South Washington Avenue parking lot would be site of new public safety building

Council approves putting $175 million tax increase on November ballot

MONDAY, July 25 — A new  public safety facility for the city of Lansing will be built on the site of the former McLaren parking lot next to the South Washington Office Complex if voters approve of a proposed $175 million bond issue, city officials said tonight.

Officials said McLaren Health Care has verbally agreed to sell the property, south of Mt. Hope Avenue on the west side of Washington Avenue, pending the outcome of the vote. 

The City Council voted, 8-0, tonight to put the tax increase on the Nov. 8 ballot that would pay for the new building as well as other public safety improvements.

The public safety building would be at the heart of a 3.9 mill property tax increase for 30 years that Schor is seeking. That amounts to $153 on the average residence in Lansing, valued at $76,600.

The facility would house the city’s courts and the headquarters for the Fire Department and would consolidate the Police Department and lockup in the one building, according to the Schor administration’s plan announced earlier this month.  Right now, the department is spread out between City Hall and the South Precinct on Wise Road.

If voters approve of it all, that would also clear the way to sell City Hall, which Mayor Andy Schor has delayed until he could find a location for the public safety services  housed there. Former Mayor Virg Bernero sought to sell City Hall to a Chicago developer who wanted to turn it into an upscale hotel. Bernero would have moved City Hall to the old Lansing State Journal building at Lenawee Street and Grand Avenue. But after Schor took office in 2018, he objected to the plan because it left sites for the various public safety departments up in the air.

The campaign for the bond issue will be run by Grassroots Midwest, a political consulting firm based in Lansing, it was learned.