Work on Lansing apartment complex underway; developers project 72 market-rate units
LANSING — Workers have broken ground on a new apartment complex at the corner of Washington Avenue and Malcolm X Street, and its developer says the project likely will have units available by spring 2023.
The project, called “REO Gateway,” will include 72 units "market rate," said Brent Forsberg, an Okemos-based developer. Forsberg’s development company, T.A. Forsberg, is leading the effort.
The development is located on the site where the Deluxe Inn once stood and will include a mix of studio, and 1- and 2-bedroom apartments, Forsberg said.
"We were originally looking at different ideas, and with the housing need right now, we thought it was most important we were able to get it built right away and to get housing on the ground," he said.
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Forsberg defined "market rate" rent in Lansing as between 61% and 140% of the area’s median income.
According to Zillow, the typical Lansing monthly rent price, as of April, was $1,173 — a 13.3% increase from one year before.
The apartments will include appliances such as washers and dryers, as well as a discounted rate to the gym at City View apartments, in progress at the former Lake Trust building. A parking lot in back will face the Grand River, where Forsberg said an entry point will provide water access for kayakers. In addition, developers plan to install electric vehicle chargers in the parking lot.
Forsberg said they also plan to hire mural artists to paint the building’s side “to help promote the culture of REO Town that was built on the idea of graffiti (and) murals as beautification.”
REO Gateway is one of several multifamily housing developments coming up in the area between downtown Lansing and REO Town; other projects include the City View apartments and a smaller project in the city’s Cherry Hill neighborhood, he said. Forsberg said the downtow developments are a collaboration between his company and Lansing-based Dymaxion Development.
The goal, Forsberg said, is to "reconnect the exchanges" that government officials dismantled in the mid-1960s with the construction of I-496.
“How do we create the connections that reconnect the exchanges that 496 broke in our region? It’s looking at the waterways, the trail system, the river trail, the walking trails, the transportation system,” Forsberg said. “That’s why this project was named the gateway ... between REO Town and downtown.”
The I-496 highway project had disproportionate effects on Lansing’s Black community, according to the Historical Society of Greater Lansing in a past State Journal story.
More than 840 homes and businesses in the heart of the community were demolished in the mid-1960s to make way for the highway. More than 600 Black families were forced to relocate and find affordable housing options, which came, by some accounts, too late.
More on the legacy of I-496:
Project will tell the story of how I-496 construction impacted Lansing's black community
From 2009: Interstate 496 construction left a complicated legacy
Forsberg said his team assessed the housing need in the area and decided that market-rate units were best to contribute to their goal of creating a "safer, more walkable district in the community."
"It really is about resetting the local economy so the dollars stay in Lansing, in downtown, in REO Town, that allow for that growth to occur. And that’s the most important thing is keeping the capital local and not putting it out," Forsberg said. "The money we make off this is going to be reinvested back in Lansing."
"Is it the answer to everything? No," he said. "But it’s another piece that brings it closer together (to) connecting parts of our town."
Contact reporter Jared Weber at 517-582-3937 or jtweber@lsj.com.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: 72 market-rate apartments being built near 'gateway' to REO Town
