Coming soon to Tree Town: sorely needed new downtown housing units. With the Ann Arbor City Council's recent approval of an amendment which, among other things, delineates the ability of the city and the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority to supervise the construction process, the way is paved for Farmington Hills developer Village Green to commence construction of Ann Arbor City Apartments, a 156-unit, nine-story building at the corner of First and Washington St. this summer.
In a public-private partnership, the city of Ann Arbor will sell the corner lot to Village Green for approximately $3.3 million, says Tom Crawford, CFO for the city of Ann Arbor. The deal is set to close shortly before construction starts. A city-owned parking garage with approximately 244 spaces will sit below; the garage is to be financed with a $9 million in bonds issued by the city, to be repaid by the DDA.
The partnership has been successful because "It meets a lot of the criteria the city's been looking for as far as building some affordable housing, increasing downtown density, and underground parking," Crawford notes. Sixteen of the units will be designated affordable housing. He also points to the city's flexibility while the developer pulled together financing in the midst of the economic turndown.
Washington Street, says Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor DDA, has become a vital downtown corridor. "We would now have at least 150 people living in an area that would help to activate the area, that would be going to the YMCA, would be going up to Main Street for a cup of coffee, that would be heading to work in the morning up at the university campus."
"It's very exciting to us to see West Washington taking shape," Pollay adds. "What's there now are surface parking lots, which are not the best use of land."
Sources: Tom Crawford, CFO for the city of Ann Arbor; Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor DDA
Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
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