As 2023 closed, Mayor Andy Schor looked forward to a double victory: saving the Masonic Temple, one of Lansing’s most historic downtown buildings, by converting it to the government’s new home. Alas, City Council vote commitments to the plan came unglued when Geoffrey Brown broke ranks and two newcomers quickly followed suit, sinking the deal with Ryan Kost’s help and making Brown a target of everyone from the Lansing Chamber to the unions when he seeks reelection in 2025. Why Brown broke his commitment remains a mystery, but as the vote approached, he seemed unusually chummy with Granger, a spurned would-be city hall developer already on the city’s hit list for letting the downtown Walter Neller Building become the city’s leading eyesore. Schor licked his wounds and then picked a city-owned parking lot as the next City Hall’s site, thereby bypassing the Council, which has no say because there’s no purchase. What makes City Hall our top story of the year is that the long-awaited decision on where to move city government means that the classic midcentury modern one it occupies at Michigan and Capitol avenues will be saved as a hotel, a win-win for a community not always mindful of preservation.
As proof of the latter, our No. 2 choice is the fight over old Eastern High School. In many communities, saving the classic example of never-to-be-seen-architecture would be a no-brainer — in fact, it would probably still be operating as a renovated high school. In Lansing, public officials quickly caved to pressure from owners University of Michigan Health-Sparrow, starting with Schor’s “Go Blue” declaration at the end of his initial reaction — with no reference to Eastern — to the official announcement that UM-Sparrow wants to tear it down to make room for a much-needed psychiatric hospital. The City Council first called on UM-Sparrow to save it and find another locale for the facility, then did a rapid about-face when the unions promised revenge if the Council supported declaring the old school a historic district, which would stymy demoltion. Do-gooders, which yours truly helped organized, tried to turn things around, but we proved to be unconnected to Lansing’s real power structure, more than 80% of whom polled in favor of bringing on the wrecking ball.
No Top 10 list is complete without a mention to also-rans. The biggest is the election of Lansing’s first Charter Commission since the 1978 charter took effect. But the jury is still out on its importance as it continues to look at reforms. So far, though, members have indicated leaning toward the status quo. The first big decision was the vote for recommending to keep the strong-mayor system. Perhaps ironically, this month it split 6-3 in favor of doing away with the provision that led to forming the commission, which mandates voters decide every 12 years whether to do so.
Michigan State University is another runner-up. Football coach Mel Tucker fought back with a wrong-dismissal suit after MSU let him go over a sexual-harassment accusation. Kevin M. Guskiewicz took over as president. And voters elected two new trustees, including Lansing’s own Rebecca Bahar-Cook, as the board tries to repair an image badly damaged by infighting.
The Ovation, the city’s downtown performing arts center, made impressive progress as the Schor administration switched to legendary Detroit architects Albert Kahn Associates, which unveiled an exciting redesign of the ho-hum original by a local firm.
What did we miss? Let me know at pubisher@lansingitypulse.com. And Happy New Year.
Chicago developer J. Paul Beitler achieved a longtime dream in July when Lansing’s City Council unanimously approved selling City Hall, 124 W. Michigan Ave., for $2.8 million after the city builds a new home on the parking lot it owns on the site of the old Center for the Arts, 425 S. Grand Ave. The latter was Mayor Andy Schor’s second choice. Armed with a $40 million state grant, he had had his sights set on the Boji Group-owned Masonic Temple building, 217 S. Capitol Ave., but a vote to buy it for $3.65 million failed after City Council reached a 4-4 impasse on the purchase agreement. Ryan Kost, Jeffrey Brown, Tamera Carter and Trini Pehlivanoglu voted against the plan, citing a perceived lack of transparency in the bidding process.The 75,000-square-foot project will cost no more than the $40 million state grant, Schor has promised. That settled, Beitler revived his 2017 proposal to buy City Hall to turn it into a 180-room hotel and renovate the old Lansing State Journal building into the new city hall. After taking office in 2018, Schor shelved the plan because the LSJ site couldn’t accommodate court and police lockup facilities. Then in 2022, Lansing voters approved constructing a public safety building on South Washington Avenue, paving the way for Schor to announce the Masonic Temple proposal. Schor expects construction on the new city hall to begin next spring. Beitler can begin renovating the existing City Hall after the city officially moves out in a year or two.
