Alexander Alusheff

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING – A Costco retail warehouse is on track to open in East Lansing sometime next fall.

The East Lansing Planning Commission approved site plans on Wednesday for the $30 million, 157,000 square-foot facility to be built at 5800 Park Lake Road between Saginaw Street and Haslett Road.

“Costco is known as having the highest starting salary in the retail industry,” said Tim Dempsey, the city’s planning, building and development director. “Having a retailer with good paying jobs is a benefit to the surrounding community.”

The members-only warehouse would include a tire center and free-standing gas station with 24 spots to fuel up along with a parking lot that could accommodate 750 vehicles. It would employ up to 150 people, Dempsey said.

Four Winds Golf Course closed in 2001. It has been the intended site of two failed redevelopment projects since then.

In 2003, the 64-acre property was approved for a multifamily apartment complex that would include 400 units between 18, three-story buildings. In 2006, eight, five-story buildings were proposed on the site to accommodate 170 apartments.

"For the last 15 years, that property has sat undeveloped," Dempsey said.

Costco is being developed by Theodore Johnson of Oak Brook, Illinois-based TJ Design Strategies.

Dempsey said the site plan will go before East Lansing City Council on Dec. 6 for final approval. TJ Design Strategies is asking for $1.8 million in brownfield reimbursement, where it would recapture 75% of its property taxes for 15 years, Dempsey said. The reimbursement is for grading the land and road improvements on Park Lake Road, he said.

The developer still needs permits from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Michigan Department of Transportation, Ingham County Road Commission and Ingham County Drain Commissioner before construction can begin.

Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2017.

Alexander Alusheff is a reporter at the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at (517) 388-5973 or aalusheff@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexalusheff.