Ann Arbor Construction updates

[DetroitMan]

Ann Arbor giving up future roadway rights to make way for big development

Ann Arbor has agreed to give up future roadway rights along State Street and Eisenhower Parkway to help facilitate a new mixed-use development.

City Council voted unanimously and without discussion Monday night, April 15, to approve releasing the city’s right-of-way rights along the edges of property owned by Oxford Companies.

City staff support releasing the rights because further widening of State Street and Eisenhower Parkway there is no longer contemplated and it will allow development of the land, City Planner Alexis DiLeo told council in a memo. Oxford is teaming up with Ohio-based developer Crawford Hoying on a proposed 20-acre development including over 1,000 new housing units, a 150-room hotel and over 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

The city obtained rights in the 1970s to a 50-foot-wide strip of land along the western edge of property at 2845 S. State St. for possible future right-of-way needs, as well as a 27-foot-wide strip along the north side of Eisenhower, DiLeo said.

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...velopment.html

[DetroitMan]

5-story Ann Arbor housing development proposed next to former brewery

A new housing development is proposed to rise next to an old brewery building in Ann Arbor.

The newly unveiled plans call for new apartments at 1329 and 1333 Jones Drive, next to the former Northern Brewery.

The 1886 brewery building, later converted into a foundry and now offices, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been home in recent years to the Tech Brewery co-working space and nonprofit Avalon Housing. The new development now proposed next door is slated to rise on a vacant lot used by Avalon as an extra parking lot and the adjacent property where Arbor Springs Water Co., which used to deliver bottled water around town, closed in recent years. The old Arbor Springs website now redirects to Absopure, another Michigan-based bottled water company. The development proposal calls for demolishing the structures on the former Arbor Springs property at 1333 Jones Drive (also known as 1440 Plymouth Road) and rezoning the site from its current planned unit development or PUD zoning for water bottling facilities to R4E, a multi-family residential zoning.

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...r-brewery.html

[DetroitMan]

$62.4M in state loans to help bring 250 affordable housing units to Ann Arbor

A big affordable housing development in Ann Arbor is getting ready to break ground with a sizable funding boost from the state of Michigan.

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority approved loans for multiple affordable housing developments across the state at its April board meeting.

That includes loans totaling $62.4 million, including a $46.7 million construction loan, for the Union at A2, a project slated to rise at 2050 Commerce Drive between Maple Road and Stadium Boulevard on Ann Arbor’s west side. MSHDA describes it as a 250-unit development that will include 151 one-bedroom units, 68 two-bedroom units and 31 three-bedroom units for families with incomes ranging from 30% to 70% of the area median. Additionally, 26 units are designed to be accessible for people with disabilities.

The Annex Group, an Indianapolis-based developer, has been working on plans for the project with design firm BKV Group and local architect Brad Moore.

City Council approved incentives for the project in February 2023 so the development will be exempt from property taxes and instead pay an annual city fee of $1 per housing unit. The development site is the former corporate office location for Select Ride, a taxicab and limousine business that moved out several years ago. Plans have been in the works to redevelop the site for years, going back to a Chicago developer getting plans approved for 267 market-rate apartments in 2018.

The newer proposal from The Annex Group has been described as workforce housing, something Ann Arbor officials say is lacking in the city.

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...ann-arbor.html

[DetroitMan]

U.S. Navy to build $14.5M research center at University of Michigan

The U.S. Office of Naval Research plans to build a new research center at the University of Michigan.

Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced the development of the Center for Naval Research and Education Saturday at UM's commencement ceremony. The $14.5 million center will help train an engineering research community familiar with naval and marine applications, as well as provide students with opportunities to gain direct experience working with Navy engineers.

“I am incredibly proud of the partnership between the University of Michigan and the Department of the Navy. Michigan is a key teammate in rebuilding our shipbuilding industry and restoring the comprehensive — commercial and naval — power of our nation," Del Toro said in a news release. "I am committed to growing our department's relationship. We truly would not have the world's most powerful Navy if not for our nearly 150-year partnership."

The center will build teams to tackle challenges pertaining to the impact of climate change on the maritime environment, advancements in artificial intelligence and more, according to the press release.

The four multidisciplinary teams at the center will be focused on studying how films of algae and bacteria impact vessel performance and how to prevent resulting performance issues, discovering ways to make vessels move more quietly through water, harnessing energy from waves, understanding flow-induced damage to design tougher hull materials and discovering ways to provide more control over vessel drag and maneuverability, such as morphable skin and highly water-repellent surfaces, according to the release.

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/educat...rsity-michigan

[DetroitMan]

Controversial high-rise development gets Ann Arbor council’s unanimous OK

[A 17-story apartment high-rise outside downtown Ann Arbor is now approved for development despite a fair amount of lingering controversy over it.

