Work begins on downtown Lansing’s grandest vision

Since the pandemic sent state employees home, a debate has persisted over downtown’s future.

Some have championed returning state employees to the office, bringing back the area’s primary workforce. Others say that downtown businesses need to change business models to diversify their clientele.

John Gentilozzi thinks the root problem is simple: Few people live downtown. And, as vice president of Gentilozzi Real Estate, he is addressing it.

On Monday, John and his father, Paul Gentilozzi, celebrated the groundbreaking for Tower on Grand, a 28-story, 300,000-square-foot skyscraper on Grand Avenue near Washtenaw Street. It’s the first of the Gentilozzis’ $315 million, five-building New Vision Lansing  project, which promises to bring people to downtown and Old Town.

The skyscraper will contain 287 residences and feature a pool, fitness center, yoga studio and Grand River-front terrace. Apartment leasing is expected to begin in early 2028.

“For the next two years, we’re going to build Lansing’s tallest building,” Paul Gentilozzi said to applause.

The spring cold snap did not hinder the celebration, with attendees — and the ceremonial dirt pile — under a grand tent. Speakers included Mayor Andy Schor, state Sen. Sam Singh and state Rep. Angela Witwer.

Schor placed the skyscraper among a transformative series of downtown projects, including building the Ovation Center for Music and Arts, constructing a new City Hall and redeveloping the current one into a hotel complex.

“This area is going to be completely different in two years,” he said.

Developer Pat Gillespie praised the Gentilozzis’ risk-taking and predicted that the growth would beget more growth.

“You would think as a competitor, I don’t want more apartments,” Gillespie said, “but when they add 600 to 700 people in downtown Lansing, the bar and restaurant scene are going to grow and have more business.”

“We’re already getting calls because of the momentum that you’re creating, and it will feel safer on the streets and the riverfront because of all the people you’re bringing down,” Gillespie continued.

“So, on behalf of the business community and the other real estate developers in the community, thank you for taking the risk and the time to put this project together.”

Speakers also expressed the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors. The New Vision Lansing project has received a $40 million state grant and another $160 million in tax incentives.

Schor called New Vision Lansing a “public-private partnership,” and Singh said the project showed a commitment from the state government to support Lansing.

“For a long time, the city of Lansing was the home of state government, but oftentimes the state government didn’t always work as closely with the city of Lansing and the mid-Michigan area,” he said. “I’d just say this is a commitment from the state of Michigan.”

In an  interview last week, John Gentilozzi said the project will help solve downtown’s dependence on state employees.

“There was always this moment where people said, ‘What are we going to do about downtown when people leave?’ And I don’t mean forever, I mean at 5 o’clock,” he said.

“People said ‘Well, maybe if we had more bars, maybe if there were more restaurants, maybe if there was more entertainment,’ but nobody ever asked the question, ‘What if there were more people?’ What if we brought people downtown to live, like in every other urban core?’”

Though he was excited to see downtown break free was reliance on state employees, he stressed that the goals were not mutually exclusive.

“If they happen to work for the state and they can walk to work, that’s even better,” he said.

Gentilozzi said New Vision Lansing took inspiration from Jane Jacobs’ 1958 essay “Downtown is for the People,” which argued for a bottom-up approach to urban planning with a focus on people. He said developers and city planners focus too much on planning where people will go and what they will do, instead of building “a thriving environment where people live and there’s a community downtown.”

He also noted that about half a billion dollars of development is scheduled for downtown over the next three years, none of which relies on state office workers’ presence.

New Vision Lansing was expanded from three to five buildings. One, called the Ingham Building, reuses a historic downtown office building. Another will include 80 apartments in Old Town.

Gentiolozzi said bringing people to that historical neighborhood will have similar benefits.

“Lansing doesn’t have the size to say, ‘This our commercial street, everyone else just sort of lives away from it.’ We have to bring these things together,” he said. “So, much like downtown, living, working, shopping, eating — all of these things need to be easy for people to get to.”

Affordability has also been a focus for Gentilozzi Real Estate. The Washington Square project, another repurposed office building, will be under the Missing Middle program. The program ensures that tenants within 80% to 120% of the area median income spend no more than 30% of their gross pay on rent, Gentilozzi said.

At the groundbreaking, Schor echoed Gentilozzi’s belief that bringing people downtown is the best way to revitalize the area.

“We talk a lot about who’s downtown and state employees and this and that,” he said. “For me, from the beginning, ever since the pandemic ended, we said we want more housing.”

Karl Dorshimer, president and CEO of the Lansing Economic Development Corp., said the project “would really transform downtown Lansing and Old Town.”

“We need to reach that critical mass where downtown is busy all the time,” he said.

Schor said more housing would help the area grow organically.

“We want more people living downtown, because when you live downtown, you do things downtown. You eat lunch, you go out for dinner, you walk the dog, you hang out with friends, you go to the park, you go to the new grocery store we have, your friends stay in the hotels,” Schor said.

“That’s what comes with housing.”