University of Michigan Health purchased Sparrow Health System in April 2023 and officially transitioned it into its system this year. In June, UM-Sparrow leaders announced plans to convert the Sparrow-owned old Eastern High School property, which is adjacent to UM-Sparrow Hospital, into a $97 million, 120-bed psychiatric facility. In response, residents and local preservationists formed the Committee to Preserve Old Eastern and Promote Mental Health to encourage UM-Sparrow to preserve the property as much as possible. But UM-Sparrow cut communications with the group in August. Proposal proponents argue it’s beyond saving, citing decrepit conditions, including mold and other environmental damages. UM-Sparrow declined to let preservationists tour it to verify its condition. Lansing City Council members voted 5-0 in July to pass a resolution urging UM-Sparrow to save the building. But facing union opposition, the Council opted against studying whether to declare the site a historic district, which would have potentially stalled development. The saga settled for a few months before several residents spoke at a recent City Council meeting to revive calls for compromise. The U of M Board of Regents has yet to act on the plan for the former Lansing School District building, which was sold to Sparrow in 2016 for about $2.5 million before closing in 2019.
Just as Michigan went red, so did the 7th Congressional District, despite being anchored by blue Greater Lansing. Former state Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., D-East Lansing, lost by nearly 4% to Trump-endorsed former Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett of Charlotte, who had lost to Democratic Elissa Slotkin two years earlier. Slotkin narrowly won a U.S. Senate seat against Republican former area Congressman Mike Rogers. Slotkin will replace Democrat Debbie Stabenow, a Lansing resident whose long political career started on the Ingham County Board of Commissioners and included the state Legislature and two terms in the U.S. House before Michigan sent her to the Senate for the last 24 years. Barrett promised to maintain a congressional office in Lansing.
An ambitious housing proposal known as New Vision Lansing first came to light in an August 2023 press conference, when Paul, John and Tony Gentilozzi and Bloomfield Hills-based JFK Investment Co. announced a three-building plan to add more than 450 new units in downtown Lansing. Their initial vision was spearheaded by the 27-story Tower on Grand, at 215 S. Grand Ave., which would comprise 292 apartments, retail space and other amenities in what would become the tallest building in the city, surpassing the Boji Tower. It also included the construction Capitol Tower, 201 N. Walnut St., first announced as 10 stories but since reduced to one retail floor and four residential levels for a total of 110,000 square feet and 80 apartments. The third was the full renovation of the 10-story, century-old building at 100 S. Washington Square, adding 60 more units. The Gentilozzis received a $40 million state grant for the project, initially costing $215 million and growing to $228 million. In November, they added two buildings, increasing units to 575 and cost to $317 million. One, on 1223 Turner St. in Old Town, will be seven stories and 61,000 square feet, with 80 rental units. Also, they’ll repurpose the historic downtown Ingham office building, 116 W. Ottawa St., with 25 furnished apartments and retail space in just over 17,000 square feet of space spanning six floors. More recently, the developers gained another advantage when City Council voted 7-1 to approve brownfield tax financing for the project on Dec. 16. The city said the credits would provide millions of dollars in reimbursements for the developers each year for the next three decades, while the city will gain $15 million. Demolition at the Tower on Grand site begins in January.
Delta Township Supervisor Ken Fletcher, 58, a 16-year Democratic incumbent, was arrested in August for allegedly soliciting a minor for immoral purposes on the LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr. His arrest was tied to a sting operation in which a law enforcement officer posed as a 15-year-old boy and began communicating with Fletcher through the app for months before the two agreed to meet in person. Facing felony charges, Fletcher resigned Sept. 4. But it was too late to remove his name from the Nov. 5 ballot. He easily won reelection over two unknown write-ins. Fletcher has until Dec. 31 to accept or refuse the seat. If he rejects it, the township board would have 45 days to appoint a replacement. If he doesn’t, he would only face removal if he was issued a prison sentence greater than one year. One month after Fletcher’s arrest, former Waverly Community Schools teacher Robert Herzing, 32, was arrested by Eaton County sheriff’s officers under nearly identical circumstances. In November, Michigan State Police Detective Thomas Gladney, head of Greater Lansing’s division of the Michigan Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said law enforcement agencies collaborated on at least 31 sex-related arrests in the region this year.
