Transportation : Development News

After operating out of a temporary facility for more than a year, the United States Customs and Border Protection Federal Inspection Station at the Capital Regional International Airport finally has its own facility.

The 17,500 square foot, $4.3 million port of entry is located at the east end of the main terminal.

“The full service travel inspection station will provide customs clearances for large and mall passenger aircraft, air cargo shipments and corporate aviation flights,” says Robert Selig, executive director of the Capital Region Airport Authority.

“We’ll be the only full service, international airport inside of the state, outside of Detroit," he says, "meaning that most of the international airports in Michigan that have international in their name only clear corporate aviation flights."

Lansing has been clearing similar flights for more than a year, but also has full range custom clearance, including passenger cargo.

“Our intention is to be a mini version of Detroit and Chicago,” Selig says.

Selig says the Capital Region Airport Authority is working with several airlines to establish international passenger flight departures from Lansing.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been operating out of the temporary facility since June 2008.

Source: Bob Kolt, Kolt Communications

Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here. 

All Photographs © Dave Trumpie

In the spring of 2010, the City of East Lansing will start the last phase in a five-year, $1.7 million public pathways development project.

“This provides a linkage,” says Todd Sneathen, director of Public Works for the City of East Lansing. “We have very few east-west routes throughout the city.”

The project was designed to increase sidewalk access and safety for pedestrians along major thoroughfares. The Saginaw Pathways Project will result in an additional 1.4 miles of sidewalk on each side of Saginaw Street.

“The City has a vested interest in making Saginaw Street more pedestrian and bicycle friendly for public school children, Michigan State University (MSU) students and others that regularly travel along that corridor,” says East Lansing City Manager Theodore Staton. “We’ve spent a lot of time behind the scenes laying the groundwork for this project and are excited to see it included in plans for the 2010 construction season.”

The Saginaw Pathways Project is the final piece of the project and is scheduled to begin in April 2010. Completion is slated for August 2010.

Source: Todd Sneathen, City of East Lansing

Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.

Two Men and a Truck invested $2 million in the redevelopment of its 50,000 square foot Lansing facility.

“We have always rented buildings ever since we moved the business out of our home 15 years ago,” says Jon Sorber, executive vice president of Two Men and a Truck. “We decided we were now at a point where we wanted to build equity in a building.”

Two Men and a Truck purchased the 50,000 square foot, 1200 Keystone Ave. building three years ago and recently finished renovations on the new flagship franchise offices. New franchisees visit flagship offices to observe operations.

“We completely gutted it right to the inside and the roof and the cinder blocks on the inside,” he says. “It looks like a brand new building on the inside and we used all Michigan contractors.”

The Keystone site gives the company plenty of room for its more than 20 moving trucks. It’s also close to the highway and very accessible to drivers and franchisees.

Roughly 40 movers and drivers work from the new Lansing office. Two Men and a Truck is using half of the 50,000 square foot space and maintains its Belle Chase Way headquarters in Lansing.

Source: Jon Sorber, Two Men and a Truck

Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.

All Photographs © Dave Trumpie

Founded in 2004, Grand Ledge-based Kuntzsch Business Services, Inc. has added seven employees and moved into a 3,800 square foot rehabbed building in Grand Ledge.

“The 3,800 square feet was actually more space that we needed for the size of our business at the time, but within six months, we added four bodies. So we grew into it,” says President and CEO Rachel Kuntzsch.

Kuntzsch Business Services, Inc. provides services to organizations and businesses that strive to implement new energy solutions. Kuntzsch Business Services manages the Greater Lansing Clean Cities (GLCC), which recently won $1.1 million from a U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) competition for a bus-emission-reduction project.

Kuntzsch moved Kuntzsch Business Services, Inc. into the 300 N. Bridge St. Grand Ledge building in August 2008 after the former tenant, a physical fitness center, moved out.

“We had to do some finishing work to make it functional for an office, but it’s a very nice space,” she says. “It’s laid out so there’s a large open area for workshops and meetings for more than 25 people.”

Kuntzsch’s husband, Dave, and his business partners rehabbed the former auto repair parts warehouse in 2008, adding four 1,000 square foot condos to the upper floor of the building.

The move "ties into our sustainability model because it’s the renewal of an old space,” Kuntzsch says.

Kuntzsch Business Services, Inc. occupies the entire first floor of the building.

Source: Rachel Kuntzsch, Kuntzsch Business Services, Inc.

Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.

The City of Williamston has a very successful industrial park that includes businesses like Tri-State Hospital Supply and MC Molds. This year, the City of Williamston will use a $400,000 federal grant to build more in roads to the industrial park, an investment Michelle Aniol, speaking on behalf of the City of Williamston, says will attract more businesses.

“This is a big boost to Williamston’s job creating efforts and the efforts to attract and retain renewable energy firms, the alternative energy industry and the medical industry,” Aniol says.

“This is more than just a road project,” Aniol says. “This is a project that really expands the opportunities for industrial investment in the industrial park.”

The U.S. Department of Commerce gave the city the grant. Aniol says construction should be complete by the end of this construction cycle.

Source: Michelle Aniol, City of Williamston

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

The City of Lansing’s streets have a regional reputation for crater-sized potholes and divots, but this year, the City of Lansing is embarking on a $16.55 million plan to fix the worst of these roads.

