing. The 120-acre golf course and adjacent park, at the corner of Saginaw Street and Waverly Road, closed in 2007. City voters approved selling the land in 2012, although it has been slow to attract interest.

What's next: Lansing City Council in September approved selling the property, which is owned by the city but located in Lansing Township, to Schostak Bros. & Co. of Livonia. The company primarily focuses on commercial development in metro Detroit. Its Team Schostak Family Restaurants division operates several restaurant chains, including Burger King and and Applebee's Neighborhood Bar and Grill. Schostak has placed signs advertising the property on the golf course, although it has not said what it plans to do with the land.

• General Motors Co.

What it is: The Detroit automaker is expanding its Lansing-area factories with three new additions — a $44.5 million logistics center to sort and deliver parts to the assembly line and a $174 million stamping plant, both at GM's Lansing Grand River plant; and a $63 million expansion of its Lansing Delta Township assembly plant.

What's next: Construction has finished on the parts logistics center. Its employees now are going through training and testing the process of moving parts to the assembly line, GM spokeswoman Erin Davis said. Both the stamping plant — it will be GM's second local stamping facility, after Lansing Regional Stamping in Delta Township — and the Delta plant expansion are under construction.

GM says the new stamping plant will save the company roughly $14 million annually in logistics costs when it opens in 2016. The Delta plant addition will expand the body and paint shops and general assembly area, as well as install new robotic equipment. It could be finished by the end of the year.