By Rob South, WKAR
Lansing, MI –
Reigniting an Icon - WKAR NewsRoom reports on the Ottawa Street Power Station -- one of Lansing's most storied and recognizable buildings.
This story originally aired Apr. 21, 2006
As you approach the stainless steel and copper-trimmed front door at the Ottawa Street Power Station, you get a sense you are about to walk into some place powerful: lightning bolts in the transom tell the building's history in art deco simplicity.
When the doors open, it's a jarring reminder that this is a problematic building. Inside, the power station is as brash as the alarms that protect it. Holes in the walls and ceiling reveal wiring conduit and plumbing. It's clear that a little cleaning and a few utility upgrades won't help the building's marketability. But the building's location -- downtown on the riverfront and directly across from the Lansing Center -- makes it prime for redeveloping, according to city officials. Redeveloping the riverfront is one of Lansing mayor Virg Bernero's most-hyped goals, and current city officials believe in the plant like never before.
Bob Tresize is the city's director of economic development. He says there is a boom in redevelopment of obsolete industrial facilities around the state.
"I've seen a huge paper mill in Alpena completely redeveloped by a developer from Chicago; I've seen a developer come in from New York and redevelop a massive plant/warehouse in Muskegon; I've seen these huge buildings in Grand Rapids, in Detroit, in Traverse City, Marquette, that are being reclaimed for mixed use."
Dedicated in 1940, the Ottawa Street Power Station's art deco exterior was celebrated on the covers of architectural and utility trade magazines. Its black granite base supports a visual representation in brick of layers of dark burning coal rising to a flame that shimmers with alternating red, yellow, and orange at the top.
John Strickler is a spokesman for the Board of Water and Light.
"It's really been a landmark of downtown Lansing ever since the 1940's and still I think is thought of as a landmark in downtown Lansing. In my opinion, if you think of two landmarks in Lansing: the capitol, and this building the Ottawa Station." So it's no wonder that so much time, energy, and money have been spent on preserving the building since its generator shut down in the early 1990s.
But if the building is to stay standing, it needs a tenant. Strickler says in the eleven years it has been on the market, countless frivolous ideas have been floated for the space, and only three or four that had any promise.
"Everybody sees the potential of this building: the problem has been finding somebody that wants to put out the 50-60 million dollars it will take, with no guaranteed revenue stream in return."
As we walk into the heart of the Ottawa Street Power Station where its five ten-story boilers once stood, it's easy to see why it would cost that much money. The BWL took the boilers out years ago, and all that's left are rustic catwalks, stairs to nowhere, and two industrial cranes once used to maintain the three thirty mega-watt turbines. For the most part, it's dark and dirty. There is virtually no usable interior structure.
But after a dozen years of broken promises, city officials say the Board of Water and Light's Ottawa Street Power Station is on the verge of a renaissance. A steering committee has been established to guide a new call for developers to make the building live again.
Bob Tresize says property adjacent to the power station is also available for redevelopment for the first time in years.
"Maybe that makes it more attractive if you look at it as a package deal. More importantly than just the properties, though, is we do have about $2.5 million from the state for riverfront improvements."
Add to that Brownfield Redevelopment and historic preservation tax credits, and Tresize says the building is now affordable. He says no fewer than four developers have approached the city about the power station recently, and with more and more high-end office, retail, and housing being developed downtown, officials hope the Ottawa Street Power Station will be generating a new kind of energy in the very near future.