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subterranean

Jan 12, 2015 8:45 PM

I understand that a tall building can look awkward next to a house, but in the long wrong taller buildings will probably save more of the character of traditional neighborhoods if they aren't taking up more acreage. That is, if their main concern is development affecting the small town character of the neighborhoods.

Rizzo

Feb 15, 2015 1:25 AM

A couple updates on the UMAEC page.

1. Biological Sciences Building.
This would replace North Hall, or the old ROTC building which is probably one of the oldest buildings on campus. Despite its age, I never felt the building was all that attractive so I think this is a substantially better replacement:

http://www.umaec.umich.edu/wp-conten...11-13-Rev1.jpg

More Renderings Available here:
http://www.umaec.umich.edu/projects/...ence-building/

2. David Dennison Building
The elevators that made me late for Calculus in freshman year. Not my fault. This bunker is getting a makeover with some glassed in atrium spaces
http://www.umaec.umich.edu/wp-conten...0_dennison.jpg

http://www.umaec.umich.edu/projects/...ng-renovation/

Also, Check out the webcams of the munger graduate residence which is a large neogothic structure
http://www.umaec.umich.edu/projects/...es/web-camera/

sentinel

Feb 16, 2015 4:49 AM

^Ahhh, sometimes I miss my alma mater. Sometimes. Go Blue!

(Thanks Hayward).

animatedmartian

Feb 24, 2015 2:40 PM

Quote:

7-story apartment building planned on site where Happy's Pizza burned down
By Ryan Stanton. February 24, 2015.

Now more than a year after a fire destroyed Happy's Pizza at the southwest corner of Main and Madison streets, an Ann Arbor developer has submitted plans to the city for a new mixed-use development on the site.

"The Madison on Main" is the name of the apartment building being proposed at 600 S. Main St. by Dan Ketelaar, president of Urban Group Development.

The plans show a 37,764-square-foot building that would include six stories plus a single penthouse unit on top.

In all, there would be 28 to 32 luxury rental units rising above a ground-floor retail space, which is envisioned as a deli or cafe with outdoor seating.

The units would range in size from 600 square feet to more than 1,800 square feet, including a mix of one- and two-bedroom units, some with a study.

The project would take shape immediately north of Ketelaar's 618 South Main apartment building, which is under construction.

What remained of Happy's Pizza was demolished last year, and the site is now being used as a staging area for construction on 618 South Main.

The design for The Madison on Main is said to be inspired by the types of buildings found in cities such as Seville, Spain; Vienna, Austria; and Chicago, Illinois.

The design team includes Saroki Architecture, InSite Design Studio, Washtenaw Engineering, Robert Darvas Associates and Zimmerman/Volk Associates.

...

Lots of detailed renderings in the article. Here's a few.

https://40.media.tumblr.com/03c9493f...8zjo1_1280.jpg

https://41.media.tumblr.com/14a17108...8zjo2_1280.jpg

https://41.media.tumblr.com/2c05c4b9...8zjo3_1280.jpg

The most recently couple of images on Streetview of this block give a good sense of how much density is being added to this area.

2012
https://36.media.tumblr.com/627f90be...8zjo1_1280.png

2013
https://40.media.tumblr.com/89caf5c1...8zjo2_1280.png

the urban politician

Feb 24, 2015 6:07 PM

^ Wait, by that last pic I take it that it's already under construction?

JonathanGRR

Feb 24, 2015 7:42 PM

I think they were just using that lot for staging for the building next door.

animatedmartian

Feb 25, 2015 1:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the urban politician (Post 6927107)

^ Wait, by that last pic I take it that it's already under construction?

The building next door in the rendering (618 South Main) is already under construction and the lot the proposed building is on (600 South Main) is currently used as the staging area. From a picture of 618 South Main in January, it's relatively close to being finished and the lot for 600 South Main will likely be ready to use by the time it gets approval.

https://36.media.tumblr.com/b95fd33c...48zjo1_540.jpg
http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/...inate_cit.html

the urban politician

Feb 25, 2015 1:39 AM

^ Ahh, I got it. Based on the renderings, these projects are going to dramatically change the feel of the area.

