Plan to study making old Eastern High School a historic district appears dead

TUESDAY, Aug. 27 — An effort to determine whether old Eastern High School qualifies as a historic district appears doomed, removing a potential obstacle to University of Michigan Health-Sparrow’s proposal to replace the landmark with a $97.2 million, 120-bed psychiatric hospital.

Lansing City Council member Ryan Kost, who has led the campaign to save old Eastern, said he does not have enough votes for the Council to create a committee to study making old Eastern a historic district. U of M would be unable to demolish old Eastern pending the committee’s findings.

Kost also discouraged the city’s Historic District Commission from pursuing a historic district when he appeared before it at a special meeting Friday on old Eastern.

“If we do not go down this road, there is a glimmer of hope that U of M is willing to save some portion of that building,” Kost said.

“But I think to continue down this path, it's going to further antagonize them into making sure nothing is left,” he added, referring to U of M.

Kost helped organize the Committee to Preserve Historic Eastern and Preserve Mental Health, comprising alumni, eastsiders and preservationists. The group’s representatives met once with UM-Sparrow executives, but efforts to negotiate a plan that would have spared old Eastern fell apart quickly.

The HDC decided Friday to go ahead and prepare a resolution to ask the Council to set up a study committee. City spokesperson Scott Bean said it is expected to be presented to the Council on Sept. 9. It would be up to the Council to decide whether to formulate its own resolution for a study committee.

However, a well-placed source told City Pulse that even if the Council does create a resolution, “It will die in committee.”

Union opposition apparently played a prominent role in dooming the effort. Another source told City Pulse that Council President Jeremy Garza, vice president of UA Local 333 Plumbers & Pipefitters, and At-Large member Trini Pehlivanoglu would oppose a study committee because area unions are against it, fearing a loss of jobs if U of M decides to build the mental hospital elsewhere. Another likely vote against it is Adam Hussain, another source said.

At last night's Council meeting, a half-dozen representatives of area union locals spoke in favor of UM-Sparrow's plan and against making Eastern a historic district.

At-Large Council member Peter Spadafore came out publicly against a study committee last week, saying the preservation effort came too late.

“Recent proposals to designate the former EHS site as a historical landmark threaten to impede or halt the development of this much-needed facility,” Spadafore said. “The opportunity to make the former EHS an historical site has been available for over a decade, yet this issue has only surfaced now that redevelopment plans are concrete. I oppose this resolution and any related studies.”

Concern over whether U of M would withdraw its proposal for the new facility has been underlying the debate over saving old Eastern.

U of M Health executive Margaret Dimond, who oversees UM-Sparrow, told the City Council in an email last week that U of M was unwilling to undertake a “complicated” historic preservation project to save old Eastern for any purpose. She said U of M Health’s priority is to invest in health care. U of M Health said when it acquired Sparrow Health System two years ago that it was prepared to invest $800 million on expansion and improvements.

Dimond appeared during public comment at last night's Council meeting to defend the UM-Sparrow's plan.  She said it includes uses for the old Eastern site beyond a psychiatric facility, including space to grow its neonatal and women and children's units.  "If we cannot do that, we will be landlocked," she said.

Despite the odds, the commission decided Friday to pursue a study committee with the Council.

As one member put it, “Some kind of study thing would be useful, even if it's in preparation for an eventual demolishing of the building, but saving portions of the building in some fashion or another.”