A five-ton, $50,000, 12-foot thick “MW” recently rose above Saginaw Street and took root next to the new Motor Wheel lofts. The steel MW is an impressive marketing tool for the loft development, which has been popular among the area’s young professionals.
According to excerpts from the article:
The free-standing logo features an M and a W, positioned in mutual reflection, boldly identifying developer Harry Hepler’s colossal Motor Wheel factory-turned-residential-complex.
Five tons of steel went into the sign, which cost Hepler $50,000.
It was the project of a lifetime for metal working wizard and Old Town-based developer Fred Hammond. He prefers to call it a“three-dimensional sculpture.”
If Hepler is ever hard up for cash, he can rent the sign out as an extra loft. Internal air ducts prevent condensation and vent heat.All the horizontal surfaces are slightly tilted for drainage.
“It’s considerably over-engineered,” Hammond said.“There’s a lot of little things you don’t see that are engineered into this to make it last forever.”
Chalk it up to the hubris of Hepler, who converted the derelict Motor Wheel factory, one of Lansing’s most conspicuous eyesores, into an office complex and wrap around residential block, completed in 2006.
Read the entire article here.
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