Whenever a developer proposes that a smaller, older building be knocked down for a newer, larger building in downtown Ann Arbor the opposition argues, "Why don't you build on the empty parking lots instead of knocking down our neighborhood?"
Well, someone it seems like someone was
listening. Two downtown surface lots could soon be gone if the plans for
Ashley Promenade come to fruition in downtown Ann Arbor.
Developers Ron Jona of Southfield-based Ron Jona & Associates and Ann Arbor real-estate broker William Eddy plan to turn a depressing section of Ashley Street dominated by surface parking lots near the intersection of William Street into a dense urban development with retail shops, hotel rooms and a conference center.
"We need to create a critical mass," Jona says. "This section of Ashley is just underutilized."
The developers plan to build on the surface parking lot at the corner of Ashley and William, known as the Kline Lot, and the surface parking lot at the corner of First and William. Other private parcels and buildings in one of downtown's practically dead sections are also planned.
Replacing these spaces would be a 500,000-square-feet of mixed-use buildings, including a 12-story hotel and 80,000 square feet of conference center space. Retail space and underground parking (more than what is currently on the surface lots) would also be mixed in to the plans. The idea is to breathe life into this section of downtown and help increase the level of retail activity in the city's center by bringing multiple uses to one space.
"It's very ambitious," Jona says. "It's very comprehensive. We felt a lot of projects we had seen in Ann Arbor, which we believe can become a world-class city, have been a myopic."
But this isn't a development that can be done as simply as turning over plans (which have been two years in the making) for review and approval by local officials. Because the city owns the parking lots it would have to put out a request for proposals, similar to what is being done for the Library Lot and 415 W Washington parcels.
Jona hopes to reveal the plans at a public meeting within the next 30 days and have a RFP to submit the plans for before the end of this year.
Source: Ron Jona, co-developer of Ashley Promenade?
Writer: Jon Zemke
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