CBRE retained for potential sale of Lansing City Hall property

CBRE retained for potential sale of Lansing City Hall property

LANSING — The City of Lansing has retained commercial real estate brokerage firm CBRE | Martin to move ahead with a planned sale of its City Hall property in downtown Lansing.

The Lansing-based real estate firm will market the more than 30,000-square-foot perimeter site dubbed “Capitol Vista Plaza” to would-be developers through a Request for Proposals and Qualifications (RFPQ) process, according to a statement and accompanying video.

The city plans to relocate City Hall to a new, undetermined location prior to the redevelopment of the existing site, according to a statement.

“Both the City of Lansing and my administrative staff recognize the tremendous value of redeveloping this property,” Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero said in a statement. “Redevelopment is the best option for the City financially and for the overall betterment of the community.”

The existing Lansing City Hall is nearly 60 years old and upgrades would be costly, according to a 2016 report from the Lansing State Journal.

With its location in downtown Lansing and directly across the street from the State Capitol building, stakeholders believe the site offers opportunities for developers to construct a 20-to-30 story high-rise building that could offer a variety of uses, including retail and residential space.

“Our goal is to attract qualified developers with the vision, experience, capacity, financial qualifications and passion to build a significant mixed-use high-rise building that could include a variety of commercial, retail, entertainment, hotel or high-density residential concepts with unmatched views of the State Capitol,” Bernero stated.

For his part, CBRE | Martin Chairman & CEO Van Martin stated that his firm “is excited to be a part of the continued catalyst and revitalization of Downtown Lansing.”

It’s not clear what kind of price the Lansing City Hall site could fetch on the market, but the nearby One Michigan Avenue office building sold to Grand Rapids-based real estate firm Vision Real Estate Investment Inc. for a reported $16.5 million earlier this year, as MiBiz reported at the time.