Ann Arbor City Apartments sets groundbreaking for next spring

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

A new downtown Ann Arbor residential community now has a tentative construction timeline after several years of delays.

City documents indicate that Ann Arbor City Apartments, proposed by Village Green Companies, plans for a late June groundbreaking, with the parking structure to be finished by May of 2012 and the residential units to be finished by Dec. 31, 2012. Last week the city approved the selling of $9 million in bonds for the parking facility, as that part of the development will be public.

Village Green CEO Jonathan Holtzman declined to comment further on the project.

Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority, says the project is a good example of what can be done when the public and private sectors work together. "We don't do public-private very often, so that's very exciting," she says. "We're looking forward to the project."

Plans for the Ann Arbor City Apartments, to be built at First and Washington Streets, had originally been approved in early 2008. Intended for non-student rentals on the western edge of downtown, the multi-use building replaces a former parking deck.

The eight-story structure will feature about 150 new apartments and nearly 250 parking spaces. The parking spaces will be on four levels, two in the basement and two more on the first two floors. The city will operate the parking structure section of the building as a public parking garage.

The one- and two-bedroom apartments will occupy the top six stories and average about 700 square feet. About 10 percent of the units will be dedicated to affordable housing. The units will not have individual balconies or terraces, but there will be a community rooftop deck.

The company has buildings in 11 other states and consistently wins awards for its community designs and leadership. A Minneapolis building has been recognized for its adaptive reuse.

Source: City of Ann Arbor, Village Green, and Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Kristin Lukowski