City Place developer, neighbors restart negotiations

The developer behind the controversial City Place project and the neighbors it would affect are back to the table, negotiating what everyone hopes will be the long-awaited compromise.

The developer, Alex de Parry of Ann Arbor Builders, is scheduling a neighborhood meeting next week to talk about the project near the southern border of the central business district. The meeting is open to the public even though it's designed for neighbors of the development to give their input.

"We all want to try to work something out," de Parry says.

City Place has turned into the red-headed stepchild of downtown development in Ann Arbor in recent months. Vocal neighbors have rallied against it, stalling the development which has gone through several changes. So much so that developer has pushed through a by-right design that calls for an ugly, suburban design complete with surface parking lot. That met with a demolition moratorium from the city while it studies the merits of historical status for the newly named Germantown neighborhood - something critics have called an end-run attempt to thwart the project from moving forward..

The developer wants to level a handful of historic homes (
including one of the city's oldest) that have mostly served as student rentals on Fifth Avenue just north of Packard Road. The original proposal called for 90 brownstone-style condos in a long 4.5-story building in what he describes as Beacon Hill-style architecture. The original project proposal included some big green, urban features such as 98 underground parking spaces and a geothermal heating-and-cooling system. The 750-1,500-square-foot units were geared toward young professionals looking to live in a vibrant downtown. This proposal was rejected by local residents.

The by-right proposal calls for two, 4-story buildings that will hold 24 apartments for students. The two buildings will be split by 36 surface parking spaces. The developer is currently working on a proposal that would spare the houses and build dense housing behind them. Think C-style apartment buildings from the early 20th Century where arms would wrap around a courtyard.

Source: Alex de Parry, developer of City Place.
Writer: Jon Zemke
Enjoy this story? Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.