I probably haven't set foot in Ann Arbor in about 8 years. How different should I expect it to feel if I visit again? I hear about a lot of development for sure, but I can't tell how much it has transformed the city (you can't really tell these things until you see it in person, I guess).

animatedmartian

Feb 25, 2015 3:37 AM

Yea, I haven't been in Ann Arbor myself for about a year or so, and even then it was just through the college. Overall, I'd say the downtown area feels pretty dense, but really compact. Walk a few blocks in any direction from downtown and it still more or less feels like a small town or suburban area, though obviously with ever increasing traffic.

Edit: And actually, I just though about this a few days later, but Ann Arbor doesn't really have many urban townhomes. At least not in the city center. Everything seems to be a several story high rise or single-family home. There's very little in-between density.

Rizzo

Mar 25, 2015 3:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the urban politician (Post 6927107)

^ Wait, by that last pic I take it that it's already under construction?

It's really far along actually. I have a crappy photo I took in December. I'll try and find it.

Looks like the U of M architecture school is expanding

http://www.umaec.umich.edu/wp-conten...2/Picture1.jpg

There's more images here, but they are pdfs
http://www.umaec.umich.edu/projects/...roject/design/

Rizzo

Mar 25, 2015 3:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by animatedmartian (Post 6927843)

Ashley Mews. It's in a transition zone between SFRs and downtown. There's others around the area too. At least traditional urban rowhomes never existed in Ann arbor because it was a small farming town with very limited industry and therefore very little dense worker housing, though there may have been some in old lower downtown much of that is gone nowadays.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/6/1079...e3adc09b_b.jpg

sentinel

Mar 25, 2015 5:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hayward (Post 6963718)

Wow, go Blue indeed. It's about time - the piecemeal, mini renovations they've been doing for so long may be dated by now, but I haven't visited there in a while, so who knows...

animatedmartian

Mar 30, 2015 11:27 PM

The downtown Marriott hotel is officially topped off.

https://40.media.tumblr.com/a092d372...8zjo1_1280.jpg
http://www.mlive.com/business/ann-ar...arbor_hot.html

animatedmartian

Apr 25, 2015 7:13 PM

Photos by Ryan Stanton of MLive.

413 Huron St. aka Foundry Lofts

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...psah3bdvfl.jpg

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...psugmuya7t.jpg

Marriott Downtown Hotel

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...pst2qowzkd.jpg

ArborBLU

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...psovsmyind.jpg

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...psgwrvq3wu.jpg

animatedmartian

May 24, 2015 2:21 PM

Quote:

Google's move reveals challenges for downtown Ann Arbor
By Nathan Bomey, Detroit Free Press

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps2xhl2o3o.jpg

Google's decision to build a new corporate campus in northern Ann Arbor is another sign of the city's economic momentum, but it also exposes a lurking crisis for the growth prospects of downtown.

Construction cranes dot Ann Arbor's bustling urban core, erecting several new high-rise luxury apartment complexes geared primarily at wealthy students and young professionals.

What you won't see across the shifting skyline is new office construction. Tech companies are aching to locate downtown, but real estate developers say it doesn't make financial sense to build new offices to house them.

So as downtown Ann Arbor's thriving tech companies grow, they won't just be tempted to leave. They'll be forced to leave.

"If we had more space would we able to have more companies downtown? I think the answer is yes," said Paul Krutko, CEO of economic development group Ann Arbor SPARK. "Right now it's a restrictor."

It's already happening. Google ran out of space at the McKinley Towne Centre complex at the corner of Liberty and Division in the heart of Ann Arbor's technology corridor, where it was previously leasing 85,000 square feet.

