Brian Anderson

Brian Anderson is the Center City Director for the Lansing Economic Development Corporation.  He is a graduate from the Michigan State University College of Urban and Regional Planning.  Brian handles Economic Development activity for Downtown Lansing, which includes the “four corners” commercial neighborhoods of Old Town, REO Town, East Michigan Ave., and West Saginaw.  In three years with the Lansing EDC Brian has taken on several brownfields and other redevelopment projects while also sitting on several boards and committees and meeting with dozens of small businesses.  Brian is the project manager for Lansing’s Stadium District Cool Cities initiative, Michigan Avenue Corridor Improvement Authority, and Old Town Business Improvement Zone.  He lists “development” and “urbanism” among his many interests.  Brian also is a recent addition to the MML’s Economic Development Policy Committee and sits on the National Brownfield Association’s Legislative Policy and Analysis Committee for the Michigan Chapter.  Away from the office Brian enjoys running, cooking, and traveling with his wife, Kasey.

Contact information

Brian Anderson
517-483-4594
banderso@lansingmi.gov

Monday

June 16, 2008

The challenge to find equilibrium in urban development

Lansing, Michigan – typically when you see this dateline anywhere outside of mid-Michigan it has got something to do with the state government.  Recently, we’ve been trying to put Lansing back on the map as somewhere more than the City you might have gone to for a conference or as a child to see the Capitol building.  When you see new projects like the loft conversions on Washington Square, new row houses in the Cherry Hill Neighborhood, mixed-use projects like the Stadium District building, or major corporate announcements like the Accident Fund expansion, you start to get a feel for the fruits of our labor.  However, with each new announcement comes the internal struggle to make our downtown work like the way it did back when downtowns worked; for as many different types of people as possible.

When Mayor Bernero announced the Linking Lansing & U initiative it signified a major departure from the standard focus of the downtown, we acknowledged we’re more than a daytime home for seasoned professionals.  Now we want to be known as the home for future professionals as well, and a recent report by Lou Glazer’s Michigan’s Future suggests we’re on the right track.  Lansing was already home to one of the state’s largest community colleges, the largest law school, and was just mere steps from Michigan State University; but never before had we tried to coordinate new jobs, entertainment, and housing around the needs of the students like we are now.

Yet, if all we did was target downtown to the student population, we might miss the bus on another emerging downtown residential segment: the empty nesters.  This is the demographic that sold out Printers Row in record time.  We’re seeing similar interest in the Stadium District building, and pre-sales on the soon to be constructed 18-story Capitol Club Tower are going like some combined Wii and i-Phone super gadget.  Many of these sales are being driven by folks who’ve worked here for years, lived outside the city, and now want a change of pace.  These folks are typically new to Lansing as residents and want the convenience of walking to work, fine dining, and entertainment. 

Then also is the budding residential demographic, the often misunderstood “young professional.”  These are the recent college graduates who want recreation, fresh produce, natural beauty, urban living, entertainment, and access to a high concentration of professional employers all at their fingertips.  Sometimes we confuse the young professionals with the creative class (another blog topic for another day) but this group of residents is typically our most mobile, and easiest to lose.  They’ve never had a viable product offering in downtown Lansing.  We need to keep them engaged, give them lots of options, and offer young professionals the new buzz term in urban development: a sense of place.  This is why loft conversions and new developments like the Market Place / Ball Park North are so important to our growth.  By building an urban “global” village smack dab on the riverfront, squarely between the City Market and Oldsmobile Park, along the river trail, in the heart of our entertainment hub, and across the river from a major corporate employer (Accident Fund) we’re giving a young professional everything they want, with a touch of glam as well.

Juggling the needs of business, government, and residents is a constant balancing act, however by the growth, investment, and energy we’ve seen we think we’re on the right path.

Check back tomorrow to hear Brian’s thoughts on development incentives.

Tuesday

June 17, 2008

Why urban centers need development incentives

My basic understanding of the origins of urban development goes like this: In the beginning there were people, shortly thereafter those people started to build cities, and ultimately those cities had downtowns.

They built buildings and sewers, streets and alleys.  Then electricity came along and they put up lighting and electrical poles and ran wires all over town.  The downtown wasn’t just the center of local commerce, it was local commerce!  There were factories next to rivers, hotels next to butchers, and proper land use was nary a concern.  Over time, the buildings got old and people started to move outward from the center of the city.  Suburban retail became the new hot thing and downtowns slowly became less and less “full service.”  The investment in downtowns went away, parking became more of a necessity, and people’s willingness to walk to work was superseded by the convenience of the on-site parking lot.  The outlook on downtowns was nothing short of bleak.

