Here are 20 developments and projects we’ll be watching in 2026

New Vision Lansing

If the crane at the Tower on Grand’s build site seems high up, get ready — it’ll be 200 feet higher before Lansing’s tallest skyscraper is done, according to Gentilozzi Real Estate Vice President John Gentilozzi.

“You’re gonna see a remarkable change in the skyline over the next year within 2026,” he said.

The 28-story, 300,000-square-foot skyscraper is the tallest of five buildings the Gentilozzis are building as part of their New Vision Lansing project. The $160 million tower will bring 287 residences, plus several amenities, to downtown Lansing.

All work scopes will be awarded in 2026, with 2.5 acres of glass curtain wall and a parking structure begun by the year’s end.

The four other buildings are in various stages of development.

100 South Washington Square, a 10-story office-to-residential conversion, will be done by Fall of 2026 and include 60 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments.

The Capitol Tower at 201 North Walnut St. will be complete in early 2027, with the concrete structure being erected in 2026. The project will feature 120 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, as well as office space.

The Ingham Building at 116 West Ottawa St. will be completely renovated into 25 apartments by Fall.

A project in Old Town is still in the preliminary stages, with more plans to come in May.

The $315 million New Vision project has received a $40 million state grant and another $160 million in tax incentives. At a groundbreaking ceremony in April for the Tower on Grand, Mayor Andy Schor called the project a “public-private partnership.”

Economic uncertainty and President Trump’s tariffs have caused their share of headaches, John Gentilozzi said, but have not jeopardized the projects.

 

New City Hall

The turrets and towers of Lansing’s first City Hall, built in 1897, were an ode to the past. The current one, built in 1958, looked to the future with a sleek glass exterior.

Its third, which will be completed this year, fits somewhere in the middle.

A brick-and-masonry facade echoes the historic brick buildings still scattered through the city, while functional design echoes other municipalities where government buildings have gravitated toward less ornamental designs in recent decades.

Lansing’s building has been on the fast track as Mayor Andy Schor hopes to finish it while the city still has a $40 million appropriation from the state Legislature for a new City Hall in its pocket. Mayoral spokesperson Scott Bean said to expect it online this fall.

Ovation Center

Plans for a performing arts center in Lansing date back to the 1990s, when Former Mayor David Hollister first spearheaded a study for a 6,500-seat performing arts center.

Several pivots and roadblocks later, the Ovation Center for the Performing Arts, a 2,000-capacity concert venue attached to the new Lansing Public Media Center, is expected to be online in about a year.

The project is publicly funded but does not draw from the general fund, instead utilizing tools such as $8.5 million in cable television fees from the state legislature.

The former Lansing Credit Bureau building, which is currently on the site, is being renovated into the new public media center and should be operable this quarter, Ovation founding director Dominic Cochran said. The new-build portion will kick off this year with a planned opening date sometime in the first quarter of 2027.

That portion has been stripped down from its Albert Kahn redesign after tariffs and an expensive design led the project to run over-budget, including the unique cantilever roof that had originally been planned. The concertgoer’s experience will be unaffected, Cochran said.

 

Brick Row

Following the City Rescue Mission’s departure to an expanded facility last year, the Gillespie Group is redeveloping six historic buildings along the 600 block of Michigan Ave.

The $8 million project, dubbed “Brick Row,” kicked off in December with expected completion in September 2026. It will include space for six retail businesses and 15 housing units.

The project, which is focused in tandem on historic preservation and continued revitalization of the stadium district, will continue the Gillespie Group’s focus on that district. The group is also responsible for the Block600 project across the way, which includes the Capital City Market, and several other projects in the stadium district.

The Iris

Underneath the crumbling wood siding on the east end of West Saginaw’s 900 block lies architecture that local preservationist Dale Schrader described as “striking.”

But for years, the block has remained derelict. Its most recent owner, Park’s Furniture, was closed by the city in 2020 due to “imminent safety issues.”

In 2023, local entrepreneur Re’Shane L. Lonzo purchased all five former Park’s Furniture buildings after feeling an urge to preserve the sense of community the historic buildings invoked among locals.

Starting this year, those buildings will begin a transformation into The Iris, a mixed-use redevelopment planning 11 affordable housing apartments, a childcare center, and space dedicated to vocational and workforce training.

She also hopes to include a cafe or other small eatery to keep the business connected to the neighborhood, something once delivered by Paul’s Pastry Shop in the 1970s.

