Lansing puts City Hall redevelopment plans on back burner

LANSING — The city has pumped the brakes on its plans to redevelop City Hall. 

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor said the city needs to determine where to relocate its lock-up and 54A District Court before it can move forward on redevelopment plans. 

Lansing’s lock-up facility, district court and police department are currently located in the city hall building across from the state Capitol. The city wants to redevelop the current building and relocate City Hall since the cost of fixing the current building would be at least $55 million, Schor said. 

“Every year that we put more money into this building those are dollars that we could be using elsewhere," he said. 

But the city first needs to find a space for its lock up and courts. 

The new lock-up and district court potentially would be located in the parking area just south of the Veterans Memorial Courthouse and Grady Porter Building, near the intersection of Lenawee and Walnut streets. Ingham County has a holding facility at Veterans Memorial Courthouse, which could be relocated to the new lock-up facility.

A lock-up facility houses people who have been arrested for one to three days before they are arraigned in court. A holding facility is used to house inmates before they're brought to a courtroom for a hearing or trial. 

Having the lock-up and holding facility all in one place would be more efficient and would ensure consistency in procedures, Ingham County Controller Tim Dolehanty said. The Ingham County Sheriff’s Office could then run the lock-up, which would remove liability from the city.

"It makes absolute sense given we’re in the corrections business," Dolehanty said.

And having courts in one centralized campus would be more convenient for the public, he said. 

City Hall plans 

In November, former Mayor Virg Bernero announced that Beitler Real Estate Services had been selected to redevelop the current City Hall into a hotel.

Schor said the announcement that the city is putting redevelopment plans on hold won't impact that decision. 

"As of right now we are still very interested in the proposal put forward by Mr. Beitler," he said. "We just have to figure out how to get out of this building first." 

Beitler's plan also called for renovating the former Lansing State Journal building on East Lenawee Street into a new City Hall. But in February, Schor asked the four developers who pitched plans for redeveloping the current building to submit additional information about their plans.

Along with Beitler, the other developers were Urban Systems LLC/WestPac Communities, Karp and Associates LLC and Boji Group LLC.

Bernero's June 2017 request centered around plans for a new development at the current building. Developers were invited, but not required, to include ideas for a new City Hall project.

The supplemental information from the four developers will be vetted and chosen by a team including Schor, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, CBRE Lansing and additional experts. Supplemental proposals were due March 16.

The city asked the developers to include two versions of their plan — one version with and one without a 10,000-square-foot police administration building. 

Schor said he plans to get public input on the proposals but that determining the location for the lock-up and the courts is the city's first priority. 

“We’re not ready to do that until we’re ready to move out of the building," he said. 

Contact reporter Haley Hansen at (517) 267-1344 or hhansen@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @halehansen.