Region
Second Wave - Michigan
Capital Gains - Lansing
Catalyst Midland
Concentrate - Ann Arbor/Ypsi
Epicenter - Mount Pleasant
Route Bay City
Rural Innovation Exchange
Southwest Michigan
UPword - UP
The Keel - Port Huron
The Lakeshore
Metromode - Metro Detroit
Flintside - Flint
Model D - Detroit
Rapid Growth - Grand Rapids
Focus Areas
Arts and Culture
Community Development
Diversity
Economic Development
Entrepreneurship
Equity
Healthy Communities
Kids and Education
Sustainability
Technology and Innovation
Transportation
City
Ann Arbor
Chelsea
Dexter
Milan
Saline
Ypsilanti
Series
Concentrate
Block by Block
Detroit Driven
Inside our Outdoors
MI Mental Health
On The Ground
Voices of Youth
Statewide
Areas of Concern
Block by Block
Bridging the Talent Gap
COVID19
Cyber Security
Disability Inclusion
Early Education Matters
Forestry
Girl Scouts SE Michigan Team Up
Good Food
Greater Lakes
Inside our Outdoors
Invasive Species
MI Mental Health
Michigan Nightlight
Michigan's Agricultural Future
Michigan's State of Health Podcast
Nonprofit Journal Project
Preserving Michigan
State of Health
Stories of Change
Voices of Youth
Toggle navigation
Focus Areas
Arts and Culture
Community Development
Diversity
Economic Development
Entrepreneurship
Equity
Healthy Communities
Kids and Education
Sustainability
Technology and Innovation
Transportation
City
Ann Arbor
Chelsea
Dexter
Milan
Saline
Ypsilanti
Series
Concentrate
Block by Block
Detroit Driven
Inside our Outdoors
MI Mental Health
On The Ground
Voices of Youth
Statewide
Areas of Concern
Block by Block
Bridging the Talent Gap
COVID19
Cyber Security
Disability Inclusion
Early Education Matters
Forestry
Girl Scouts SE Michigan Team Up
Good Food
Greater Lakes
Inside our Outdoors
Invasive Species
MI Mental Health
Michigan Nightlight
Michigan's Agricultural Future
Michigan's State of Health Podcast
Nonprofit Journal Project
Preserving Michigan
State of Health
Stories of Change
Voices of Youth
About
Contact
City Place continues strange journey in Ann Arbor
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
| Source:
Concentrate
Share
The bad news is that Ann Arbor is no closer to a resolution on City Place, the controversial downtown development. The good news is at least we don't have to hear about for a few months.
The City Council in essence punted earlier this week, postponing any action on the development until January. The developer, Ann Arbor Builders, requested a decision be postponed until at least later this year. The City Council also put off deciding the fate of a controversial moratorium on approving downtown developments until Aug. 6.
The development has been
kicked around and reshaped
in a number of different ways, culminating in a suburban-style apartment building with no sustainable features on the edge of downtown. It would replace seven historic homes, including one of the city's oldest, along Fifth Avenue just north of Packard.
The latest incarnation (there have been several) includes two apartment buildings separated by a surface parking lot. The 3-story buildings will have 144 bedrooms in 24 units geared for college students and 36 surface parking spaces. The buildings will be clad in cement board siding with high-pitched roofs and large dormers.
This is far from what the developer originally proposed. Those plans called for 90 brownstone-style condos in a long 4.5-story building that is reminiscent of Beacon Hill. The original proposal also included green, urban features such as 98 underground parking spaces and a geothermal heating-and-cooling system. The 750-1,500-square-foot units were geared toward young professionals looking to live near a vibrant downtown.
The development has met with fierce resistance from local residents and the
Germantown Neighborhood Association
. Both sides and city officials tried working together for months, going through a number of costly redrawings for the project. Are lawsuits on the horizon? Only time will tell.
Source: City of Ann Arbor
Writer: Jon Zemke
Enjoy this story?
Sign up
for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.
Share
Related Tags
Downtown Living
,
Historic Preservation
Recommended Content
Across Our Network
The shoe design that revolutionized Nike Air may have been seeded by an 18-year-old Covington kid
Source: Soapbox
Pontiac schools to replace all diesel buses with electric buses for 2024-25 school year
Source: Metromode
Local leaders look ahead at what Brightline expansion can mean for Tampa, Ybor
Source: 83Degrees
Consumers Energy brings new Workforce Development Program to Flint and Jackson
Source: Flintside