REO Town is getting a makeover.
"This really is the next step," said Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero Monday, at the announcement of the Board of Water & Light's new substation.
It just got the green light for a station to replace the Eckert Power Plant.
"It's gonna improve access, it's gonna be something hip and cool, it's gonna be different," Mayor Bernero said. "And, of course, that's what REO town is."
The plant has to be replaced by 2020 under the latest clean energy guidelines from Washington.
The substation would go at the corner of Malcolm X and Washington in Lansing, and bring 75 construction jobs to the area over the next year.
The $26 million project would add sculptures, murals, fishing platforms and trails along the Grand River, all surrounding the city's fuse box.
"We want it to be something that you can be proud of when you drive into REO town," said BWL General Manager Dick Peffley.
He researched power stations across the country to find the cheapest, and best looking option to invest in the area.
"We can transform the entrance of REO town into something that when people drive by, they're gonna want to turn and come down here," Peffley said. "And, it's still the least cost option to customers."
He says, they've already raised the money in a construction fund for the project. They're hoping to break ground fall of 2016, and have it up and running by summer of 2017.
