Historic Lansing Train Station Will Be Converted to Mixed Use

If you have ever dined at Clara’s Restaurant in downtown Lansing, you know the place we are writing about. This 113 year old former train station is in the process of being redeveloped, if a brownfield redevelopment plan is approved according to the Lansing Mayor's office. This facility is in a prime downtown location only blocks from our state capital. As with many downtown redevelopments, the Gillespie Group is working on the project.

MLive reports

“The redevelopment of the train station on the Michigan Avenue Corridor will be the latest project to further revitalize the Stadium District in downtown Lansing,” Mayor Andy Schor said in a statement. Recent development in the area includes the opening of the Capital City Market and the Courtyard by Marriott hotel. “The repurposing of this now vacant building will help create an even more vibrant Michigan Avenue, while still allowing residents to enjoy its historic charm,” Schor said.

For more than a decade the Gillespie Group has been actively investing and redeveloping downtown Lansing, and they have asked the city and the Lansing Brownfield Redevelopment authority to amend their plan to also include this historic train station.

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The Brownfield Authority amended the plan last Friday, and the Mayor submitted it to the Lansing City Council. Brownfield projects are funded by capturing new property taxes which are generated by private investment, this is how they recapture their costs of cleaning up and repurposing these sites. Now it’s up to the city council to make the next move.

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