In late September, City Pulse reported that the board of the Capital Area District Libraries was considering moving its downtown Lansing branch and executive offices from its 60-year-old building at 401 S. Capitol Ave. The move was under “active consideration” driven by maintenance costs for the classic midcentury modern structed that it rents from the Lansing School district, a spokesperson said. Superintendent Ben Shuldiner said the district would try to find another use for the building. One source told City Pulse that CADL has received a bid for a property on Wood Street in Lansing Township, where CADL does not have a presence. He news caught City Hall off guard, even though it appoints CADL’s board. Mayor Andy Schor urged CADL to stay put and the City Council unanimously opposed the plan, calling on CADL to explore an alternative solution.
An Aug. 5 cyberattack on McLaren disrupted operations at McLaren Greater Lansing Hospital and all of the health care corporation’s Michigan facilities. For the second time in two years, a hacker group infiltrated its phone and computer systems Two days later, McLaren officials blamed Ransom Group for the attack. The group, which formed in 2023, steals data and personal information from businesses and threatens to sell the information to third parties if a ransom isn’t paid. By Aug. 21, McLaren announced the attack had been “contained,” and on Aug. 28 that its systems were fully restored “ahead of schedule.” One year prior, McLaren’s systems were breached by the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group, which claimed in an online post that it stole six terabytes of data, including personal information tied to 2.5 million patients.
8.Multiple death auto accident on I-96:
On Nov. 2, four people died and 17 were injured in a pileup off westbound Interstate 96 near Webberville after a semi-truck struck more than a dozen vehicles caught in a traffic jam. Lansing residents Brandon Glasscoe, 47, his sister, Arthuria Watkins, 43 and niece Manessah Naval, 20, were killed in a Chevy Trax. The fourth casualty, 29-year-old Robert Ross, of Carson City, was driving a Ford F-150 pickup. Michigan State Police said 15 vehicles were involved. MSP added that it believed the truck driver may have been “distracted.” The traffic stoppage that led to the fatalities came after the roadway was temporarily closed so DTE Energy crews could work on power lines. The lanes had reopened just before the collision at about 11:42 p.m.
Lansing’s eight fatal shooting deaths through the end of November were the fewest since the local gun violence prevention program, Advance Peace, began publishing the statistics in 2019.
That year, Lansing had 10 recorded gun fatalities, followed by 13 in 2020 and peaking at 23 in 2021. The numbers declined in 2022 and 2023 with 13 and 11.
The first gun homicide came in early April, when Christopher Stipanuk, 43, was shot in the leg on Sycamore Street and died in the hospital. Police later reported that a 37-year-old man was arrested in connection with his death. April also saw a double shooting that killed Christine Cambric, 53, and Jason McKenzie, 50. Police charged Dennis Joshua Whaley, 51. Then Treyveon Green, 22, allegedly killed Aaron Joseph-Bey, 22, in a drive-by on April 26.
An alarming trend of youth shooters occurred in May when Jaquez Moye-Young, 14, was killed on May 4. The search for a suspect continued through the summer before Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewayne charged 16-year-old Gilmo Nedwize with homicide in the case. On May 27, 17-year-old Kylete Owens was also killed by a firearm in a mass shooting just outside of Lansing Shuffle. Another six youths between the ages of 15 and 20 were injured in the early-hour altercation. The trend stalled from July through October before 18-year-old Braylon Shepherd was gunned down on the city’s far north side on Nov. 7. The next day, Lansing Police announced that they arrested a suspect, Xavian Soto, 19, of Calhoun County. To curb the surge, Lansing’s City Council approved $175,000 in funds to establish a new Office of Neighborhood Safety next year.
The Lansing School District continued to make progress under Superintendent Ben Shuldiner. In October, he announced that 87% of 2024’s seniors had graduated within four years, 10% higher than any previous class. He also noted that graduation rates have increased by 25% over the last three years, including 76% for the class of 2023. Last month, Shuldiner said he expects at least eight of 10 district schools to move off the state underperformance watchlist in 2025.
November saw the grand opening of the district’s Newcomer Center in a renovated former church building at 301 W. Jolly Road. The facility offers special educational programs for the district’s sizable foreign-born student population. And the U.S. Energy Department of Energy gave the district a 2024 Efficient and Healthy Schools program award.
A flap over a proposal to cut two of its four full-time librarian positions in August ended after parents and residents voiced their opposition.
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