With more than 400 employees at its Ann Arbor sales division and smaller Birmingham office, Google's decision to leave downtown was inevitable. Google signed a deal with First Martin to lease an existing office on the city's north side and construct an adjacent new facility, all totaling about 140,000 square feet to accommodate its growth.

By comparison, at the end of 2014 downtown Ann Arbor had a total of 61,399 square feet of office space available, according to Swisher Commercial's annual real estate survey.

That reflects a stunningly low vacancy rate of 3.62%, compared to southeast Michigan's overall office vacancy rate of 25.1%, according to National Association of Realtors.

....

The question many people are asking is, 'At what point will a new building be built to meet the demand for downtown office space?'" Swisher reported.

It's not far off. McKinley, for example, owns the air rights to develop the McKinley Towne Centre complex skyward.

Within a few years, it will probably make financial sense to build up.

Average commercial office space rent is about $20 to $25 per square foot in downtown Ann Arbor right now. Berriz said it needs to reach about $40 to $45 to justify new development.

"The rents have grown a lot in the last 10 years," he said. "I don't think it's there today to build the kinds of buildings some of these companies would like to have. But I also think that places down by the airport, places down by Briarwood Mall -- if you look at all parts of Ann Arbor, they're all full. So what's happening is it's all going to push back to the downtown. And sooner or later, downtown development for office will be justifiable."

The first stage of downtown Ann Arbor's development boom was high-rise student luxury apartments, with sparkling new towers charging high rates for plush amenities.

But Berriz said he believes that phase is coming to an end.

"Candidly that market is over-saturated in my opinion," he said. "We do a lot of distressed real estate across the country and that's an asset class that in many locations is overbuilt and in trouble. I think there's a limit to the number of students that can pay $1,400 for one bed. There was a surge. I think that surge is over."

The vexing challenge now is making the numbers work for new downtown office developments.

....

http://www.freep.com/story/money/bus...rket/27713089/

animatedmartian

Jul 8, 2015 4:01 PM

Quote:

Market study makes case for 150-room hotel on Ann Arbor's Library Lot
By Ryan Stanton. July 6, 2015.

For years it's been a common belief among some Ann Arbor community and business leaders that downtown could use another hotel, and one with enough meeting space to accommodate large professional conferences.

Hotel options in the downtown right now include the 208-room Dahlmann Campus Inn on Huron Street and the 66-room Bell Tower Hotel on Thayer Street, among other options such as the Embassy Hotel and the Inn at the Michigan Union.

Ann Arbor developer First Martin Corp. also is building a 110-room Residence Inn that's set to open later this year on Ashley Street.

But there's still demand for even more hospitality accommodations in the downtown, according to a market study by PKF Consulting USA.
The study points out demand in the local hotel market, as analyzed by PKF, grew at an average annual rate of 4.6 percent between 2009 and 2013.

"Demand has exhibited robust growth since 2010, suggesting the area's participation in the general economic recovery," the report concludes, making the case for a new 150-room hotel on the city-owned Library Lot in the heart of downtown Ann Arbor.

PKF's study was completed this past year under the direction of real estate consultant CBRE as part of the city's Library Lot request-for-proposals process.

CBRE is helping the city market and sell the 0.8-acre property on Fifth Avenue above the Library Lane underground parking garage.

Three of the five private development proposals city officials are considering for the site include a new downtown hotel, with anywhere from 135 to 179 rooms, and possibly enough meeting space to host a 500-person banquet.

.....

animatedmartian

Jul 8, 2015 4:18 PM

Quote:

Developers unveil plans for boutique hotel on vacant Glen Avenue site
By Ryan Stanton. July 8, 2015.

Developers behind a proposed nine-story, mixed-use hotel and retail development in Ann Arbor offered the city's Planning Commission a first look at their initial concept Tuesday night.

