[LMich]

Romain Blanquart | The Detroit Free Press

Ann Arbor experiencing a boom in high-end apartments and condos

By JC Reindl | Detroit Free Press

September 14, 2014

An unprecedented building boom of apartment high-rises and condos has made construction cranes a lingering fixture of the Ann Arbor skyline.

No fewer than six cranes hovered over downtown last week as private developers raced to erect more luxury student and post-collegiate housing within walking distance to University of Michigan classrooms.

The half-dozen residential projects that are under construction or slated to begin are the latest round in a boom that has been under way for at least three years and is permanently altering the city’s housing situation.

Many of the current and earlier developments specifically cater to U-M students, offering additional near-campus living options aside from blocks of grubby old houses. Other projects have targeted high-earning professionals and empty-nesters and are filling up faster than local observers anticipated.

Fueling the boom has been an eagerness among lenders to finance high-end student housing projects, the willingness of parents to pay upwards of $1,400 a month for a child’s college bedroom, and what appears to be pent-up demand in general for amenity-filled Ann Arbor apartments.

http://www.freep.com/article/2014091...ty-of-Michigan