This is the last of my photos from the expedition into the Pinecrest neighborhood. I had walked into the Coolidge Court strip mall to take some sunset photos of it. There’s something about the architecture I have always found appealing, even though it’s quite dated.

Perhaps not “even though” but rather, in part, because it’s dated. It reminds me a lot of the station of a roller coaster that was my favorite when I was young, Iron Dragon at Cedar Point. Iron Dragon was built in 1987. So was Coolidge Court.

While poking around the plaza, I noticed a winding little sidewalk tucked off in a corner, not drawing much attention to itself. I was surprised and delighted to see that it was a cut-through between the shopping center and Rolling Brook Lane. I have always liked these kinds of “secret” pedestrian ways.

When I got home I did some searching to learn a bit about Coolidge Court, and that’s when I found it: a listing on Loop.net announcing its imminent redevelopment and inviting new tenants. The concept drawings remove everything I find likable about the building. All the better that I took pictures, I suppose. The listing also trumpets, “Now with Sunday hours!” What’s that all about?

I soon found out from East Lansing Info. It turns out that when Coolidge Court was built, it required a zoning change, as it was originally vacant residential-zoned land. The residents of Pinecrest were persuaded to go along with a zoning change as long as several conditions were placed on the development. These included that end of Rolling Brook would be capped off so traffic could not cut through the subdivision (leaving the cul-de-sac that caught my attention as I drove past), that a pedestrian walk be installed between Rolling Brook and the new development, and that no Sunday sales or food service would be permitted.

The developers proceeded to try to have the Sunday sales restriction removed in 1987, 1989, and 1995, and finally in 2020. Despite the written objections of several residents (note that some of them spell the street name “Rollingbrook”), the Planning Commission recommended the restriction be removed, which evidently it has been. It also appears that the developer is trying to prod at the restriction against food service in order to have a coffee shop or similar. The original language disallows “the commercial cooking or baking of any food” and explicitly prohibits fast food establishments, but it could be argued that a coffee shop doesn’t violate the letter of the restrictions.