Lindsay VanHulle

lvanhulle@lsj.com

LANSING – The family-owned development team that renovated a former department store in downtown Lansing is snatching up more real estate — this time, a long-vacant apartment building several blocks away.

George F. Eyde Family LLC, a company affiliated with Meridian Township developers Eyde Co., plans to buy the former Oliver Towers apartments from the city of Lansing for $1.05 million, Mayor Virg Bernero’s office said Monday.

The purchase agreement reflects the building’s appraised value and has been filed with the city clerk. Lansing City Council will need to approve the property sale, a vote that could happen before the end of the year.

The tentative agreement was not available Monday.

Should the sale go through, Eyde will add a third significant piece of downtown property to its portfolio. It recently completed a $36 million overhaul of the former J.W. Knapp’s Department Store into Knapp’s Centre, a mixed-use building with retail and restaurant space, offices, apartments and a fashion-based small business incubator called The Runway. A grand opening is planned this month.

And, city council last week approved tax incentives for Eyde to redevelop two storefronts on Washington Square, across Washtenaw Street from the Knapp’s building. That $1.5 million project is expected to turn the storefronts at 228 and 232 S. Washington Square — most recently a Hallmark Gold Crown gift store and Capital City Books and Magazines — into ground-floor retail and eight upstairs apartments.

Eyde does not have a development plan for Oliver Towers, nor a cost estimate. The company is considering some kind of mixed use project with retail and offices or apartments, said Mark Clouse, Eyde’s general counsel.

The developer soon will move its offices from Hagadorn Road and Hannah Boulevard in Meridian Township into the Knapp’s building.

“We are excited about it and looking forward to taking another building that is empty and hopefully creating something that will be an addition to the city,” Clouse said Monday. “It’s been a building that we’ve had some interest in, and have worked with the city for a little while now on the property.”

Bob Johnson, Lansing’s planning and neighborhood development director, said Eyde officials have said in early conversations they don’t plan to tear down the building, but rather gut the interior and refurbish the outside.

Eyde will have one year from the sale’s closing date to start the project or the city has the option to rescind the deal, Johnson said.

“In this case here, we have a developer with an undeniable proven track record,” he said. “When they like a market, they don’t just stay with one thing.”

Oliver Towers has been empty since a fire damaged it in 2000. It most recently was the headquarters for the Lansing Housing Commission before the agency moved to Davenport University’s former campus at Kalamazoo and Cherry streets.

In 2011, Bernero’s office was preparing to swap the Oliver Towers property with Davenport so the Grand Rapids-based university could expand its campus there. But Lansing City Council would not set a public hearing to discuss the deal, saying Lansing Community College also should be given an opportunity to buy the site.

The Davenport deal fell through. The university later moved to a new site on Grand Avenue downtown.

LCC had an option to buy the eight-story building in 2012 when it bought an adjacent parking lot. But the option expired in June without a deal. The college offered $500,000 for the building, although demolition would cost about $600,000. The city did not accept the offer.

That came several years after LCC offered $2.52 million in cash for the building without having any specific redevelopment plan in mind.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also holds a nearly $700,000 lien on Oliver Towers through the housing commission.

“The long saga of Oliver Towers is finally coming to a positive conclusion,” Bernero said in a statement. “I am delighted that we have reached an agreement with the Eydes, one of our strongest development partners, who have a sterling track record of delivering high-quality redevelopment projects. After their great success with the Knapp’s Centre, I can’t wait to see their plan to breathe new life into yet another vacant building in Lansing.”

What’s next

A proposed purchase agreement for the former Oliver Towers apartments in downtown Lansing has been filed with the city clerk’s office. The city of Lansing intends to sell the property for $1.05 million to George F. Eyde Family LLC, a company owned by Meridian Township-based developers Eyde Co.

The agreement will be on file for 30 days before Lansing City Council can vote on it. A vote on whether to approve the sale could happen before the end of the year.