Luckily, a revolution was in store and downtowns started coming back.  The romance of the big city was renewed and investment opportunities sprang back into life.  Properties that had sat vacant for years were suddenly ripe for loft conversion, new office space, and retail transformation.  With these old properties came costs, high costs.  These vacant, deteriorating structures weren’t up to code, many were getting ready for a function they were never intended, some were horribly contaminated with asbestos, lead, and other nasty materials.  Often, the utilities on the site were so old they barely functioned and needed to be completely replaced.  Rehabbing these structures would be a nightmare, sometimes 200% more expensive than building new in the suburbs, and the market for them was untested.  This is when the economic development incentive came to rescue the day.

Tax incentives, also known as “tax breaks” or “tax abatements” help even the playing field.  A typical tax incentive defrays some of the extraordinary costs by either abating or reimbursing normal fixed overhead (the newly increased property taxes).  Incentives never cut taxes, lets get that point clear, they simply delay the time in which a property owner pays the increased taxes as a result of their development.  In many urban centers, the tax rate is much higher than in the surrounding communities, which only amplifies the costs between your urban core and your suburban fringe.  Essentially, it helps the developer from suffering a one-two punch from a high cost development bill then a great big tax bill.

So why did anyone ever come back downtown in the first place?  Some say it was the primal urge of mankind to be around other people, others say it was the convenience, others yet say the glamour of city living.  Regardless of the reason, there was a potentially explosive market on the table and cities needed to help minimize the risk to make it pop, otherwise there would have been no way to meet market demands.  The death of the downtown would have been assured.  Tax incentives indeed saved the day.

Michigan’s property tax incentives are among the best in the nation, which is helping downtowns like Lansing’s become more enjoyable places to be.

Check back tomorrow to hear Brian’s thoughts on the ultimate lifestyle center.

Wednesday

June 18, 2008

Downtown Lansing – the ultimate lifestyle center

By now its likely you’ve gone to the newest retail amalgamation called the “lifestyle center.”  The idea being that people no longer want to be forced into choosing between large indoor mega-malls and small outdoor strip-malls, and can now have the best of both worlds.  The concept itself is eerily familiar; you park your car, get out, and walk from shop to shop along the sidewalk.  You’re forced to go outside each time you want to go from one shop to the next.  It sounds strikingly similar to… a downtown!  Only, these “lifestyle centers” aren’t downtowns, but they’re meant to feel like a downtown.  The ambiance, the outdoors, the parking; they’re all very downtownish.

Many of these “lifestyle centers” feature retail that is built on experience.  You might pay more than you would normally for an item, but because you feel like a rock star doing it; you’re more than willing to fork over the cash.  I have no issues with this concept, in fact, I’ve spent many-a-dollar in stores on gifts for my wife due solely to the superior customer service, or the ambiance that was unlike anywhere else.  A lot of the stores where I spend my hard-earned dollar are patronized for reasons that have nothing to do with the goods I’m purchasing.  Why?  It’s because of the built environment and the experience of shopping in an urban area.

This is why I tell people Downtown Lansing is the ultimate lifestyle center.  You can’t go to a mall and shop in the shadows of Boji Tower, you can’t eat on a corner bistro in a lifestyle center and have the picturesque view of the State Capitol.  You’ll never get the quality of service in a big box store like you will in an institution like Kositchek’s, and you’ll never rub shoulders with a state Senator or corporate CEO while in line for a latte when you’re parked at a drive through.  The awesome experience of shopping in a dense urban environment just can’t be duplicated.

Unlike the typical glorified strip malls that manufacture a so-called “lifestyle,” you can actually live and work in downtown.  When was the last time you lived, worked, and shopped at the mall?  While it is not necessarily going to fill the needs of every shopper to cross its path, the diversity of options and the one-of-a-kind experience in Lansing’s downtown makes for a more interesting and authentic lifestyle.

Check back tomorrow to hear Brian’s thoughts on the original “cool cities” neighborhood.

