Growing up in Cuba, Yanelis Lopez eventually made her way to the south side of Lansing, where she now owns La Mulata restaurant.
• La Mulata restaurant has been open for two and a half months, serving authentic Cuban and Mexican cuisine.
• The restaurant occupies a building that was once considered blighted by city officials.
• Lansing has hundreds of blighted properties and offers programs to help entrepreneurs revitalize these spaces.
Lopez is part of a growing effort to transform abandoned properties in the area.
WATCH: From blight to bright: How a Cuban entrepreneur is revitalizing south Lansing
"I moved here 22 years ago," Lopez said.
La Mulata has been serving customers for just over two months, offering a taste of authentic Cuban and Mexican cuisine.
"The main thing is the Cuban sandwich, we make it with pork ham mustard mayor pickles and we have tacos too, rice and beans," Lopez said.
But it was a long road before Lopez got here. City officials once considered the restaurant's building as blighted.
According to Lansing City Councilman Adam Hussain, a blighted property is "a building that is vacant, a building that is boarded up, a building that is detonating... and we're not just talking about the structure but the premise too."
Hussain says this problem is widespread in Lansing, with "hundreds" of locations currently considered blight.
To address the issue, the city offers resources to entrepreneurs looking to reverse blight, including Lopez.
"This business owner was part of a new program we created called South West Lansing Drive. Basically, we get entrepreneurs into a training cohort that provides support and education and things of that sort, and as part of that they receive some seed money," Hussain said.
But if these programs aren't utilized at blighted locations, enforcement will follow, sometimes resulting in demolition. This is currently happening with the former Metro Bowl building, which the city has declared as blight.
"A few months ago, the city approved a make safe or demolish order at that location and that time has elapsed... so now the city is moving forward with preparation of demolition of that building," Hussain said.
We texted the owner of the former Metro Bowl building but haven't heard back.
Hussain acknowledges that reversing blight isn't easy, but when done properly, it's rewarding.
When asked why people should visit her restaurant, Lopez replied with a laugh, "Try our food, try our drinks, and get a good dance in."
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