Significant as the first multiple-building apartment complex within East Lansing (the site was annexed to the city in the same year as its construction), Hillcrest Village was built in two phases as a collection of tidy, red-brick, Colonial Revival row houses. The site’s arrangement, contrary to most apartment complexes’ broad parking lots and anonymous entryways, lends a welcoming neighborhood feel.
In 2004, Hillcrest Village’s quaint character was threatened: the current owners claimed that the apartments’ maintenance was costly due to advancing age, and that they lacked modern amenities such as central air conditioning and dishwashers. The owners filed a request for rezoning that would have allowed redevelopment of the site with four eight-to-ten-story high rises. In the face of neighbors’ objections and the site’s historic designation (though these were not cited as direct causes) the owners withdrew the rezoning petition, yet were said to be “exploring other options.”1
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