 

Lansing Housing Commission

The Lansing Housing Commission is nearing completion on two building projects in downtown Lansing, each with more than 50 units and mostly at subsidized rates.

Executive Director Doug Fleming said both units already have long waitlists because more than 1,800 applications were sent in for the two buildings, which includes a great many duplicates (applicants were encouraged to try for both) and that speaks to the demand for affordable housing.

The Riverview 220 and Grand Vista Place developments are near to each other: Riverview is at Kalamazoo Street and Grand Avenue and the Grand Vista Place building is about a block south at Grand and Lenawee.

Riverside is expected to open around June 1, give or take a week or two, Fleming said. And Grand Vista is expected to open a bit beforehand.

Fleming said the Housing Commission also recently got approval for tax credits that will allow it to buy the old Washington Apartments in REO Town, as well as a separate project that will improve and expand its existing Olivet Gardens apartments.

 

Moores Park Pool

Moores Park Pool is expected to open this summer.

The century-old oblong public pool, sitting in the shadow of the city’s iconic smoke stacks, hasn’t been used since 2019.

Paused ever since due to a wide range of leaks and problems, as well as the pandemic and subsequent price tag, the pool is nearing completion

Interior plumbing has now been finished, said Brett Kaschinske, the city’s parks director, in an email. Bathroom fixtures – sinks, showers, lockers, benches and doors – will be installed soon, he said. HVAC and mechanical pool operating equipment comes afterward, with exterior work starting up in March and including grading, concrete steps and painting.

Pool decking and waterproofing should be completed by early April, with the pool being filled in May so it can be tested for a month, to make sure everything worked.

The pool, formally known as the J.H. Moores Memorial Natatorium, opened in 1923 and was built by then-Lansing City Engineer Wesley Bintz, who would go on to build more than 100 Bintz pools nationwide. Fewer than 20 existed in 2018.

820 W. Miller

Once a City Pulse “Eyesore of the Week,” the plaza at the corner of Washington and Miller Road on the south side was purchased by locals Melissa White and James Denning in 2021 at an Ingham County property tax auction.

If everything goes according to plan, what City Pulse once called “one of the seediest little shopping plazas in Lansing” will be transformed into a strip mall with food, retail and a laundromat.

The development shows off the city’s efforts to support emerging developers, which Schor and the Lansing Economic Development Corporation have been focused on in recent years. More than $1.3 million of the project’s $3.8 million price tag will eventually be covered by development tools like Brownfield tax increment financing, which are frequently used by larger developers but can be esoteric and difficult to navigate for emerging developers. White and Denning have worked with Schor and the LEDC to get the project off the ground.

 

Deep Green Data Center

Amid a slew of opposition to the behemoth data centers, hundreds of acres, cropping up across the U.S. to power AI technology, Deep Green wants to build something different in Lansing.

The U.K.-based data center builders have partnered with the BWL to propose a 24 megawatt, under-one-acre data center in Lansing’s stadium district at Kalamazoo and S. Cedar streets.

It’s a fraction of the size and power of a 1,400 megawatt center that is causing controversy in Saline Township. It was designed by local architects. It will donate the heat it generates to the Lansing Board of Water and Light, which will use it for downtown customers.

The project was announced in November with a plan to start building in the spring, but was met with swift community backlash. About 40 people turned out to oppose the just-announced project at a Nov. 5 Lansing Planning Commission hearing, and planning commissioners later voted against a conditional rezoning that would make the parcels eligible for the project.

The final decision rests with City Council.

A constituent meeting held by the at-large councilmembers will be held Jan. 24, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Lansing Center. It will coincide with an open house held by Deep Green.

Holmes Pleasant Grove

A housing project at Holmes and Pleasant Grove roads is expected to offer 30 housing units by Spring 2027, with construction kicking off at the end of this month.

It is at the lot formerly occupied by Pleasant Grove Elementary School, and will include a monument to Malcolm X, who attended that school as a kindergartner.

The project has been spearheaded by Brent Forsberg through his Lansing Growth Fund project, and will include a community space with the intention of being a hub for festivals and other activities.

It is also notable for its unique community funding model, with small-time investors encouraged to contribute as little as $50 and renters able to become part-owners of the complex.

Turner North

A $26 million housing project that promises to bring affordable housing units for young professionals to Old Town is being spearheaded by developers Crain Willian and Eric Helzer.

The four-story, 76-unit building would be built along Turner St., just north of Dodge River Dr.

