Eastside : In the News

According to Doug Stites, of Capital Area Michigan Works!, entrepreneurship is possible for nearly everyone, and the Capital region is emerging as a great place for people to start a new business, take risks and seek out their passion or innovative idea. 

According to excerpts from the article.

Entrepreneur Magazine named East Lansing one of the top 10 college towns to start a business, CNN Money named Greater Lansing one of the 50 most business-friendly cities.

And most recently, well-known financial news organization Kiplinger's named Lansing one of the top 10 cities in the country for young adults.

Incubator space such as the East Lansing Technology Innovation Center, NEO Center and the Hatch is making it easier for individuals with great ideas and solid business plans to put it in action without needing much capital to start.

Read the entire article here.

From the Frank Lloyd Wright home in Okemos to the interior of the BWL building, the Capital region is sprinkled with architectural quality.

According to excerpts from the article:

When sculpture is something more than art, when it’s to be worked in and lived in and played in, we call it architecture. 

Functional sculpture — architecture of significance — is part of Greater Lansing’s landscape from the state Capitol and much written about Frank Lloyd Wright house in Okemos to the bits of gingerbread that dangle from the eaves of your own home.
We are surrounded by it. . . .

“The country is becoming really homogenous,” said Laura Rose Ashlee, communications director for the state Historic Preservation Office. “The older buildings are what sets communities apart.”

Read the entire article here.

According to excerpts from the article:

We began our search using the criteria we used to select our overall list of Best Cities for the Next Decade: healthy economies fueling new job growth.

We fine-tuned our search using other youth-friendly factors such as large percentages of people under 35, cost of living and rental costs, culture, nightlife, and the time you're likely to spend in traffic.

Home to five medical schools, two law schools and Michigan State University, Michigan’s capital is a little-known hotbed for young professionals. Granted, this Great Lakes community can’t quite compare to the larger cities on our list in terms of job prospects or things to do. But it has a relatively low cost of living. And its youthful population, downtown renewal projects, and emerging technology sector make Lansing a stand-out in mid-sized cities.

Read the entire article and view the slideshow here.

The East Lansing Summer Concert Series helps draw people to the downtown business area. But it's also a way for the city to express how much it values community events, arts and culture, and bringing the community together, said Ami Van Antwerp, East Lansing's communications coordinator.

The 37,000-square-foot building is planned as a home to nonprofits that have a statewide reach as well as those that serve the local community, said Kyle Caldwell, president and CEO of the Michigan Nonprofit Association. The facility near the intersection of Marshall and Jerome streets also may provide space for smaller nonprofits that need some help getting a start.

A half-acre of vacant land on Lansing's Eastside is about to become the Michigan capital's pioneering urban farm, with help from two Michigan State University faculty members.

The Urbandale Farm Project is the first effort of the Lansing Urban Farm Project, co-founded by Laura DeLind and Linda Anderson.

"Throughout spring and summer, the pair will join area residents, students and volunteers from the federal volunteer program AmeriCorps to maintain the farm," university spokeswoman Kristen Parker said in a story on the university's Web site.

The Lansing project is in the Urbandale area and can't be developed because it sits on the city's 100-year flood plain, DeLind said. The Ingham County Land Bank now owns the farm site.