LCC parking project starts with Gannon ramp demolition

LANSING — A Lansing Community College parking ramp is coming down as officials prepare to erect a five-story, 1,700 parking-space structure in its place. 

Demolition of the Gannon parking ramp at LCC’s campus in downtown Lansing began on Jan. 4, according to LCC Administrative Services Division Executive Director Chris MacKersie. He expects demolition to be completed by April with construction of the new parking ramp set to start in May. 

“The college believes this will meet its needs today and well into the future,” MacKersie said in an email. “In general, the college is very pleased with how the project is going.” 

Initial LCC plans called for a three-story parking structure to replace the Gannon ramp on North Grand Avenue, in addition to construction of another parking garage, this one standing three stories high on the corner of Capitol Avenue and Shiawassee Street. LCC scrapped the project after residents and property owners from the nearby Old Convent Condominium on Seymour Avenue in March opposed the project, sharing lighting and neighborhood pollution concerns. 

Officials later moved to increase the size of the North Grand Avenue ramp to five stories.

LCC trustees had already voted to issue bonds worth $51 million, or 91% of the costs between both projects before the initial project was stopped. 

Demolition and construction of the new parking structure requires several permits. All of the needed permits have so far been received, according to MacKersie.

The former Gannon ramp housed 980 parking spaces. The new structure will add 700 to 800 more spaces, MacKersie said.

The new ramp is expected to be finished in August 2022.

Contact Mark Johnson at 517-377-1026 or at majohnson2@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ByMarkJohnson.