The City of East Lansing recently acquired two remaining properties for the $11 million Avondale Square development in East Lansing.
For $352,880, the city purchased the two additional properties located at 660 and 672 Virginia Ave., leaving only one of the 25 original properties left for acquisition. The Avondale Square is on the 600 block of Virginia Avenue.
“We were excited to get those pieces, and now that the majority of the land is assembled and will be cleared and have the infrastructure, it will be much easier for builders to sell homes,” says Lori Mullins with the City of East Lansing.
The Avondale Square project is an effort to improve the area by drawing in more families and replacing rundown homes with more attractive residences. When the project is finished, 30 new homes will stand on the property.
“There was a desire to have new homes in the city and affordable starter homes for people who would hopefully have children and help populate the school district,” Mullins says. “The majority of the homes were student rentals and a lot of them were quite small.”
The city is hoping to have the homes sold by 2010. So far, four homes have been constructed and purchased. The design calls for 14 attached units and 16 detached units, but the building plan is flexible.
The City of East Lansing has been working on the project since 2004.
Source: Lori Mullins, City of East Lansing
Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.
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