The City of Lansing closed out 2008 with some strong economic news. During the last three years, the city economic incentives for development projects yielded $592 million in private investment.
“When you add the three years up, it’s a really remarkable economic development story for Lansing,” says Bob Trezise, CEO of the Lansing Economic Development Authority (LEDC). “There are just scores of projects that range from very small to large to biotech to traditional manufacturing. It’s kind of across the board.”
The majority of the investment went into several Downtown Lansing projects, including the renovation of The New Daily Bagel, the redevelopment of the old Board of Water & Light (BWL) power station and the ongoing construction of the Capital Club Towers.
However, there were several investments outside of the immediate Downtown area, including Peckham’s expansion, Jadian Enterprises’ relocation to Lansing and the renovation of the Cedar Street School.
Though the credit crunch has had a negative impact on the number of potential new development projects queued up at the beginning of the year, Trezise is optimistic.
“I believe in late 2009, heading into 2010, there will be a major gush of bottled up projects,” he says. For now, developers and private business owners will continue working on the many ongoing development projects within the city limits.
Source: Bob Trezise, LEDC
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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