Lansing city leaders call for preservation of former Eastern High School

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – In a unanimous vote, the Lansing City Council passed a resolution to urge the University of Michigan Board of Regents to add a psychiatric facility as planned while “also or separately” preserving the former Eastern High School building and auditorium.

The resolution comes in the wake of the University of Michigan Health – Sparrow announcement that they would convert the site into a 120-bed behavioral health facility. In a statement to 6 News, a spokesperson says the site is the only location in Lansing that is appropriate for the behavioral health facility.

Eastern Quaker alumni say they do not want to see the building go.

“It’s just a lot of history of what we have,” says Jim Lynch, president of the Eastern Alumni Association.

People like himself want to see the building preserved while taking the need for quality mental health care into account.

“Mental health, we are for that 100%. It has nothing to do with that. We’re just talking about the historic portion and the history in that building that we would like to see saved,” says Lynch, an alumnus of the class of 1981.

The building has been in the portfolio of the healthcare provider since 2016. The nearly $2.5 million sales agreement with the Edward W. Sparrow Hospital Association also allows for the group to “preserve the historical value of the property with reasonable and collaborative discretion”.

However, a University of Michigan Health – Sparrow spokesperson says the nearly 100-year-old building can not be saved.

“The former EHS building was built to serve students and teachers nearly 100 years ago – not to meet the modern behavioral health needs of our community. Converting the existing former EHS building to a state-of-the-art behavioral health hospital is not possible,” the spokesperson said in an email statement.

Lansing City Council members showed their support of concerned alumni by passing the resolution that will now be sent to the University of Michigan Board of Regents.

Council member Ryan Kost drafted the resolution and says mental health care and historic preservation can go hand in hand.

“We’re just trying to make sure that the things that make us a community and have made us a community are still here a century later,” says Kost.

He says conversations have been ongoing with university officials. When asked if he would look into using the council’s power to turn the property into a historic district, Kost simply says “Stay tuned.”

A spokesperson for the health care provider says the project is pending approval from the state of Michigan and the University of Michigan regents. They will work closely with Eastern alumni to “meaningfully” honor the history and value of the school.

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