WLNS: City of Lansing leaders meet with investors to discuss local opportunities

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — City of Lansing leaders met virtually with local, regional and national investors to outline investment “Opportunity Zones” that will increase the quality of life for residents in Lansing, as well as cities across state of Michigan.

The 2020 virtual Michigan Investor Summit was hosted by the Michigan Municipal League (MML), Accelerator for America, and the Michigan Urban Core Mayors. Mayor Schor is a member of the Accelerator for American and Michigan Urban Core Mayors.

The virtual event, which took place at www.investmi.org, showcased local Opportunity Zone projects designed for mix-use development, retail, office, residential, hospitality and tourism investments. The summit was supported by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA), the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), and numerous other sponsors.

“The projects pitched this week aim to increase the quality of life for residents in cities across Michigan,” said Dan Gilmartin, CEO and executive director of the Michigan Municipal League. “It is our hope that the presentations and conversations that took place at this event will open dialogue between potential investors and communities, and eventually these discussions will result in real investment in meaningful projects throughout our great state.”

City leaders from across the state presented opportunities for investors to partner on innovative and impactful projects where communities and investors can partner to build long-term community wealth. Officials from 13 Michigan urban centers gave short pitches of Opportunity Zone projects available for development in their cities.

The presentations to more than 100 prospective developers and investors from throughout the nation were followed up with City Expo Hall sessions where the potential investors could meet one-on-one with the local government officials to ask specific questions.

The 13 participating communities were the cities of Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Bay City, Dearborn, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids,  Jackson,  Kalamazoo,  Lansing,  Muskegon,  Pontiac and Saginaw.

“Lansing is seeing a tremendous interest in revitalization and development. We have been pitching development in our Opportunity Zone corridors and have seen some interest. I’m thrilled that we were able to be part of this national pitch to add to the success of our Opportunity Zone Program in our corridors,” said Mayor Andy Schor.

As the result of strong community and economic development initiatives including Opportunity Zones, the City of Lansing has seen substantial investment in recent years: in 2019, Lansing Economic Development Corporation projects resulted in nearly $500 million of investment into the City of Lansing. Lansing’s most recent project utilizing Opportunity Zones is the newly opened Capital City Market, which brought an urban grocery store, a new hotel, and additional apartment units to the downtown.

The City of Lansing Opportunity Zones projects showcased at the Michigan Investor Summit include two developments on South Washington Ave by local developer Urban Systems, the 600 Block Redevelopment and the 800 Block Redevelopment. The 600 Block project will include new construction and renovation of 36 apartments and 10,000 square feet of pre-leased commercial space. The 800 Block development just south of I-496 in REO Town will bring new multifamily housing to the area.  

“Building stronger connections between the neighborhoods that I-496 splits are Jeff Dehaan’s and my passion.  We appreciate the City of Lansing’s and LEAP’s focus in helping us share this vision through the MML OZ conference last week,” said Brent Forsberg, President T.A. Forsberg Inc.

More information about these projects, as well as additional investment opportunities, can be found in Lansing’s Opportunity Zones Prospectus at https://www.purelansing.com/business/lansing/lansing-opportunity-zones/.

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