The more things change, the more they stay the same. Goodbye, Ave Maria Law School. Hello, Thomas M. Cooley Law School. That's basically what 3475 Plymouth Road is saying this week.
Cooley Law School plans to take over the Ave Maria Law School building on the city's northeast side this fall shortly after the Catholic law school left to chase after Tom Monohan's parochial college dreams in Naples, Florida.
Cooley Law School officials see a smooth transition into 84,500-square-foot building since it was already retrofitted to be a school.
"Ann Arbor has great name recognition across the country," says Don LeDuc, president and dean of Cooley Law School. "We have a lot of out of state students."
The Lansing-based law school has campuses across the state, including a recently opened campus in Auburn Hills. Cooley Law School originally opened its Metro Detroit campus at Oakland University before purchasing, renovating and expanding an old GM-UAW building in the shadow of the Chrysler headquarters. That campus is expected to accommodate up to 1,000 students.
Cooley Law School Auburn Hills campus is going for silver LEED certification with that recently completed project. It's green features include an expansive green roof, reusing an existing building and extensive use of natural lighting.
The old Ave Maria building is already up to date, so no new work has to be done. However, LeDuc points out that it is a reused building, a key green feature that is too often forgotten.
Cooley Law School plans to start classes at the Ann Arbor campus in September. About 84 students have already applied to attend classes in Ace Duece. The law school hopes to accommodate up to 400 student at its Ann Arbor campus within 3-4 years.
Source: Don LeDuc, president and dean of Cooley Law School
Writer: Jon Zemke
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