Thursday

June 19, 2008

Lansing’s Old Town – the original “cool cities” neighborhood

When Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class hit shelves it touched off a sand storm of activity focused around this unique and previously unknown “creative class.”  Not only were bohemians being considered something other than “crazy hippies” they were actually considered an asset, they were even given their own index!  In response, the state of Michigan rolled out the revolutionary “Cool Cities” initiative, aimed largely at turning the focus of urban development towards courting people who were being labeled as creative, the people Florida says make urban areas thrive.  Almost immediately the confusion between “young professional” and “creative professional” began, and as everyone scrambled to attract these strange, unknown personalities, the original, organic cool cities neighborhoods began to thrive.

Grand Rapids has East Town, Ferndale is one too.  Lansing?  Ours is Old Town, and while it’s known as a place for live music, galleries, and one of a kind boutiques, it’s actually a professional juggernaut focused around artistic skill and creativity.  Get past the boutiques, the galleries, and cafés and you’ll find Old Town has an amazing collection of graphic design, film and video, music and sound design, web, photography, event staging, marketing, public relations, architecture, and interior design professionals.  There is a certain air of entrepreneurial spirit surrounding Old Town, and this astounding collection of creative driven enterprises is the foundation of that movement.

I’ve spent the past year meeting individually with almost every creative business I can find to figure out why these professionals chose to be located there of all places.  My findings are that the open culture, the freedom of expression, and the community spirit are some of the strongest factors.  I actually don’t think art has as much responsibility for Old Town becoming the creative center of mid-Michigan as does the personality traits that the artists bring.  That same personality is what made huge events like Festival of the Sun and Moon, Colors of Salsa, Bluesfest, Jazzfest, and Oktoberfest such large draws on summer weekends.  Old Town pulls off cosmopolitan without the big city pretension that usually comes with it.  Those creative professionals support the open, festive atmosphere; it makes the area unique and fun.  Most importantly, these professionals allow the pure creatives, the artists and “bohemians,” to feel accepted and welcome in a commercially growing area.

In my belief, the Cool Cities initiative has had a transformative effect on several communities.  Cool Cities got people thinking about how the environment they provide can attract the attitudes and culture that make an area a fun place to be.  The natural examples can point to what will truly make a “cool cities” community successful, by ultimately providing a foundation that will lead to a higher level of professional commerce while leaving in tact that cool creative spirit.  Old Town’s bridge between the pure arts culture to the professional lifestyle has been their creative-based professional companies, and that is what made Old Town, as they like to say, a little past normal.

Check back tomorrow to hear Brian’s thoughts on how far we have to go.

Friday

June 20, 2008

We’ve Come So Far (and have so far to go!)

This week I’ve talked about a lot of very BIG things we’ve got planned for the City of Lansing.  I’ve spent a lot of time talking about downtown, because I think it’s important that this region have a huge draw, a center of commerce, and a bustling urban environment.  I think downtown is something everyone should own, whether you live outside the city limits, or in one of the several city neighborhoods, everyone should take ownership of their downtown.  Yet still, downtown has a long way to go, we haven’t yet begun construction on a lot of our big announcements, so it’ll be hard for people to believe it until they see the cranes in the air.  Still, the buzz is building; it’s an exciting time in Lansing.

While I say (in a Yogi meets Lombardi kind of way) a great downtown is everything, it definitely is not the only thing.  Our commercial neighborhoods are vitally important to our residents, the small businesses and locally oriented shops who primarily serve them need to be supported heavily to survive.  They don’t get to rely on a region-wide attraction to carry the day; they need strong, stable business from their neighbors.  This is why the Lansing EDC is equally as focused on our surrounding commercial neighborhoods as we are the downtown.

Proof of this came when a year and a half ago we created a position who’s main task was doing economic development in south Lansing, a first for the area.  We’ve focused on large initiatives like Corridor Improvement Authorities for East Michigan Avenue and West Saginaw.  A new project we’re undertaking is a Business Improvement Zone for the Old Town area.  We are constantly working with REO Town to bring new developments and businesses to that area.

While much of our tools are for commercial enterprise and commercial districts, we also try to proactively work with neighborhoods.  The upcoming Olofsson Redevelopment was a project that came about after heavy input from the Old Everett Neighborhood, the Ottawa-Butler housing development used meetings with the area neighbors to help the design seamlessly integrate into the surrounding area.

This type of activity is just beginning to scratch the surface.  As we work to bring new housing opportunities, jobs, and commerce to Lansing, we are always mindful to accommodate the needs of those that are served by such development.  When we expand opportunities for as many people as possible we give ourselves the best chance at a prosperous future, and that is the mission that drives us.