Bailey Street Lot Loses Most Public Parking Amid Development Dispute

More than 80 parking spots in the Bailey Street lot behind Grand River businesses are no longer available to the public. Orange delineators and rope cut off 71% of the parking spots, with a warning that anyone who attempts to park there will be towed.

The parking spaces were blocked off by the owners of the majority of the lot, the Metzger-Fabian family, amid a development dispute between the city and the family.

In July, the city denied a 10-story apartment proposed to be built over the parking lot. This was the latest in a series developments proposed at the site that have stalled since city officials told the lot owners in 2022 they would like the land to be developed and declined to enter into a long-term parking agreement, Bob Metzger told East Lansing Info previously.

Several area business owners opposed the apartment proposed in July because of the loss of public parking. Developers had presented a different apartment project earlier in the year that included two floors of public parking to replace the spaces, however, the City Council deferred a vote on that proposal at a meeting in March. Developers returned with the 10-story proposal that was denied in July.

As of Friday, Oct. 2, most of the parking spaces in the Bailey Street Parking lot have been blocked off. (Dustin DuFort Petty for ELi)

At the July 21 meeting where the apartment proposal was denied, Metzger told the City Council his family’s portion of the lot will be blocked off if the project is not approved.

“We agonized over that decision, but we feel like we’ve been given no other course,” he said at the time.

In a September press release about the closure, the city presented its side of the story.

“The City had recently signed a one-year extension agreement with the property owners with the understanding that they were interested in continuing to lease the property to the City,” it read. “However, the owners of the property chose to exercise their 30-day termination notice, effective Oct. 2, and the western section of the lot will no longer be available for public parking as of that date.”

In August, ELi reported that Tareen Development Partners, the developer the Metzger-Fabian family partnered with on the latest apartment proposal, is suing the city in an attempt to have the City Council’s decision overturned.