LANSING, Mich. — Harry’s Place is a family owned business that has stood tall in Lansing’s west side neighborhood for decades.
“We opened up in 1921,” said manager Matthew Bates.
Bates said over the years the business has had good times filled with great people.
“From the customers, the employees, everybody, I get to know everybody and it’s really a bright spot,” he said.
But there were also some not so good times. Like the closing of GM’s fisher body plant, which was right across the street. With with nearly 5,000 employees gone from the plant, Bates said Harry’s place lost customers and employees
“We only had like 3 or 4 employees and that went down from like 20,” Bates said.
Shortly, after the shut down, GM demolished the plant’s building in 2007 and the 57 acre site has been vacant ever since. But now, it may get a second chance at life, after Lansing secured some funding from the state.
“We were granted $19 million to clean up the site where we could have someone come in and do something exciting,” said Lansing Mayor Andy Schor.
The site, which is a part of the Racer trust, is one of 18 locations to get funding from the state for clean up, in hope of redevelopment. Schor said once the Lansing location is cleaned up, redevelopment possibilities are endless.
“This property can be redeveloped into anything, into a mall, into shopping into light industrial, anything,” Schor said.
Schor said it will take at least a few months for the site to be cleaned up and from there, the city will start taking bids from developers, and as for Bates, he’s looking forward to the future of the property.
“More things in the area brings people to the west side of town and its great for business,” Bates said.
