Developers behind a rejected affordable housing project in East Lansing are redesigning the proposal to include additional vehicle parking from neighborhood businesses.
Members of the East Lansing City Council voted down a project earlier this year to replace a surface parking lot near Bailey Street with over 100 subsidized housing units.
Supporters argued the apartment building would make it easier for young professionals and low-income individuals to live in the city. But nearby businesses objected to the 530 Albert Avenue plan and expressed concern that the loss of parking would deter customers from visiting their storefronts.
"We do want workforce housing near us, just not at the cost of potentially losing our customer bases,” Mike Krueger, owner of the Peanut Barrel, said at the time.
Chris Young is a vice president with American Community Developers, the company behind the project. He said shortly after the council rejected the proposal, local business owners approached him to discuss how the plan could be adjusted to earn their support.
“We've been working on a redesign that would include some parking and working with them [for] what they feel is necessary to make it work," Young said.
The new design would maintain a public parking lot on the ground floor below the housing complex. Young said that would preserve parking for visiting customers.
"The parking under the building is specifically for the 500-block (of Grand River Avenue) businesses," Young said. "That's why we're doing it.”
Young acknowledged the plan is in its early stages and has a long way to go before it could break ground.
The additional space for parked cars will likely incur additional expenses; Young said the project's new design would require at least $5 million on top of previously allocated state and federal funding.
American Community Developers would also need to resubmit their application with East Lansing, and restart meetings with the Planning Commission and Downtown Development Authority before getting approval from the City Council.
But Young said he's hopeful the redesign will make it through the process.
"We believe we have a design that ... the majority of stakeholders like and would feel good about supporting."