Known as The Glen, the upscale boutique hotel envisioned by Craig Singer and Fred Goldberg, working together as the Catherine Ann Development Company, could bring new life to a long-vacant site on the west side of Glen Avenue between Catherine and Ann streets at the edge of the Old Fourth Ward Historic District.

The property, once slated for a nine-story apartment development that never happened, sits across from the University of Michigan's medical campus.

Singer said they purchased the property about 18 months ago and have been considering potential uses. It's their hope the hotel could open by late 2016 or early 2017 with approval from the city.

Described as a roughly 152,000-square-foot, mixed-use project, The Glen would include 194 hotel rooms, including 34 suites, as well as sizable banquet and meeting room spaces, including a main ballroom accommodating 550 or more people.

....

The hotel's architects are Neumann/Smith of Southfield and J. Bradley Moore and Associates of Ann Arbor.

The Planning Commission held a special work session Tuesday night to hear initial ideas from the development team.

The conceptual plans are still being refined and the designs are subject to change based on community input, but initial drawings show a building featuring a combination of brick, glass and stone serving as a transition between the historic district to the west and various contemporary university buildings to the east.

....

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...psa7ubiy9t.jpg

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps5symmbpc.jpg

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/.../the_glen.html

uaarkson

Jul 9, 2015 11:15 PM

Nice! Ann Arbor is really heating up now. Does anyone here know how many developable plots remain in the downtown core?

Rizzo

Jul 10, 2015 4:22 AM

Exciting stuff. I think all of the proposals for the library lot are attractive. And Glen-Ann Place...wow. Last time we heard anything on this was a decade ago.

The NIMBYs had a fit then. This plan looks almost taller and that's better IMO.

The past decade has been a boom for Ann Arbor and the University. Never has the city built so much medium to high density residential, and never before has the university spent this many billions of dollars on construction

animatedmartian

Jul 24, 2015 2:22 AM

Quote:

Hundreds of new apartments in downtown Ann Arbor getting ready to welcome tenants
By Ryan Stanton. July 23, 2015. MLive.

In the race to bring new luxury apartments to market in downtown Ann Arbor, and fill them with tenants by this fall, not all will be champions.

While three new rental housing developments are getting ready to welcome residents in August and September, the Foundry Lofts high-rise at 413 E. Huron St. is months behind schedule, has struggled with leasing, and now has canceled fall leases.

Billed as luxury student housing, the 14-story building was expected to begin welcoming tenants in late August in time for the start of the University of Michigan's fall semester, but those who signed leases for the fall are being forced to make other accommodations now, and the developer is citing construction delays as the reason.

The leasing website now indicates finished apartments will be available starting in January 2016 in time for U-M's spring semester.

A representative for the Cardinal Group, the management firm handling leasing for Foundry Lofts, said about 25 percent of the units are pre-leased.

....

Counting the Foundry Lofts and ArborBLU student apartment high-rises, as well as 618 South Main and the Munger Graduate Residences, nearly 1,600 new beds are being added to the rental housing market in downtown Ann Arbor.

That follows a wave of housing development, including other apartment high-rises built in recent years that have increased the downtown population.

By the Downtown Development Authority's count, more than 1,400 new bedrooms were constructed downtown between 2010 and 2014.

Based on occupancy reports, the DDA estimates the downtown population is now about 5,500, up from 4,067 in the 2010 census.

In addition to luxury apartments, dozens of high-end condos are being built in the downtown and selling faster than developers can build them.

Foundry Lofts - Delayed opening to January 2016
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...pscegom8iy.jpg

ArborBLU - Move-in ready by August 25th
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...psak53jywj.jpg

618 South Main - Move-in ready August 1st
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...psoucosxjm.jpg

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...pskb39zl7p.jpg

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...psdqx64xu2.jpg

Munger Graduate Residences at the University of Michigan - Opening August 1st
http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...ps9vnavp08.jpg

Bonus peek inside the U-M new dorms. They look pretty fancy.

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