Art Deco Lansing Landmark to be Restored

Art Deco Lansing Landmark to be Restored Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

INTRO: You may never have even been to Lansing. But business and government people there said this week they’ve got a lesson for you. If you want to build a community then put away the wrecking ball and spend the extra money on your downtown landmarks. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus has the story.

In the 1960′s Karl Dorshimer loved going to Knapp’s Department Store. They’d play Tin Pan music like Doris Day.

“I remember as a kid my mom bringing me down here. I remember going up and down on those escalators. You go up the down and down the up and up the down. Eventually you get yelled at by somebody and your mom is all embarrassed.”

Dorshimer is 50 years old now. He works for the Lansing Economic Development Corporation. He’s also been working with developer Nick Eyde.

“Ideally we’re going to dress this area out for restaurant use and a potential jazz club. When you look at this first floor I think you’d keep in mind retail and restaurant.”

If he can get $20 million in loans, grants and tax breaks, Eyde will spend a different $20 million to restore this 5 story building. It takes most of a city block. Knapp’s outside walls are covered by blue and yellow ceramic tiles. Art deco. It was built in 1937. It’s been empty since 2002. Detroit had Hudson’s and Lansing had Knapp’s. Detroit still has the Taubmans and Lansing still has the Eydes.

“You mentioned the word sprawl before. That’s been a negative term in the history of American development.”

Nick Eyde’s father George and his four brothers have built more than 4 million square feet of space. A lot of it has been as office buildings off the highway or subdivisions cut out of woods. They did build Constitution Hall downtown in 2002. They lease it to the Michigan Departments of Agriculture and Environmental Quality. Nick is forging a new path.

“I’m of the mind set because I lived in these urban areas in Europe and Italy and Austria that I’d like to live in a downtown.”

Nick Eyde is 30. He spent 7 years playing American style football in Europe. Here’s the 2008 Italian Superbowl. Eyde had to do odd jobs to make ends meet but he got to learn languages and hang out in cities planned for people instead of cars.

“I embrace and really loved my time in Europe. We need to take a lot of that and appreciate living in urban areas. It’s not that I’m saying something that’s new. People my age and older and younger want to be a part of that and want to have nice urban areas to live in.”

Tuesday, a few dozen people showed up for the press event at the Knapp’s building. Including Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero. He’s running for governor.

“You know this art deco design is delicate in places. That’s why art deco went down. In a lot of cities they’ve lost buildings like this because of the amount of money and time and expertise that it takes to rebuild something like this and make it historically accurate.”

“I’m Lis Knibbe and I essentially recycle buildings for a living. I’ve gotta say I’ve had my eye on this building for a long time. I mean how many of you shopped here when you were kids? A lot.”

Knibbe is an architect hired by the Eyde’s. She says a building like Knapp’s is tough to find anywhere in America. The outside is striking. Then add restaurants, retail and apartments upstairs. They’ll be a magnet for other people. And you can have a city again.

“We know that when you have people living downtown it becomes more active, safer more desirable. It’s putting all those pieces together. We’re learning how to build cities like they knew in Europe because they were doing it all the time. But we’re now learning as a culture how to do it. Not separate the uses. You need to have them together so there’s people there all the time and there’s activities.”

Learn more about Nick Eyde’s quarterbacking days in Europe.