Meijer Gas Station Approved, Graduate Expansion Met With Skepticism and Social District Proposal Deferred by Council

A “Meijer Express” gas station and convenience store will soon be added near the intersection of Abbott Road and Lake Lansing Road after City Council approved the proposal. 

The gas station will feature six fuel islands, 12 pumps and an express store, which developers said is larger than convenience stores that typically accompany gas stations, but smaller than a Meijer supermarket. 

During a June public hearing on the project, Matt Levitt, a real estate developer for Meijer, said the express station represents “a new generation” of Meijer gas stations that will sell essential goods, beauty products, groceries and grab-and-go food options like salads, pizza and burrito bowls. 

The project was approved in a 4-1 vote at the Tuesday, Aug. 12 council meeting, despite pushback from a nearby business owner, some nearby homeowners and a 5-1 vote against recommending the development from the city’s Planning Commission. 

The development’s location on the busy Lake Lansing and Abbot intersection has been the biggest piece of criticism from community members who have spoken against it, largely because there is already a Speedway gas station across the street.

Councilmember Erik Altmann, the lone vote against approval, said he is concerned about adding the project on a busy street that already sees many car accidents. 

“Crashes at this intersection are already high and they’ll go up if we approve this project,” Altmann said, adding that he thinks the gas station will make the area less walkable. 

The project was approved with 15 conditions attached, including that developers will plant 29 trees to replace trees being removed from the site and that stormwater management will be improved at the location. 

The Graduate rooftop bar expansion is met with some apprehension. 

Council held a public hearing to discuss a proposal from The Graduate hotel to expand its rooftop Rock Bar and patio. Council did not vote on the proposal after the public hearing, which is normal, but council members voiced concerns about parking. 

The proposed expansion is significant, it would grow the space’s maximum occupancy from 96 occupants to 268. Along with expanding the patio, the proposal adds a private dining room that would be used primarily for special events and can hold 20 people. 

Lee Cote, general manager for The Graduate, explained that the rooftop patio and bar are popular and often at capacity. He said the space is an “elite asset” for the community.

“[It’s a] beautiful place to hold an event, showcase our city,” Cote said.  

Cote said the hotel often has to turn down requests to use the rooftop for special events, so it can stay open to regular customers. He said the expansion would allow the patio to host large events of 100 to 120 people, while keeping the Rock Bar open to others. 

The plan includes adding gas-powered fireplaces outside, which would hopefully allow the patio to stay open for two additional weeks in the fall and open two weeks earlier. Cote said under the new plan, the patio would be open from late March to the end of October. 

Cote said running through October is important because so many people visit the bar to watch football games. The expansion includes adding TVs to the patio.

Altmann said that there have been issues with parking that have caused traffic congestion since the building opened. He asked what the hotel will do to address the issue. 

Cote said the hotel is working with a third party valet company to help reduce parking woes, and that management is attempting to add five valet staging spaces near the hotel. Additionally, he said The Graduate is leasing spaces from the city, as it does not have its own lot. He added The Graduate recently paid for a traffic study to see how hotel parking is impacting traffic, and how additional spaces could help.

Altmann said he wants to see demonstrated examples of how the hotel will address the parking challenges, not just plans. 

“If this had been the second month of the building’s opening, then I’d be more interested in hearing about plans,” he said. “After this many years, I’m not interested in hearing about plans anymore. I’m [interested in seeing] demonstrated experience, some sort of implementation that solves the problem.

“In my view, that needs to be in place before we add to the problem,” he continued.

Brookover said he enjoys visiting The Graduate’s Rock Bar, but there’s a lot of “ill feeling” in East Lansing about how the project transpired, again referencing traffic congestion due to parking issues at the hotel. 

Meadows said he needs to see seats for additional occupants in the plan before he votes in favor. 

“I can’t give you 71 patrons to just stand around,” he said, before clarifying that his issue is just with the seating and not the expansion itself. “I can’t support your request, but I can support some of it.”

Council defers proposal to create a social district. 

A proposal to create a seasonal social district with boundaries that resemble those of the blocked off Albert El Fresco area downtown was deferred after a short discussion. 

Beginning next year, the social district is proposed to be active Thursday through Saturday starting the second Thursday of May and running through the first Saturday of August. Six downtown restaurants would have the option to participate: Hopcat, El Azteco, Mash Bar, Jolly Pumpkin, Barrio Tacos and Fieldhouse. A previous iteration of the plan included The Riv, but that bar was removed to keep participants within the El Fresco boundaries. 

The proposed social district was discussed at the June City Council meeting, where members said they were worried about rule enforcement. The plan is to use special marked cups to identify beverages that were sold from approved vendors. However, some council members worried people will buy liquor from nearby establishments and pour it into the cups. 

To address that concern, the new plan includes businesses writing the name of the establishment the cup came from and the date, to prevent people from keeping old cups. Additionally, the new plan ends the social district two hours earlier each night, with it running from noon to 8 p.m., instead of noon to 10 p.m. 

Council had little conversation about the adjusted plan and voted to delay voting on the matter because city attorneys have not yet drafted a letter about potential liability from the social district and the process of rule enforcement. The proposal will return to council at its Sept. 23 meeting. 

Meadows says East Lansing won’t change sanctuary city resolution. 

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice published a list of sanctuary cities that may be punished by the federal government. East Lansing passed a resolution declaring itself a sanctuary city in 2023, and is the only Michigan city on the DOJ’s list. At the Aug. 12 meeting, Meadows said East Lansing does not plan to change its policies in reaction to the list. 

“In case anyone missed it, we are still be honored by the president as one of the sanctuary cities he is targeting throughout the country,” Meadows said. “Be aware that we don’t plan on changing any of our policies with regard to this.”

Meadows then read from the DOJ letter that threatened litigation against sanctuary cities to “eradicate” sanctuary policies. 

“We should expect something to come our way and we will defend it at that point in time,” Meadows said. 

It was a busy meeting… stay tuned. 

So much happened at council this week, we didn’ get to all the key points in this report. 

Tomorrow, we will be bringing another story that covers the Financial Health Team that council voted to assemble, and possible changes to the ordinance governing the East Lansing Independent Police Oversight Commission.

This story was updated to correct the spelling of Abbot.