All hail the new building

State Sen. Cameron Brown says he will attend a meeting of the State Administrative Board Tuesday to urge members to halt the new Michigan State Police building for downtown Lansing. Give Brown marks for persistence.

Brown, R-Sturgis, was one of only three members of the Joint Capital Outlay Committee to oppose the project on the so-called Triangle property along the Grand River. He thinks the people of Michigan have a better deal right now in keeping the MSP at its East Lansing headquarters, which it leases for $1 a year from MSU.

When the board meets at 11 a.m. at the Michigan Historical Library downtown, Brown says he will ask members — led by Gov. Jennifer Granholm — to send the idea (priced at $45 million for the public) back to committee.

Unfortunately, a “no” vote is highly unlikely. Granholm wants the big, expensive building  and the board vote is seen as a formality. Even Brown said Tuesday he had no reason to believe he could change the outcome: “As a citizen, I am doing my due diligence” on the issue.

It’s been most interesting to watch how so much effort’s gone into financing this particular project at this particular site. The building will be constructed by developers Gary Granger and Joel Ferguson. The state will lease with the option to buy. It will take up prime space on the Grand River.

Over the years as this proposal rose, died, revived and shrank, no one could come up with a way to locate a state building adjacent to other state buildings on under-utilized space well away from the Grand River.

We’re told by our diligent leaders that this is the best available investment for tax dollars right now — despite what we may think.

Yep. Interesting.

Comments

[JRS]

Building this unneeded white elephant is all about paying back political favors of the past.
I'll let others fill in the details if they want to. This is raw politics at its worse.

[Bob Dobalita]

I am sickened by the OBVIOUS BS that is going on here. "great deal for the tax payers"... yeah... the new building is 45mil.. the upkeep of the old building was 6 mil/year... so we can guess that the new building will need similar or MORE upkeep... so instead of spending $1 plus 6mil a year, we can blow 45 mil, and still spend 6 mil a year... GREAT IDEA!!!