Rather than compete with Old Town’s businesses by including retail shops on the first floor, the Turner North project would instead include community space on that level.

It was announced in April with plans to start building as early as August 2026. In July, Turner North Development LLC was awarded $1.5 million by the Ingham County Housing Trust Fund.

 

Devil’s Day Tattoo/The Bugpin

Devil’s Day Tattoo co-owners Val Magee and Ferg Ferguson are first-time developers, but that hasn’t stopped them from dreaming big.

The project Magee and Ferguson are planning for the three buildings at 323-327 S. Washington Square is a lot of things: an expansion of their business, affordable housing, room for another business, a community center and a historic preservation project.

The project will turn the former Baron’s Window Coverings building into a community center called the Bugpin, which will feature events such as poetry nights. Up to five housing units will be available on the second floor of the buildings, on top of a Devil’s Day expansion and another business.

Magee and Ferguson are still finalizing schematics with their architect, but expect the project to run at least $1 million. They will likely save between $300,000 to 500,000 over the course of 12 years via an Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act tax abatement.

They hope to have their own shop operational in the new space by October, with more to come.

 

Potter Park Zoo

A $10 million renovation of the Potter Park Zoo’s feline and primate building is in limbo after a GOP-led state House committee cut $644 million of projects approved in 2024.

“They had just started working on architectural and engineering services and had signed a contract,” said Potter Park Zoological Society Executive Director Amy Morris.

Morris said the zoo will reapply for the grant, but that the process to do so is not currently clear.

“We don’t know anything about what this process is going to look like, or our chances of getting these funds, because we don’t know the criteria,” she said. “They have put out absolutely nothing about what this looks like.”

The project would modernize the enclosure alongside fixing infrastructure problems for the nearly hundred-year old building.

 

Public Safety and District Courts Complex

Development on Lansing’s new, $175 million Public Safety and District Courts Complex kicked off in 2023, with development proceeding steadily ever since.

The sprawling complex will include the city’s police station, fire headquarters and district court as well as a temporary lockup for short-term detainees.

The project is expected be completed or nearly completed by the end of 2026, according to mayoral spokesperson Scott Bean, with people slowly moving in in late 2026 and early 2027.

The complex is funded from a millage voters approved in 2022.

 

Fire Stations

The millage that funded the public safety complex also funded renovations to three fire stations.

One, Fire Station 9, will be completely rebuilt from its former version. The current Fire Station 9 on Cedar Street was deteriorating in late 2022, when voters passed the millage, with water damage, mold and cramped quarters.

A new, modernized Station 9 will open as part of the public safety complex this year, mayoral spokesperson Scott Bean said.

In addition, renovations will wrap up this year on Fire Station 8, following completed renovations of Station 2 last year.

 

MSU projects and developments

A pair of Michigan State University projects, totaling half a billion dollars, are expected to unfold in the next few years as well as hundreds of millions in athletics upgrades.

The $150 million Spartan Gateway District was initially set to include a hotel, restaurants, residential and retail spaces, university housing and an Olympic sports arena for wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics and other sports.

Those plans were substantially cut back in October and original developer Gillespie Group is no longer part of the project, with new developers being sought.

“Athletics is continuing to explore all options while evaluating overall facility needs, focusing on broad-based student-athlete impact, including women’s and Olympic sports, strategic return on investment and fiscal responsibility,” university spokesperson Amber McCann said, in an email.

A larger university project, a $340 million Engineering and Digital Innovation Center, was approved in October by the board. It will be at the southwest corner of Red Cedar Road and West Shaw Lane.

That development is expected to be finished in 2028.

The university also got one of the nation’s largest-ever donations in 2025, totaling $401 million from Acrisure founder Greg and Dawn Williams, which will primarily upgrade athletic facilities and fund a separate athletic arm.

 

Read more details at www.lansingcitypulse.com :

 

Juvenile Justice

A new $40 million Ingham County juvenile justice center could be built in south Lansing. The project had started but with $12.5 million in state funding in potential jeopardy, it’s worth watching.

 

Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World

Plans announced in 2024 called for a 2026 opening of an 85,000-square-foot destination. Peter Menser is planning and economic development director for Delta Township.

“As far as I know the project is still moving forward but I am not aware of a specific timeline for construction,” he said, in an email.

 

ALDI grocery store

Plans for new Lansing area stores have been approved by officials in both Lansing Township and Grand Ledge. The timelines are not clear.

 

Sheetz

The destination gas station may open its first Michigan location outside of Metro Detroit in the Lansing area.