MSU officials discussing potential building use
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The fate of the current Michigan State Police headquarters, which is owned by MSU and located across the road from campus, still is uncertain as state police employees await the headquarters’ scheduled move to downtown Lansing.
MSU officials are waiting for police to move out to assess potential uses for the current property, located on Harrison Road near Shaw Lane, MSU Vice President for Finance and Operations Fred Poston said. Michigan State Police spokeswoman Shannon Banner said police expect construction on the new building, located in downtown Lansing, to be complete in time for a January move-in.
“It’s kind of been a long time coming,” she said. “I think at this point, everyone’s just anxious to find out what the actual move date is.”
Banner said the state police have leased their current building from MSU for more than 70 years. Michigan State Police currently pay $1 per year to lease the building.
The $71 million purchase of the new building was authorized in the state police budget approved in October, said Patty Russ, public information officer for the Michigan Department of Management and Budget. Russ said the state will lease the building for a year before purchasing it, likely in January 2011. Details about the purchase are being finalized, she said.
Poston said there is not enough information to begin the next stage of planning for the MSU property, as the university has not yet assessed it.
He said there are a number of possibilities for the property, ranging from event parking to a location for MSU departments to relocate.
“It’s a prime location and there are a lot of different things that could be done there and all of them are pretty good things for the university,” he said. “It’s not going to go unused, that’s for sure.”
Discussion previously consisted of whether police were going to move, Poston said.
The decision to move to Lansing came amid criticism from some legislators, such as state Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge. Jones said he fought the purchase of the building from the start of negotiations.
“As every dollar gets more and more precious, this building is going to stand as a monument to stupidity,” he said. “Everyone who drives by is going to say, ‘Why was the money spent on that?’”
But Joel Ferguson, chairperson of the MSU Board of Trustees and the project’s developer, said he never was affected or concerned by the controversy.
“We never stopped work (on the building) for one day,” he said. “The job is done — once Legislature approves it, it’s done.”
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student
(12/01/09 12:02am)Report
I hope they don’t use it for parking or storage purposes. They should fixed it up a little and see if they use it to house University units or develop the space to house businesses or some sort of entity that can enhance the economic landscape.
I am confident that East Lansing officials will be involved in this and will try to make the most out of it.
On the other hand, as tough as things are I wouldn’t mind if they use it to generate revenue from leasing it or parking space. If there’s something MSU really needs is cash.
Townsend
(12/01/09 12:52pm)Report
I wouldn’t mind using the building for some administrative department uses, but to put academic programs or even profs/academic uses would needlessly continue what is already an overly sprawling campus. MSU should try and make programs more compact, like the liberal arts/socials sciences on North Campus or how the physical sciences/chemistry/cyclotron is grouped in a dense quad on south campus, and not like the Engineering college, which has units all over the place, spread even way South of the railroad tracks… Even though MSU has one of the most beautiful, but campus planning — from the standpoint of logic and convenience to students — isn’t an MSU strong suit.