Here’s Capital Gains’ look at investing in Lansing’s Eastside neighborhood. Also check out our guides to visiting and moving to Eastside Lansing.Lansing’s Eastside neighborhood is well known as one of the most stable neighborhoods in town. Families have a hard time leaving the area, which is part of the reason the Eastside has lower turnover than many other neighborhoods. But it’s not just families that have faith in the Eastside.
Businesses have found a home along the artery of Michigan Avenue between East Lansing and Downtown Lansing, many drawn by the proximity of so many clients and residents. In addition to the local residents, many of whom work at MSU,
Sparrow Hospital, or at the Capital Complex just up the road, travel between Lansing and East Lansing forces people through Lansing’s Eastside.
It’s not hard to see why the location is becoming increasingly attractive for new business location.
Business viewThe Eastside’s most senior business, Sparrow Hospital, has been a neighborhood anchor since the early 1900s. The hospital was started by a group of women who wanted to help local families in 1896. Their business, which was first operated out of a house in downtown Lansing, slowly migrated to the Eastside. They started on Ottawa Street, jumped to Cedar Street, and in the early 1900s landed at their current location at the corner of Pennsylvania and Michigan Avenue.
Having found a perfect home in the Eastside area, the 7,000-employee hospital is preparing to open its $160 million west wing expansion to the public.
“Building a big addition means we have more jobs for people,” says Sparrow Communications Specialist John Lux about the expansion. “It means we’re committed to providing the highest quality of health care to people.”
New business owners both big and small are also filling in the Eastside. Within the last few years, business such as
Michigan Homegrown Music, the
Bead Boutique and
Everybody Reads have joined the Eastside shopping
district.
In May 2006, Everybody Reads owner Scott Harris left his long-time career in insurance and opened a bookstore in the Eastside. Though Harris spent years living and working on the Southside of Lansing, he couldn’t resist the Eastside’s charm.
Harris was actually sitting in an Eastside coffee shop discussing his new business venture when he realized that he just had to open his business on the Eastside.
“The Eastside, I think, has the best future viability,” he says.
Eastside businesses are also expanding.
Gone Wired Café recently expanded its popular community-based café, making more room and giving its many students and professionals more room to spread out for meeting and study time.
New developmentIt’s taken a little while for developers to view the Eastside as a place for renovation and new construction, but the development bug that’s recently hit downtown Lansing is now quickly spreading to the Eastside.
Developer Scott Gillespie is the first major developer to revamp an Eastside building. Gillespie is in the midst of renovating the 4,000 square foot former home of
Lett’s Bridal, an Eastside icon that recently moved to a location on Grand River Avenue. When renovations to the lold Michigan Avenue building are finished, Michigan State University’s (MSU) Center for Community and Economic Development will move into the building, giving MSU its first presence on Lansing’s Eastside.
Gillespie invested in the area because it’s near and dear to his heart (he grew up on the Eastside), but he also anticipates that Downtown’s development wave will naturally progress to the Eastside.
“I think it will continually grow and attract new businesses because of the neighborhood and the amount of people who are living there,” Gillespie says.
The neighborhoodResidents of Lansing’s Eastside say they love living in a safe, tight-knit community that feels like home but doesn’t suffocate. The neighborhoods are architecturally, socially and economically diverse, but everyone looks out for each other. Each of the 20 Eastside residential neighborhoods have extraordinarily active neighborhood groups, which helps discourage crime in the area.
The Eastside is full of amenities, most of which are pedestrian-friendly. The Eastside has several grocery stores, a
hospital and several good quality schools. It also has boutiques, music venues, bars, cafes and quality restaurants. The Eastside’s proximity to the city’s main bus line also makes it extremely easy to travel between Old Town, Downtown, REO Town, the Westside, the Southside, the Eastside and East Lansing.
The Eastside is a 10 minute walk away from the Lansing Riverwalk, the eight mile walking and biking path along the Grand River. The Eastside also includes several parks, a wetland area and a golf course.
Something about the Eastside also seems to inspire loyalty. Perhaps it’s the quaint shops lining Michigan Avenue or the welcoming feel of the neighborhood, but Eastsiders have a hard time shaking the neighborhood if they do leave, as demonstrated by former Eastsider Scott Gillespie.
Businesses also recognize how special the Eastside is and work hard to take care of their own. Sparrow Hospital is extremely involved in the community. The hospital offers a neighborhood homeownership program for its employees, which encourages employees to move to the Eastside. Through the program, the company gives employees who live near Sparrow in the Eastside neighborhood an interest-free loan or pays for closing costs.
Lux says the program supports employees, but it also supports the neighborhood.
“It’s a giant investment,” says Lux about buying a home. “It’s also an investment in the future, which should give people in this community confidence.”
Ivy Hughes is the Development Editor for Capital Gains, and lives in Lansing's Eastside neighborhood.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
Sparrow Hospital
Bead Boutique
Future MSU Center for Community & Economic Development
Lansing Riverwalk
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie