The streets of downtown Okemos have become pretty barren the past few years. However, downtown Okemos is getting a much-needed facelift as construction begins this year to attract more foot traffic to the heart of the city.
Construction is just starting to hit the downtown Okemos area as residents of the city anxiously wait for a more welcoming aesthetic of their city.
Avery Powell, a resident of Okemos, said he is looking forward to the re-building of downtown.
“I think that having new buildings, new infrastructure, and even adding to the common spaces, will bring a lot of people and a lot of attention just because everyone likes a new flashy fancy thing,” Powell said.
Powell does not spend much time in downtown Okemos as of now, but he said he would be interested in the new atmosphere.
“I don’t really travel too much into the downtown area, but if these new developments do take shape, then I’ll definitely go and check all of them out,” Powell said.
Powell might end up waiting a while to go check out the new development of downtown Okemos since there has been no deadline announced
Tim Schmitt, director of community planning and development said he was unsure of the project’s timeline.
“It’s still up in the air. I think that the conversation now has started, and the majority of the township’s push this year has been to try and get them to the point of construction. And so it seems unlikely they’ll start this year,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt said COVID-19 has impacted the timeline of the downtown Okemos rebuild. The city is still unsure of when everything will be able to continue on the timeline.
“I think, the extent to which the project has been delayed by COVID is kind of unknown because they were relatively early on in the process. So they were still trying to get financing, lined up, get the market analysis, complete all those preliminary development pieces.
When asked how the foot traffic would increase in downtown Okemos, Schmitt said it would absolutely increase.
“That’d be dramatic. I mean, fundamentally it’s essentially creating a mini downtown along Hamilton road where one previously really didn’t exist,” Schmitt said.
Parker Dennings, a resident of Okemos, said he is looking forward to biking around downtown Okemos once it is done.
“I’m looking forward to nicer buildings, new sidewalks around. I like to bike. So rebuilding the downtown area will make it nicer for me to bike and walk around there,” Dennings said.
Dennings also said he anticipates going downtown much more often than he already does now.
“I use the trails around the area, but going downtown with the new rebuild would make it even nicer. So I anticipate me using it more and I assume more people will use the downtown area more as well,” Dennings said.
Schmitt said that he is most looking forward to one phase of this project.
“The best part of this will be when it’s done. And I think what we’re most excited to see is sort of what that anchor tenants at the corner of Hamilton and Oakland will end up being right there because they’re going to have all that traffic eyes on them every day. So we’re really excited to see some great users move in there,” Schmitt said.
Listen to a soundbite of Tim Schmitt’s interview below: