By 2009, the Ingham County Land Bank should own 10.3 acres of the old School for the Blind property, allowing the Land Bank to start an extensive townhouse development on the site.
According to excerpts from the article:
Eric Schertzing, county treasurer and Land Bank board chairman, expects to take title to 10.3 acres of the northwest portion of the property before 2009. The Land Bank already owns three lots at the northeast corner, at Willow and Pine streets, and is eyeing purchase of the large superintendent’s house on Pine Street.
But finding buyers in this depressed housing market, in a neighborhood where half its homes are rentals, will not be easy. So Schertzing hired consulting firm Market Perspectives of Roseville, Calif., to study who will buy, and how much they would be willing to spend.
Armed with a 127-page, $13,000 market study, Schertzing now knows the earning capacity of projected buyers, what kind of cars they drive, their favorite places to dine out and even what magazines they read.
The Land Bank is already getting prepared. It and Lansing developer Gene Townsend will build what they predict will be the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a national rating program for environmentally friendly buildings) certified single-family home in the city at the corner of Chestnut and Maple streets, a block from the School for the Blind. Townsend chairs the area’s Green Building Council and is the developer of the Printers Row townhouses in the Cherry Hill Historic District.
Read the entire article here.
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