On Sept. 24, a three-way car crash occurred near the Preuss Pets building and what will eventually be Constellation Cat Cafe’s “new casa,” location. As a result of the crash, one of the cars hit the side of the building, creating a hole in the foundation and damaging the siding and air conditioning. No one involved in the crash was seriously injured.
Kelsey Earle, the executive director of the cat cafe, arrived at the scene soon after neighbors notified staff. In the past few months, Earle has been fundraising and assisting in the cat cafe’s move to Old Town.
“We weren’t in the building at the time because there was no active construction happening,” Earle said. “I got a message from our good friends over at Preuss Pets and they let us know that there were first responders and police on scene. And so we went over there right away to figure out what was happening. Turns out there was a car accident, there were three cars involved, and one of those vehicles did crash into our building. So they did hit our air conditioning unit and then they ran into the foundation. And so if you see our Facebook post, our Instagram post, there’s one picture where it is taken from the basement and you can see outside. So they did do a pretty good job making a hole in our foundation.”
“Thankfully though, and this is really at the end of the day what we’re so thankful for, none of the individuals who were involved in the car accident were seriously hurt and we will be able to make the repairs to the building,” Earle later stated.
Constellation Cat Cafe has been in East Lansing for five years, recently celebrating its fifth anniversary on Sept. 29. Earle shares more about what the cat cafe is and its purpose:
“The cat cafe is exactly what it sounds like,” Earle said. “It is a space where you can have a coffee, a tea, some sort of awesome, super fun seasonal beverage and you can interact with cats. You do have to pay to get into our cat room because we are a nonprofit, and so those fees go directly toward the care of the cats. If you pay our fee, you get in and you can bring your beverage into the cat room and really have this full experience of hanging out with cats and enjoying your time.”
Over the past year, Constellation has been in the process of moving to a new location in Old Town, leaving its location on Lake Lansing Road. The move has put several strains on the cafe itself. Earle describes the issues they’ve faced:
“The building is old, it’s beautiful, and we’re excited about it, but it is old, and it wasn’t designed to be a cat cafe like most spaces, and so we really had to start from scratch,” Earle said. “Now, as many of you may know, things have been increasing in price. And so when we got those [contracting] original bids as compared to now, things have gone up.”
The move continues, however, as the cafe comes close to hitting many of its fundraising goals. At the moment, the cafe is unsure when it will be moving into the “new casa,” location with all of the trouble happening in their new home.
“Unfortunately, we really don’t have a good read on when we’re going to be able to move yet.” However, the staff are hoping for a move sometime around the upcoming new year,” Earle said. “So we know for sure that we will be here through Dec. 31 in East Lansing, and then we are hopeful that we can be in the new building by then, but TBD.”
In the meantime, the Lake Lansing Road location remains open for customers to visit.
“There’s cats to pet, there’s things to do here, and that sets it apart. It makes it more of a destination, it makes it more of a thing to do, especially when the weather’s not very good or when you’re looking for something a little bit different,” Earle said. Especially for college students, I think that this is a fun place to be, especially if you miss your cats or your dogs from home. This is a great opportunity to come and interact with animals.”
