Economic and Community Development

Lansing must have a business-friendly atmosphere that supports growth of our small businesses, city buildings, and infrastructure. Commercial areas, corridors, and a well-developed downtown are crucial to our economic development. We’ve celebrated many successes in my first term as Mayor, with over $1.5 billion in development completed or in progress in 2020 alone! We have a brand new affordable urban grocery store downtown and the first new hotel downtown in 30 years. We’ve added new housing downtown and on the south and east side, and are finalizing housing on the Northside.Rehabilitation has created new retail opportunities in the Westside neighborhood as well. Facades have been improved throughout the city. New public spaces are being created in conjunction with building development. Lansing is growing in the face of the pandemic, and will come out of these tough times in great shape!

Build Lansing

Lansing has several city-owned properties that can be sold to the private sector and developed for better use. Towards this end, I announced and created the Build Lansing program. This program is ongoing, and I am excited for the proposals and redevelopment potential of vacant city parcels and parking lots. We have already sought proposals for the vacant Life O’ Riley property in south Lansing, the vacant property on MLK near I-496 on the westside, and the parking lot on Kalamazoo on the eastside. Lansing must continue to develop these areas for their best use, and further properties will be added to this list for development over the next four years.

Façade Improvement

Lansing must look the part of a vibrant and exciting city. In my first term, I successfully increased funding for façade projects by 10 times the previous allocations, beautifying storefronts and buildings throughout the city. We have already improved the look of retail corridors in REOTown, downtown, Old Town, on the westside Saginaw corridor, on the eastside Michigan Ave corridor, and throughout the city. Improving the look of our commercial corridors and making Lansing look vibrant and welcoming to residents and visitors alike shows pride for our city. We will continue to prioritize this work to ensure that all of Lansing’s commercial areas look like places where people want to live, work, and shop!

Build, Rehab, and Redevelop

I am committed to ensuring that we have growth in Lansing to prompt job creation. Lansing is an older city and must be able to rehab and redevelop old properties to keep them up-to-date. Lansing staff will continue to work with businesses and investors to grow our city economically by creating jobs, retail, and small businesses. Upon becoming Mayor, I was able to finalize several stalled projects. I successfully negotiated a deal finalizing the Red Cedar Renaissance project, which had been in process for six years. I also worked out a final agreement with the Metro Place apartments, another deal the previous administration could not close the loop on. 

I will continue to balance the need for taxpayer dollars to provide services with the need to grow our city with amenities people expect when they decide where to live, work, and play. This at times will include tax incentives for projects that need rehabilitation, remediation, or redevelopment. We will continue to use Lansing’s development subsidies as financial needs require. “Brownfield” areas can be a blight to our community and need to be cleaned up and abated before they can be redeveloped. We need to work with investors to help restore those properties and generate tax revenues from them, growing the city’s ability to provide necessary services. 

As Mayor, I worked with our Lansing Economic Development Corporation to create an incentive policy which allows for rehabilitation assistance based on environmental cleanup and blight removal, ensures that necessary property and income tax dollars are received to the city, and prioritizes the use of local labor so that Lansing residents can benefit from the work being done in our city. We will also ensure necessary and proper oversight on projects when tax dollars are used to reimburse certain cleanup activities. 

Lansing will also continue to use tools to assist in rehabbing obsolete properties to make them functional, visibly pleasing, occupied, vibrant, and tax generating. And we will continue to leverage our partnership with MEDC, who has assisted in many of the recent developments in Lansing and garnered state funding for many projects. 

Lansing Workers

As Mayor, I worked with our Labor community and the Lansing Chamber to update and issue a new Universal Development Agreement. This UDA ensures that when the City of Lansing grants economic development incentives, we have preference for those who employ our workers or offer them bids for the work. Lansing residents pay for the services necessary for those jobs (police, fire, water, sewer, etc.), and our Lansing qualified skilled workers deserve the opportunity to earn salaries on these jobs. This new UDA brings businesses to Lansing while ensuring that qualified Lansing workers can work on the jobs they bring, thus earning economic benefits for their families. 

Arts and Culture

Arts and cultural initiatives in Lansing must be further developed as a driver for positive social and economic change and economic development, optimizing quality of life for both residents and visitors in Lansing. I created the Mayor’s Arts and Culture Commission to engage with artists and help with public art, arts amenities, arts education, and more. This Commission has led the way in Lansing by recommending arts and culture projects for our city. They built public awareness regarding the value of the arts, worked on creating a process to utilize city property to showcase the talent of our artists, explored the viability of a performing arts center in Lansing, and many other initiatives. I plan to propose a formal city board that will make this a permanent entity in the city.  