The $16.55 million plan includes repairs to 302 miles of local streets, 107 miles of major streets and 33 miles of state trunkline roads. The state trunklines are scheduled to be fixed by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).

$2.3 million in federal stimulus money will fund improvements on Michigan Avenue, Edgewood Boulevard, Washington Avenue and Holmes Road. The remaining funding will come from emergency bonds ($3 million), the Lansing Combined Sewer Overflow program ($7.52 million) and other government funding ($6.03 million).

All of the improvements are expected to be finished by the end of the 2009 construction season.

To view a map of the scheduled projects, click here.

Source: Randy Hannan, City of Lansing

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Manufacturer EV Performance Warehouse Inc. is looking at more than 148,000 square feet of space in the Lansing area for its new battery laboratory and assembly center.

“Most of the resources in the U.S. are based in Michigan for manufacturing of this type,” says EV Performance Warehouse Inc. President David Sterrett about deciding to bring the facility to Michigan.

EV Performance Warehouse Inc. will redevelop or construct a facility that will house the (LEVC) Lansing Electric Vehicle Center where all-electric and gas-electric hybrid products will be created.

“The assembly plant will most likely be on the Westside of town,” he says. Sterrett says they need at least a 100,000 square foot facility to accommodate production.

Sterrett adds that the company hopes to bring 70 direct jobs and a total of 500 direct and indirect jobs to the area in the next 12 to 24 months.

Source: David Sterrett, EV Performance Warehouse Inc.

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Braden Lentz recently started the Party Cab Company, a different kind of cab company that he hopes will be defined by a “party doesn’t stop at the cab ride” mentality, allowing users to pick their own music, smoke and enjoy themselves while catching a ride home.

“Business 101 says, how do you break into the market?” Lentz says. “At any given time there’s probably 50 or 60 cabs out there.”

“I decided to just be nice to people and give them a reason to choose me over them,” he says.

He officially started running his first cab in September. He hopes to have a second by New Year’s, a third by St. Patrick’s Day and a fourth by Michigan State University’s (MSU) 2009 welcome week.

“I’m trying to figure out how to expand without losing quality of service,” he says.

Lentz’s company is based out of his East Lansing home, but he’s looking for a building to house his growing company.

Source: Braden Lentz, Party Cab Company

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Woodrow Campbell recently opened the appropriately named Green Cab Company on Lansing’s Southside.

The company only operates “green” vehicles such as the Honda Civic Hybrid, which is the first and only car in Campbell’s fleet. Campbell has another Honda Civic Hybrid on order, but he’s one of many wait-listed for the car.

“I should have it by mid-November,” he says. “For a Toyota Prius, I’d have to wait until January or December of next year.”

Campbell started tossing around the idea of a green cab company last year after his wife was inspired by a Toronto-based green cab company.

“Gas prices will not get any cheaper; all they’re going to do is go up,” he says. But more importantly, Campbell wants to do what he can for the environment. “What I’m really concerned with is emitting zero emissions. My car will not pollute your air and that’s all I’m concerned with.”

Campbell says his fare ($2 metered) is comparable, perhaps even cheaper, than other area cab companies.

“Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but in a year or so people will wake up and say, ‘Let’s go with this guy,’” he says.

The Green Cab Company is located at 806 Hamilton Ave. and is open seven days a week. Two cars will be added to the fleet in November.

Source: Woodrow Campbell, Green Cab Company

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

Lansing-based Wieland-Davco is putting the finishing touches on a $2.6 million, 15,000 square foot fire station in nearby Charlotte. The fire station is the city’s second, and should be complete by the end of 2008.

In 2007, Charlotte citizens passed a bond to pay for the new fire station. Charlotte’s existing fire station is divided by a railroad, so if a train is passing during an emergency, emergency workers have to wait for the train to pass before continuing to the scene.

“Basically, the majority of our industry, our schools and our apartment complexes are on the opposite side of where the fire station is now,” says Assistant Fire Chief David Brown.

The new fire station will have a 911 West Shepherd address. Brown says the department has no plans to hire additional staff to staff the new facility. The $3 million bond also includes funds for renovating the original 111 East Lawrence station.

Source: Kevin Shaw, Wieland-Davco

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.

The $1.46 million expansion of Lansing’s River Trail from Ingham County's Hawk Island Park to Maguire Park is complete. The expansion connects the two parks.

The city’s long had a plan to connect area parks, says the director of Lansing Parks and Recreation, Murdock Jemerson.

“It provides more access for people to use the different parks, it provides transportation routes from park to park as well as helps people who use these trails for transportation to work,” he says.

The city started working on the expansion in the winter. The city will also connect Potter Park Zoo to Scott Woods Park. This expansion was put on hold due to spring flooding. The Potter Park Zoo/Scott Woods Park expansion will cost roughly $1.9 million. This expansion should be complete by the end of the year.

“Our River Trail is a tremendous asset to the city and we will continue to invest in expanding it,” says Mayor Bernero. “This latest extension of the trail gives Lansing area residents even more recreational opportunities to enjoy the outdoors and lead healthier lifestyles through walking and biking.”

Source: Murdock Jemerson, City of Lansing

Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.