The current Michigan State Police headquarters, located on Harrison Road near Shaw Lane, might be demolished and developed into a variety of things, such as a parking structure, MSU officials said.
More than 70 years old, the headquarters has previously leased its current building from MSU for $1 per year.
If the lease is included in the state budget for 2010, a new $39 million privately funded development in downtown Lansing would act as the headquarter’s new location.
The university is open to various possibilities for the current headquarters in East Lansing, MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said.
“We have not had an in-depth, thorough inspection or environmental assessment of that area,” he said. “There are many, many possibilities and many, many considerations.”
The age and condition of the building will be considered before decisions are made on future economic developments, Denbow said.
“We will … evaluate and assess many uses of it,” he said.
The lease will depend on state budget allocations, which currently are being debated in the state House. Then future plans will be made.
“You could use those buildings for some of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams-related activities that may result as well,” state Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, said. “I think there are a lot of good uses that could be made of those buildings.”
It would take more than $1 million to repair the building, Michigan State Police spokeswoman Shanon Akans said.
“Right now, we don’t have the funds to make those repairs or replacements, we do it as needed,” she said. “If we were to stay here for any extended period of time, those are the things we would need to address.”
The maintenance costs for the current headquarters do not compare to what the state will pay under a new lease, Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said.
“We can afford to do a lot of maintenance on something that only costs us $1 a year,” he said.
Despite the repair and upkeep costs, Jones said the building should be operational for some time.
“I have been told that we can put some repairs in the building and easily stay there until 2030,” he said.
Moving to the new headquarters in Lansing has always been worthwhile, said Joel Ferguson, chairperson of the MSU Board of Trustees and the project’s developer.
“(The Department of Management and Budget) showed that this was a sound business thing,” he said.
Making the decision to raze a building is always a tough decision, state Rep. Steven Lindberg, D-Marquette, said.
“It’s always a question whenever you have a building as to is it worth refurbishing or is it more cost-efficient to tear it down,” he said.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
