While some of us still remember when Downtown Lansing was bustling with department stores, movie theaters and shoppers, there are now other generations who have never known anything but office buildings and parking ramps. Local developer and president of the Gillespie Group, Patrick K. Gillespie, is a member of that latter generation and is now part of the push to return that vibrancy to the Stadium District on Michigan Avenue.

“We have looked at a lot of other cities, capital cities that have experienced downtown housing and entertainment,” he explained. “We wanted to find a way we could play off of the Michigan Avenue prestige leading up to the Capitol, so we targeted three or four sites. The one [across from Oldsmobile Park] was the biggest we could find. We did a minor market study on whether there should be housing for sale or for rent, and we found that both are needed, as well as entertainment, and a focus on weekends and nights. We want to fill it in with bars, restaurants and service businesses not currently found downtown.”

“He has focused on what he can do for the community, and not just making money,” added Eric F. Rosekrans, senior vice president and office advisor for CB Richard Ellis Martin (CBRE), who is also working on the project. “There is a deeply rooted feeling to make this community a better place. This is a catalyst for other things to come.”

“It’s really an emerging trend to live near work,” stated Jason Kildea, an associate and retail advisor for CBRE. “This project encompasses all of that, so it’s important to the downtown.”

The Stadium District complex will be a four-story, 100,000-square-foot building on the south side of Michigan Avenue between Cedar and Larch streets. The first floor will consist of 25,000 square feet of retail space, while the second level will have approximately 11,000 square feet of retail and 10 luxury apartments. The third floor will have another 20 luxury apartments, and the fourth level will have 20 urban condominiums. It is already under construction.

“This is such high visibility,” said Rosekrans. “It will be a gateway. You’ve got the stadium right across the street.”

“They’ll complement each other,” said Gillespie. “It’s going to look similar. Before and after the game, people will be able to walk across the street to go to a coffee shop, or they’ll be able to walk over to the stadium from their condos. These will work well with each other.”

“You’ve got that whole area with the convention center and other projects,” added Rosekrans. “I don’t think any one project is bigger than another, but collectively this can be huge with all of those things going on there.”

While Rosekrans and Kildea are working on the office and retail aspects, Gillespie owns the building and is handling the residential side of it. He received a number of financial incentives for the development.

“It’s very expensive to build on an old site,” he explained. “There are old foundations and environmental problems, so we got brownfield tax increment financing from the City of Lansing, which helps recoup the costs for cleaning up the environmental contamination; a State of Michigan single business tax credit; and [it qualifies for] the Neighborhood Enterprise Zone, which encourages home ownership with a 50 percent property tax abatement for 12 years for anyone who buys a condominium.”

“It takes a collaborative effort, including the government, to make these things work,” Rosekrans noted. “It’s a collaborative effort between developers, municipalities and the community.”

“Without that, it wouldn’t make sense,” said Gillespie. “One of the side benefits that surprised me is this was a catalyst for a Cool Cities (designation). The Stadium District is now a true district like Old Town or REO Town. It goes from Kalamazoo to Saginaw streets, and from Pennsylvania Avenue to the river for the most part. It’s going to have logo identification. We received a $100,000 Cool Cities grant. That was a spin-off we didn’t plan. It’s forming an identity for the ballpark area. It is creating some interest in other buildings in the area.”

Another surprise to Gillespie was who wanted to live downtown.

“For residential, originally, we figured the majority would be 25 to 35 years old, but we have a lot of single females and 55-plus who are looking to have an urban lifestyle,” he said.

Gillespie noted that the company has been working with students and professors at all of the downtown colleges, as well as Sparrow Health System and Accident Fund. There will be 60 private parking spaces for the residents and another 120 for the commercial and office operations. Construction is expected to be complete by March 2008.

“We have Fifth Third Bank as our main anchor tenant,” said Kildea. “We’re looking at several types of concepts, including day spas. We want to get the right mix of tenants to attract residents.”

BriarWood Realty is also going to have an office in the complex.

“You’re going to have a residential real estate company putting an office in a downtown project,” Rosekrans noted.

“We’ve got some space in the middle where we’re talking to a large user right now, or we could split the space up,” said Kildea. “We’d like to get a nice, sit-down restaurant with a patio. It’s different from a traditional neighborhood. We’re really being selective because of the eclectic design that Pat’s incorporated into this. It’s a little different than working on a neighborhood strip mall.”

The Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce will be moving into office space on the second floor.

“When people come to town, they go to the chamber, and they’re going to see it in an area that’s eclectic, high energy and high growth,” said Gillespie. “We want to portray that to the new businesses coming in.”

“People can believe the picture we’ve been telling them about now that part of the construction is done,” said Kildea. “A lot of national retailers have problems with real estate plans. They say, ‘Great. Tell us when it’s happening.’ Pat and I actually [went] to a convention with the retailers [recently]. Some of them don’t exist in this region or business district.”

“Of all the deals going on downtown right now, it’s all local people between myself, [Richard] Karp, [Harry] Hepler, and [Kris] Elliott,” said Gillespie. “I think three of the four are building construction management grads of Michigan State.”

“It’s local people making a commitment to their community,” said Rosekrans. “Pat could invest anywhere across the country, but he made a commitment to Lansing.”

“The bottom line is this is going to be a great project,” said Kildea.