If all goes according to plan Thursday, there will be a new apartment building coming to downtown Ann Arbor offering 99 units and ground-floor retail space.
Chicago-based Zaragon is proposing Zaragon 2, a 14-story high rise by the Cottage Inn Pizza restaurant at William and Thompson streets. That corner was formerly home to a long-time vacant bank branch before Zaragon leveled the two-story structure.
The building, a total of 96,685 square feet, includes the apartments and retail space, facing East William, and 40 off-street parking spots. The building’s first floor will also include a lobby, manager's office, and exercise room; the second and third floors will be 40 parking spaces and 40 bicycle spaces.
The next 11 levels include nine apartments each: a four-bedroom unit, six two-bedroom units, and two one-bedroom units.
Ray Detter, chair of the Downtown Area Citizens' Advisory Council, says the council strongly supports the building. It fits in with the other tall buildings downtown, and in terms of design, follows the original Zaragon Place building quite closely.
There was some concern with the ground-floor windows being opaque as in the original Zaragon Lofts at 619 E. University, which isn’t the experience the council wants pedestrians to have, he said. But one thing they did like was the number of one- and two-bedroom apartments. "If the demographics change, there might be people other than students who live there," he says.
He said he's not heard of any real opposition to the project. "We feel this is in compliance with our expectations," he says. "It fits into downtown."
The original Zaragon Lofts was built in the spot of the historic Anberay Apartment building. That building features 66 apartments above ground-floor retail space and about 40 underground parking spots, just north of East Quad. It was one of the first in a new crop of luxury high-rise living options geared primarily toward students in downtown Ann Arbor.
Source: City of Ann Arbor and Ray Detter, chair of the Downtown Area Citizens' Advisory Council
Writer: Kristin Lukowski
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