The 70,000 square foot Governor’s Inn hotel on Lansing's Southside will be demolished and is the future site of Lansing’s first Sonic, an old fashioned drive-in restaurant.
Sonic will occupy roughly one acre of the four-acre site. Ken Szymusiak, director of south and outer Lansing for the Lansing Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), says the demolition of the hotel will make room for additional developments.
“It’s really exciting to develop a complete four acre site and bring in a brand that is a first in greater Lansing,” Szymusiak says.
The hotel has been abandoned for about eight months and includes several buildings. The city hopes to capture brownfield funds for the estimated $720,000 site demolition and preparation.
“We think having an empty building brought back to life will have a huge ripple effect,” he says.
The site is right across from a new branch of NuUnion, which was also redeveloped on an old hotel site.
The city is shooting for a December demolition. Sonic is expected to open its doors in the spring of 2010. The site is located at 1000 Ramada Dr.
Source: Ken Szymusiak, City of Lansing
Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.
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