I am also proud to have increased arts funding during my tenure, successfully creating murals throughout the city, arts in parks, ArtPATH, film festivals, and many other creative attractions. This focus will continue and expand for the next four years to ensure that we show the pride and creativity of the City of Lansing.

Small Businesses

From day one, I have focused on small business assistance. We have many resources to assist those that want to go into business through our EDC. My administration brought in eBay’s Retail Revival program and Grow with Google, which help small businesses create an online presence. 

When the pandemic hit, I created the Small Business Rescue Program and Lansing provided $400,000 in grants (not loans!) to our small businesses. We also created the Lansing CARES program which provided $780,000 in forgivable loans to small businesses, in addition to $100,000 to microbusinesses in partnership with Michigan Women Forward. We also worked closely with our small businesses to secure LEAP regional loans and PPP loans. I have met with and toured many of the small businesses of Lansing and have heard the stories of how people were kept in business through the usage of these funds. The City of Lansing’s assistance has been crucial in saving many of our small businesses. Additionally, Downtown Lansing Inc.  created several grants and programs to help save and create new small businesses in our downtown, and attract people to our downtown in a time when state employees were working remotely. REOTown and the Old Town Commercial Association, as well as our Corridor Improvement Authorities also found innovative solutions to address the challenges brought with COVID-19. I have also had numerous conversations with state leaders at the highest levels about state employees coming back to work in person when it is safe to do so. Lansing is the seat of state government and we need to have these employees back patronizing our small businesses, especially in our downtown district, as we look to our future. These efforts will continue over the next four years, as small businesses are the lifeblood of a city. They provide jobs, retail, and services needed by residents, visitors, and workers. 

Corridors

Lansing has many important commercial corridors. As Mayor, I’ve worked to reinvigorate, beautify, and make vibrant our many business corridors. We re-activated the Saginaw-Oakland Corridor Improvement Authority and put dollars into façade improvement and art. The westside Biggby had façade improvement and we brought art to Wilson park. 

We re-activated the Michigan Avenue Corridor Improvement Authority and are excited for the many projects that have come from it. We have seen new buildings and retail stores as part of the Capitol to Campus corridor. We have a new urban grocery store and hotel. We have the Venue and Provident Place buildings. And Claras will be redeveloped. We’re also grateful for Sparrow’s multi-million dollar investment in this corridor. The Red Cedar project includes new student housing, senior housing, market rate housing, hotels, green space, and retail and commercial options. Add in the coming redevelopment of the old Sears site and this will be an exciting new urban infill in an important area of Lansing. And we continue to Reimagine the Avenue, and are seeking federal funding in partnership with the Lansing Chamber of Commerce, Sparrow, and Lansing Township.  The Corridor Improvement Authority will also play a large role in ensuring that this area is the best possible entrance to our city from the highway and campus.

I also created two new Corridor Improvement Authorities – S. MLK and West Grand River – and both have the potential to greatly improve these important corridors to the city.  In the next four years, corridor improvement will continue. We will look at other important corridors to our city – Cedar, Pennsylvania, Larch, Waverly, and others – and make sure that our businesses and residents can work together with the city to improve these important entrances to Lansing.

Accommodations

As Michigan’s Capitol City we need to be able to provide plenty of accommodations for visitors to our community. With growing interest in our city as a conference destination and tourist attraction, hotel variety and availability is necessary. The Radisson and our new Courtyard by Marriott, the first new hotel in 30 years, provide excellent options for visitors. Before the pandemic, we had had significant interest in more hotels. That interest will return following the pandemic, and this will continue to be a focus of my administration. We also will continue our partnerships, working collaboratively with the Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). We will also utilize the Lansing Entertainment & Public Facilities Authority (LEPFA) to market Lansing regionally, statewide, and worldwide, and to provide more options to offer visitors (and residents!) interested in enjoying our city.

We will also better utilize Lansing amenities, like the river trail and our transit options, to be more accessible to the rest of the region. This will encourage visitors to come to Lansing and see what we have to offer. 

Riverfront

In the past, the river in Lansing has been blocked off by development. Under my administration, we’ve made it an exciting attraction, breathing life into Lansing. We created Rotary Park, utilizing public-private partnerships to create a space right on the Grand River with a beach, fireplace, tables, and a lighted forest. We’ve worked with kayak and riverboat tours for more fun on the river. Conversion of the City Market to the Lansing Shuffleboard Club will bring a variety of new restaurants and activities. The Marketplace Apartments and MP Social next door provide a fun commercial and residential area, attracting visitors and growing our economy. 

