Five Big Questions for 2026

After a busy 2025, there are several storylines emerging or already in motion that East Lansing Info will be tracking this year. 

From tracking the city’s finances to following proposed developments to examining the relationship between city and university leaders, we’re expecting a busy news year in 2026.

Will another wave of big developments be approved? 

The East Lansing skyline looks a lot different than it did a decade ago. 

The late 2010s and early 2020s were marked by the arrival of four huge buildings, with hotel The Graduate and apartment buildings The Hub, The Abbot and The Landmark all opening their doors. While it takes time for projects to come to fruition, there are a few major proposals in the pipeline. 

Two apartment buildings proposed for downtown – one 13 stories and the other 15 – were recently before both the city’s Planning Commission and Downtown Development Authority.

 Both projects are in the early stages of the approval process, and face questions like where residents would park. If the apartments are eventually approved as currently proposed, they could collectively house more than 1,400 residents. 

Besides the downtown high rise proposals, city officials are still hopeful that an affordable apartment complex will be built near Valley Court Park. Developers who built The Graduate and The Abbot were supposed to also build the affordable complex. But after years of the project stalling, developers said they could not make it work, and council allowed them to pass the project on to an Okemos-based company that specializes in affordable housing. 

The new developer, PK Companies, seemed optimistic about the project in a presentation it gave to City Council in September. A representative from PK said they have formed partnerships with other area nonprofit organizations to provide extra support for future residents. In order for ground to be broken, developers have said they need to be approved for low income tax credits from the state. The application process for these credits is competitive, but developers were hopeful they will soon be approved. 

How will the city navigate financial headwinds?

East Lansing struggling with financial challenges isn’t new. Since the city implemented an income tax in 2019, it has made progress on chipping away at its unfunded pension liability, but city officials agree more work is needed. 

The city tried to address some of its problems through a new property tax millage, but voters soundly rejected the proposal at the November 2025 election. 

There have been divided opinions on the city’s financial circumstances, with some city officials saying drastic cuts may be necessary and others striking a lighter tone. We’ll have a better idea of what changes are in store when department heads begin proposing budgets in the next few months, with the city’s next fiscal year set to begin in July. 

Beyond the regular budget process, a Financial Health Review Team appointed by City Council will begin its work later this month. When the city assembled a similar team about a decade ago, it made several significant recommendations that were later adopted by City Council. 

If nothing else, a group of financial experts are set to spend six months examining the city’s finances and deliberate proposed changes. In a few months, we should have a better understanding of what causes the structural deficit East Lansing is budgeted to run at.

Will the city release its investigation into ELPD? 

2025 ended with a pair of controversies hanging over the East Lansing Police Department. For months, speakers at city meetings have condemned a comment made by Police Chief Jen Brown, and asked for accountability for an ELPD officer who deployed pepper spray on two Black men downtown and Brown who coordinated a misleading press release about the event. 

An analysis by ELi showed a dramatic rise in incidents where ELPD officers used force to start the MSU school year, while downtown business owners and police have said there has been a concerning increase in crime downtown. 

Members of City Council have been mostly silent about the controversies around ELPD, but in October the body voted to hire an independent investigator to examine ELPD policies and actions. 

It’s far from a guarantee that the investigation’s findings will ever be made public. The motion to hire the investigator specified that the report would be confidential. Still, there is precedent to council making confidential reports public.

What do the midterm elections have in store?

Seats on City Council aren’t slated to be up for grabs until 2027, after two seats changed hands in November’s election. The November 2026 elections still figure to be important. 

Nationally, all eyes will be on the outcome of the midterm elections, and East Lansing lies in a swing congressional district. While student turnout tends to be startlingly low in off-year local elections, MSU students are considered a key voting block in major elections.

But the state and federal races may not be the only contests worth monitoring in East Lansing. In 2024, an amendment to the East Lansing city charter reached the ballot after residents circulated a petition. Could there be another ballot measure that emerges this election cycle? 

Do we see more collaboration between MSU and East Lansing leaders?

Globally, East Lansing is known for Michigan State University. So, it might surprise some to learn that university and city leaders have not been meeting that regularly in recent years.

Last year, MSU announced it planned to add a new arena, hotel and apartment complex on its campus. The large project would certainly impact nearby neighborhoods, but residents said they were blindsided when the project was announced. MSU eventually scrapped much of the proposal and is now moving forward with a reduced plan, but the incident showed a disconnect between the city and university. 

There are a number of things the city and university could look to address. East Lansing’s mayor has placed much of the blame for the city’s financial troubles on the university. Several candidates during the recent council race said MSU should help East Lansing address a student housing shortage. Public safety near bars popular with young people have been central in city discourse for the last year.