[msb-alumni] Re: Demolition Underway at Former Michigan School for the Blind

  • From: "Robert Spear" <rsvs80@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2014 18:38:02 -0700


I started in the 1962 1963 school year I think anyway. The first year they
opened Andy cottage other than Blair those were the only 2 cottages. The
others wasn't even built until after that. The gym was open that year also I
believe. I find it interesting that the oldest building on the campus is the
one they are saving. The main building. All I can say it is a shame & very
sad. 

 

From: msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Fred Wurtzel
Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2014 4:52 PM
To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [msb-alumni] Re: Demolition Underway at Former Michigan School for
the Blind

 

Hi,

 

I agree with all those who talk about our extended family.  I'm still very
sad to know what is happening.  Some blind kids get good educations in their
home districts, while others are truly suffering for lack of good role
models, lack of Braille books and ignorance of blindness.  

 

I also think it is interesting that the cottages weren't there when I got
there and are already gone.  Our Boy Scout troop camped out there where Long
House used to be.    I wonder about our values as a society to think of such
waste.

 

Warmest Regards,

 

Fred

 

From: msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:msb-alumni-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jim in Detroit
Sent: Saturday, April 05, 2014 7:18 PM
To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [msb-alumni] Re: Demolition Underway at Former Michigan School for
the Blind

 

I didn't even finish reading that article; it was pitiful.

 

From: Chris Rasmussen <mailto:chrisnzella@xxxxxxxxxxx>  

Sent: April 04, 2014 08:49

To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Subject: [msb-alumni] Re: Demolition Underway at Former Michigan School for
the Blind

 

Now I know I don't want to even go by the campus. This is so sad for all of
us who have many many memories of our time at M S B. I have an old yearbook
that has many pictures be they black and white of the campus around 1969 or
70. Thanks for sharing this Steve. 

 

Chris Rasmussen

 

From: Steve <mailto:pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>  

Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2014 10:02 PM

To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

Subject: [msb-alumni] Demolition Underway at Former Michigan School for the
Blind

 

Well, if there isn't enough downer news on this list lately.  Here's more...

 

Demolition underway on campus of Lansing's former Michigan School for the
Blind . LANSING - Demolition has begun on what was once a dining hall at the
Michigan School for the Blind. A maintenance building will come next and
then the "cottages," squat brick buildings that once served as dormitories.
The 27,000-square-foot auditorium built in the 1950s is also on the list,
though its destruction might still be averted. Tom Edmiston, senior vice
president for Great Lakes Capital Fund, a nonprofit that owns the more
elegant structures on the site, described the work as "demolition and
clearance, kind of making the campus available for redevelopment.
Redevelopment has been slow in coming. The Lansing campus of the School for
the Blind closed in the fall of 1995 and the few remaining students were
moved to Flint. Much of the campus has been idle since. The Ingham County
Land Bank, which owns much of the campus, renovated the historic
6,000-square-foot superintendent's house in 2009. It's now oc'cup'ied by
Rizzi Designs. The former library became the Greater Lansing Housing
Coalition's Neighborhood Empowerment Center in 2010. But the century-old
administration building and former high school building have lain fallow.
Edmiston said Great Lakes Capital does have a purchase agreement on the
administration building, rechristened The Abigail, from a developer who
wants to use it for affordable housing. The project is contingent on
assistance from the state. The state is funding the demolition work though a
$1.8 million blight removal grant. The grant was approved last year, but
"it's taken this long to get all the necessary pieces of paper together that
the state needed before they would release funds," Edmiston said. There is
still time, not much though, to save the auditorium. "If we got any serious
offers for the auditorium as is, then we wouldn't proceed with the
demolition," Edmiston said. But the window is probably no longer than six
weeks. "Given fact that we haven't heard anything for several years now
about interest in the auditorium, it's hard to imagine that someone would
step forward at this point," Edmiston said.

 

Tum podem extulit horridulum

 

Steve
Lansing, Pure MI

 

P.S.  Look up the Latin translation of that signature on Google, it really
sums up things right now, lol.

 

 



Jim in Detroit
James A. Prather
Central Michigan University: 1980
Michigan School for the Blind: 1974
"Fire Up Chips"
"Ungh, ungowa, Raiders still Got the Power!"

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