Our fixes to the river trail and park additions have made the entire riverfront more walkable and bikeable. Try visiting the new FitLot that was created in partnership with AARP! This progress will continue over the next four years. While there will be several major new projects, including more work in conjunction with the Community Foundation, I will also work closely with the BWL and investors to repurpose and reuse the closed Eckert plant on the river. Maximizing our riverfront, river trail, and associated activities is yet another reason for people to call Lansing home. 

Opportunity Zones

Lansing is a national leader in utilizing opportunity zones. We were one of the first communities to establish a full prospectus for our opportunity zone areas, which then was used as a model for other communities. Lansing’s opportunity zones provided unique incentives for those that want to invest in Lansing by unlocking federal capital gains tax benefits. We will continue to work nationally to maximize this tool, and to push for equitable usage throughout Lansing in zones in SW Lansing, SE Lansing, the Grand River corridor in NW Lansing, and southern downtown. 

Future of Work in Downtown and Business Corridors

Coronavirus has resulted in a dramatic shift to remote work. This could seriously impact Lansing’s downtown and business corridors -- as the state Capitol, we rely on daytime traffic in addition to our overnight residents to grow our economy. City government is the second largest employer in Lansing, and we need employees to return to work in person to churn investment in our downtown businesses, generate more city income tax, and increase city wealth through parking funds. 

I am working with the Lansing Chamber of Commerce and many businesses to aggressively advocate to the Governor for the return to in-person state employee work once it is safe to do so. 

At the same time, it is incumbent on city leaders to have alternatives in place to prepare for a changing dynamic in the future of work. I created hundreds of new housing options throughout Lansing, and the newest generation of talent increasingly want to live near where they work in business districts and downtown. LEAP CEO Bob Trezise and I are pitching a plan to ensure that newly vacant office space, especially in Lansing’s downtown, could be converted to housing, including mixed-income units. This is an expensive task, and the state needs to provide financial assistance in areas like Lansing with lower rents. Creating an affordable, walkable commercial area would attract residents and new talent downtown, bringing new night-time and weekend activities with them. In turn, more businesses will come to Lansing, attracted to our burgeoning talent. 

Parking in Lansing

My administration is committed to showcasing Lansing as a vibrant community - visitors should remember our city positively. I’ve made major upgrades to parking, including creating efficient and functional downtown parking garages, repaving surface lots, and installing new app-based meter parking, providing convenience for all. We will continue to work with business and customers to make sure the parking experience is the best possible for those who visit our commercial, paid parking areas.

Economic Recovery Resource Developer

As a result of the pandemic, we identified the need for a Community Resource Aid to assist in securing grants and dollars for our community. In conjunction with the Lansing Economic Development Corporation, I hired an Economic Recovery Resource Developer to secure dollars both for the City of Lansing and for the Lansing community in order to assist in economic recovery. Their effort to find nonprofit, foundation, and governmental dollars to air in our recovery and development will continue, helping us emerge from this pandemic stronger.  

This position is already creating great opportunities for Lansing. Our Economic Recovery Resource Developer is assisting in applying for the plethora of federal funding opportunities as part of rescue and infrastructure funds, bringing resources to our city. We are also applying for the new federal earmarks to assist our community. This position gives us a dedicated resource and leg-up on competitors in bringing all grant dollars back to Lansing. 

Supporting Important Local Industries

Lansing has many important industries, and the City will continue to work with them. I am proud of my relationship with GM, and the new jobs and investments that have been created during my tenure. We also have manufacturing, IT, insurance, medical, and other industries here in the City that employ Lansing residents and help to sustain our economy. 

Regionalism has also been very important, and I have repaired relationships and worked closely with other local governments as well as Michigan State University, Lansing Community College, Davenport, and others. Support for health care and bio-tech, including our two hospital systems (Sparrow and McLaren) has created a new industry for Lansing and the region, especially during the pandemic. 

Marijuana

As Mayor, I have worked with Lansing City Clerk Swope and the Lansing City Council to establish a recreational marijuana ordinance that will allow for 28 recreational marijuana licenses in addition to our 25 medical marijuana licenses. We also successfully created four micro licenses. We worked collaboratively to ensure that these marijuana dispensaries are not near city parks or other vulnerable populations, and were appropriately spread out throughout the city. We also ensured that there were appropriate opportunities for marijuana grow locations, which produce marijuana plants statewide, creating tax benefits to the City of Lansing. I support the economic benefits of Marijuana, and promote thoughtful implementation of recreational locations, rather than our City’s past of numerous unlicensed marijuana sellers populating buildings all over the city. Creation of this new system with safe, presentable, and appropriate retail and grow facilities has been tremendously successful in providing jobs to Lansing residents, rehabbing blighted buildings, bringing tax dollars to Lansing, and bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the State of Michigan to the City of Lansing.