Boji Tower is Lansing's tallest building, but what others make the list?

LANSING — If a planned 25-story skyscraper is completed, it would eclipse the height of the building that has been the tallest in the city for nearly a century.

At 297 feet, the Boji Tower, across from the state Capitol, has cast the longest man-made shadow in mid-Michigan since it was built in 1931; it was then the tallest building in the state outside of Detroit.

Before R.E. Olds and the Capital National Bank could build the tower, the city had to amend its rules, which at the time prohibited buildings taller than 150 feet.

Soon, a new tower could join Boji and others in the city. The 300,000-square-foot Tower on Grand is planned for a lot between the Grand Tower at 235 S. Grand Ave., where West Washtenaw Street dead-ends into Grand Avenue, and a parking garage to the north. The main portion of the tower would extend 25 floors into the sky on Lansing’s riverfront and give it the city's crown as tallest.

Despite Lansing's early entry into the realm of skyscrapers and its planned entrant, the state's tallest buildings remain overwhelmingly in Detroit, with a smaller number in Southfield and Grand Rapids.

Boji Tower, known once as the Capital Bank Tower and then Michigan National Bank Tower, is the only Lansing-area building to make a Wikipedia list of the 50 tallest buildings in Michigan, coming in at No. 47.

The Michigan State Capitol, with just four floors, does not make the cut for the tallest 50 buildings, but is close. Add an extra 7 feet and the 267-foot building would be taller than the MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit, and it would squeak into 50th place on the list.

While Wikipedia gives credit to a Detroit church as the tallest state building in Michigan's early years, the height and year of construction from its database place the Capitol as the tallest building in Michigan from its opening in 1879 until the opening of the Ford Building in Detroit in 1909, which tops out at 275 feet.

Skyscraperpage.com lists 19 tall buildings in Lansing, but does not include the state capitol.

Most of those buildings are primarily for office space, the exceptions are the Cooley Center (179 feet, education), Lansing City Hall (153 feet) and the Dennis A. Swan Family Tower at Sparrow Hospital (188 feet).

Lansing's tallest buildings

According to Wikipedia and Skyscraperpage.com, Lansing's tallest buildings include:

• Boji Tower has 23 floors and is 297 feet tall (124 W. Allegan St.)

• Michigan State Capitol Building has four floors and 267 feet (110 N. Capitol Ave.)

• The Grand Tower has 16 floors and is 211 feet tall (235 S. Grand Ave.)

• Anderson House Building has 14 floors and is 196 feet tall (124 N. Capitol Ave.)

• Sparrow Tower has 10 floors and is 188 feet tall (1215 E. Michigan Ave.)

• Comerica Bank Building has 15 floors and is 182 feet tall (101 N. Washington Square)

East Lansing's tallest buildings

East Lansing has seven buildings with 10 or more floors, according to skyscraperpage.

The city is quickly growing more and more vertical, with five of those seven buildings being constructed since 2019; among them is the 12-story Landmark on Grand River across the street from Michigan State University in the 300 block of East Grand River Avenue. The entrance and a Target store are on the first floor.

The 10-story Hub On Campus is at Grand River Avenue and Bogue Street. The Abbot is 12 stories at the corner of Grand River Avenue and Abbot Road.

The two older skyscrapers are the twin 1960s-era Hubbard Hall residence buildings on Michigan State University's campus, which at 12 stories are the tallest on campus.

Michigan's tallest buildings (all in Detroit)

According to Wikipedia and Skyscraperpage.com, the tallest buildings include:

• Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, 73 floors and 727 feet tall

• One Detroit Center, 43 floors and 619 feet tall

• Penobscot Building, 47 floors and 565 feet tall

• Guardian Building, 40 floors and 496 feet tall

• Book Tower, 38 floors and 475 feet tall

Michigan's tallest buildings outside of Detroit

Boji Tower is the 10th tallest building in Michigan outside of Detroit and the 47th overall, according to Wikipedia. A series of towers in Southfield, built from 1975 through 1989, account for most of the tallest buildings outside of Detroit.

• River House Condominiums in Grand Rapids, 34 floors and 406 feet tall

• 3000 Town Center in Southfield, 32 floors and 402 feet tall (1000 Town Center and 2000 Town Center would be the next two tallest buildings; 5000 Town Center would be the eighth tallest in Michigan outside of Detroit)

• Top of Troy Building in Troy, 25 floors and 346 feet tall

• Plaza Towers in Grand Rapids, 34 floors and 345 feet tall

• American Center in Southfield, 25 floors and 331 feet tall

• Amway Grand Tower in Grand Rapids, 29 floors and 318 feet tall

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Boji Tower is Lansing's tallest building, but what others make the list?