Red Cedar District project joins remediation and development

For a decade, the stretch of Michigan Avenue between Frandor Shopping Center and the Red Cedar District (formerly Red Cedar Golf Course) has been the focus of ambitious development plans to connect East Lansing and Michigan State University with the city of Lansing. Central to these plans was a unique and innovative design by Pat Lindemann, the Ingham County drain commissioner, to clean up the horrific pollution that had been flowing for years from the impervious surfaces of Frandor into the Red Cedar River.  In countless community meetings, we heard the oft-repeated story of Lindemann dumping dye into the drain in front of JoAnn’s Fabrics and then driving to arrive a few minutes later at the outlet of the pipe that runs from Frandor to the river.  Sitting on the bank of the Red Cedar, he watched as dye, car oil, cigarette butts, rubber from tires and who knows what else poured into the river. Appalled and energized, Lindemann went to work designing a filtration system for the nearly one-mile square Montgomery Drain Catchment Area, which stretches from Grand River Avenue on the north to the Red Cedar River on the south.  His design, with extensive water features on both sides of Michigan Avenue, was an integral part of the Red Cedar project, which involved the simultaneous development of the extensive residential and commercial offerings along the avenue’s south side.

I recently walked the area with Lindemann to learn more about what he describes as a “giant water filtration system that looks, feels and smells like a park.”  He calls the complex system that keeps the river clean his ”treatment train.”  This “eco-friendly way to manage water by mimicking nature” consists, so far, of four acres of rain gardens, 30 surprisingly deep ponds treated with “good” bacteria, two-and-a-half miles of paths, 20 waterfalls, many fast-moving streams, deep-rooted native plants such as sage and horsetail and several very large pumps. So far, the treatment train is preventing 70,000 pounds of around 180 pollutants from making it into the Red Cedar each year.  It is doing this at about 40% of what it would cost to do this the old-fashioned way: burying giant concrete pipes to carry storm water to the river.

Water arriving at the river that way would not be cleaned by microscopic, algae-eating bugs called tardigrades, limestone rock filters, chemical pollutant-eating pond vegetation and constant aeration through streams and waterfalls and other forms of open air water features (called “daylighting”). As Lindemann said, “Instead of just moving water, we’re managing and cleaning it.”

The square mile that makes up this watershed looks like a naturally occurring park or greenspace. Yet the hills, streams, ponds, trails, vegetation and even the bugs are all part of a carefully designed and constructed infrastructure.  Lindemann’s unique vision of a system that would mimic nature to clean water benefited from the engineering and design skills of Brian Cenci of GEI and Tim Inman of Spicer Group, two engineering companies. Said Lindemann, “The project draws from multiple fields of expertise including biology, chemistry, stream morphology, geo morphology and a little cultural anthropology thrown in for good measure.”

Additional cool features of the area include the turtle habitat (sandpiles where turtles can lay eggs in the middle of a pond), rockpiles for snake habitat, limestone benches for sitting alongside the streams, the Jack and Sue Davis Amphitheater, and lighted waterfalls for nighttime viewing. A sledding hill and Ranney Ball Park lie at the eastern edge of this amazing eco-friendly, demonstration project.

In the coming year, a long-anticipated sculpture path will be added.  Funded by the nonprofit Art in the Wild, 50 sculptures will be located along the paths and boardwalks, both north and south of Michigan Avenue.  The first of these will be the Windlord, transported from downtown to its new perch on the avenue’s newly installed median.

Surprisingly, this project is not being replicated anywhere else (at the moment), though as Lindemann said, “This is the way we should be managing our water in urban and rural areas.”  It is cost-effective, efficient, provides a lovely park-like setting for visitors to Frandor and the Red Cedar District and demonstrates the innovative ways in which engineering and environmental principles can be combined to clean up our rivers.  In the works is a partnership with MidMichigan Environmental Action Council members who will act as docents for school tours to explain how what looks like a park actually works as a giant filtration system for the watershed.  In the meantime, I’m waiting to see Lindemann’s design featured in National Geographic.

Commercial and residential development

While Lindemann worked on his system, Continental Development Ventures of Ohio partnered with Lansing’s Ferguson Development to create the Red Cedar Project’s commercial and residential component. Today, arrayed along the avenue’s south side are the market rate student apartments that are 100% full.  Another building is home to two hotels.

 Interspersed among Lindemann’s  ponds and streams are outdoor patios connected to restaurants and the delightful Hooked, a combination coffee shop, wine bar, and bookstore.

In the southwest corner is a striking senior housing development, Red Cedar Lodge. Co-developer Frank Lass noted that on the fifth floor is a complete restaurant and bar offering “free drinks to residents and guests daily at 4 p.m. and beautiful views of the property.” It also contains a coffee shop, a well-equipped activity center and a workout space.  Kass described it as “a country club for 80-year olds.” On the pricey side, occupancy is at 70%, though climbing steadily.

Red Cedar Social District

Last year the city approved the Red Cedar area as a Social District, a designation that allows visitors to take alcoholic beverages outside and wander from one business or patio to the next. The designation encourages jointly planned events and includes most of the Red Cedar Project (exclusive of the senior building) and extends north across Michigan to include the southern part of Frandor (around the former Sears Building). 

The first social district event is scheduled for Oct. 18. Please come, and after seeing what’s on offer at the bars and restaurants, enjoy the nearby amphitheater, ponds, and waterfalls weaving through the commercial area. Then head north of the avenue to check out the entire “park,” perhaps ending up near Marshall Music to enjoy the lighted waterfall!

The entire Red Cedar project has recently received two prestigious International Economic Development Council awards. Despite Covid, supply chain delays and other confoundments, this project appears to be doing exactly as city planners and leaders hoped: creating a unique, vibrant, truly one-of-a-kind collaboration that appears to be drawing appreciative visitors from throughout the region and well beyond.