Alexander Alusheff

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING - A Chicago developer has lowered the height of the two high-rise buildings it hopes to bring to the heart of downtown East Lansing.

Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors is now proposing to construct a 10-story building at City Lot 1 off Albert Street, which will have one level of retail, four levels of parking and five levels of housing for people 55 and older.

The building was originally planned for 12-stories, which some residents and business owners said dwarfed the buildings around it. The nearby Residences building that houses HopCat is eight stories.

The height of a 12-story apartment building planned for the 100 block of West Grand River Avenue also has been lowered from 140 feet to 131.7 feet.

The massive scale of the project was among the reasons why the East Lansing Planning Commission failed to recommend its approval to the City Council last month. The vote was 4-4.

"We don't want to have a negative impact on East Lansing," said Greg Ballein, of Ballein Management, a partner in the project.

RELATED:

Center City project splits East Lansing planning commission

$154M East Lansing Park District project is on again

Target plans to open in downtown East Lansing

Because of the changes, the developers did not ask the City Council to approve the site plan or the $52-million brownfield plan during Tuesday night's meeting. The council still hosted a public hearing, which drew both support and opposition from residents and business owners, but it did not vote on the project.

Council members voted to defer action on the project until its June 13 meeting, when it will host another round of public hearings.

A new site plan and brownfield plan will have to be submitted to the city. It was not clear when those plans would be ready, said Mark Bell, CEO of Harbor Bay, during a community forum he hosted on the project at Lotsa Pizza in downtown East Lansing on Monday.

The $132-million cost of the project might also change as well.

The forum drew dozens of residents, who had the chance to learn more about the project and speak directly with Bell and the Ballein family

"I'm not completely sold," said resident Sylvia Morse, who has lived in East Lansing for 26 years. "It seems like a huge mass in the middle of East Lansing."

Morse said the project has the potential to be a good change for the city, which she believes has become unattractive with vacant buildings and fewer businesses that cater to a non-student clientele.

"Something needs to happen," she said. "It's long overdue."

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