City Council voted unanimously Monday night, May 6, to approve the project at 711 Church St., a stone’s throw from other high-rises just up the street in the South University Avenue area near the University of Michigan campus.

The 273 new apartments with over 1,000 bedrooms are expected to cater to the need for more student housing as UM continues to grow. City officials also hope it helps relieve pressure on the overall housing market to help curb skyrocketing rents.Council heard heated arguments for and against the project during a public hearing Monday night.

Some agree there’s a desperate need for more housing and the growing pains the city is going through are worth it, while critics contend the project is out of scale with the neighborhood and some worry about the impacts on neighbors such as the Towsley Children’s House and Alpha Delta Pi sorority.

“When does this stop?” said Marc Gerstein, who is concerned it’s going to alter the character of his neighborhood.

“Is everything north of Hill Street to be open to high-rise development?” he asked. Critics of the project said more than 200 residents signed a petition against it.

Council Member Erica Briggs, D-5th Ward, said she was disturbed by the tone of the public hearing and how some residents treated others with animosity and disparagement. She urged residents to consider the impact of their words and be respectful of each other.

“I understand that this is a project with a lot of divergent viewpoints and it’s challenging as we grow,” she said, saying the city is wrestling with challenging issues and trying to figure out the best ways to solve them.

A row of old residential structures already has been cleared along Church Street to make way for the high-rise. Two more houses along Willard Street will be next to go, as Texas-based developer LV Collective LLC plans to go forward with demolition in June.

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...nimous-ok.html

[Rizzo]

I’m all for density but some better formed massing and architecture needs to rescue these clumsy designs. I’ve found the best urban density to be tall and narrow buildings peppered into the 2-3 story original urban fabric.

[DetroitMan]

A 19-story Apartment tower has been proposed for the site of Rick's Nightclub. The club will be saved however.


Ann Arbor high-rise proposed with new basement spot for Rick’s nightclub

Another high-rise development is proposed in the South University Avenue area in Ann Arbor, this time in the longtime spot of Rick’s American Cafe.

But the iconic nightclub with a long history near the University of Michigan campus going back to the 1970s isn’t going away — it would have a home within the basement of the new development, according to plans submitted to the city.

Chicago-based developer Core Spaces is working on the project with Schenk Realty, DLR Group and J Bradley Moore and Associates. They have unveiled plans for a 19-story apartment building at 611 Church St., south of the Brown Jug bar and extending south down the block. The new building would rise 195 feet tall, with a rooftop pool deck and solar panels, and with 204 apartments likely serving UM students with a mix of units ranging from two to six bedrooms. In addition to the longtime home of Rick’s and other businesses, other structures to the south would be demolished, including the home of the Bopjib Korean restaurant. Multiple commercial spaces in the Rick’s building are already empty, including the former Amer’s Deli and Dollar Bill Printing spaces.

The ground floor of the new high-rise, pending city approval, is expected to include amenity and lobby space, plus about 9,000 square feet of retail space, including mezzanine retail space. Rick’s would return as a flagship tenant in 6,000 square feet of subterranean space after construction is complete, plans state, noting the area is “ground zero” for UM student nightlife, dominated by bars and restaurants that are among a growing number of student-focused apartment high-rises.

City Administrator Milton Dohoney vaguely alluded to the development in a budget presentation to City Council in April, saying he was in discussions with Core about selling the air rights to 616 S. Forest Ave., where the city’s Forest Avenue parking deck is located, to allow Core to build up and over the city-owned property. Dohoney and Core weren’t saying any more about the development then, but Dohoney told council the air rights deal could net $1.2 million for the city.

Representatives for Core and the city have since confirmed the development would not actually go over the parking deck, just next to it and over part of the public alley behind it on the Church Street side, as that’s part of the same city-owned property.

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...nightclub.html

[DetroitMan]

4-story affordable apartment building proposed on Ann Arbor’s west side

Avalon Housing has unveiled plans to build another 39 affordable apartments on Ann Arbor’s west side.

The local nonprofit developer presented a proposal for phase three of its Hickory Way Apartments development to the city’s Planning Commission on Tuesday night, May 7.

The complex already includes 70 affordable housing units built in two phases in recent years and now Avalon proposes another building rising four stories at 1146 S. Maple Road. The development site is along the west side of Maple Road north of Pauline Boulevard and south of Liberty Street. Apartments would be reserved for people with incomes up to 60% of the area median and the plan is to make about half of them supportive housing with wraparound services for formerly unhoused residents, according to Avalon.

Washtenaw County saw a 31% decrease in chronic homelessness after Avalon opened the first two phases of Hickory Way, the agency previously reported.

The third phase is proposed as a planned unit development with special PUD zoning, which needs to go through both the Planning Commission and City Council for approval, along with annexation of Scio Township property into the city.

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor...west-side.html

[DetroitMan]

I do agree that Ann Arbor does need a nice skinny tower that's at least 30 stories.