UM Health-Sparrow files permit to demolish Lansing Eastern High School

LANSING — The walls appear to be closing in on the old Lansing Eastern High School building: A demolition permit has been filed with the city of Lansing.

But preservationists are planning to picket city hall today, at noon and 4:30 p.m., and again on Friday, in a last-ditch effort to convince Mayor Andy Schor to pause the permit, said Linda Peckham, one of the hundreds of people who have signed a petition to preserve a portion of the school.

“We thought that the request for the demolition permit would not come for another month,” she said. “But we’d already made signs for demonstrations, and we’re going ahead with demonstrations.”

The near 100-year-old building was sold by the Lansing School District in 2016 to Sparrow Health, which has since been acquired by University of Michigan Health. Students last attended school there in 2019.

Scott Bean, a spokesperson for the Lansing mayor’s office, confirmed that the permit has been filed. University of Michigan Health officials said they would be available for comment later today.

Bean said the permit was submitted this week. It generally takes a day or two to process the checklist of items that includes safety and zoning authorizations, so the permit could get a final sign-off today or Friday. The State Journal has not seen a copy of the permit.

The health care system announced in June plans to build a $97 million, 120-bed psychiatric hospital on the former school property, and to tear down the school.

School alumni and preservationists soon rallied to save the building but Peckham and others with the Coalition to Preserve Eastern High School and Promote Mental Health have said the health care system ignored their requests to allow a tour of the building or to allow experts to evaluate the damage.

Most of the preservationists are pushing for only a partial restoration: Keep the western wing of the former high school and an auditorium while demolishing the rest and using part of the 18-acre campus to build the new hospital.

Several efforts have been unsuccessful: Supporters asked City Council to start a historic review process and were rejected, despite supporters having spoken at U of M Board of Regents meetings and having gone to City Council meetings as a large group.

Peckham said she taught English at Lansing Community College and was always delighted to get Eastern students because of their broad education.

“We want to be sure people hear there are many, many alumni and community members, people who have built this town, who went to this school,” Peckham said. “There is an incredible dedication that the people have to that building, to that school and to the way the school was run.”

It is not clear what a partial restoration would cost. Peckham said efforts last summer by preservationists to get a tour or allow experts inside the building for even rough estimates were rejected by the health care system.

The building was designed by the architectural firm of Pond and Pond, which also did several notable buildings including both the Michigan State University and University of Michigan student unions. A 2017 renovation of the U of M student union cost $85 million.

The Eastern High renovation would be for less space than the 250,000-square-foot U of M union but those union construction costs have ballooned since 2017.

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: UM Health-Sparrow files permit to demolish Lansing Eastern High School

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