Ann Arbor debates smaller, suburban version of City Place

With each passing day, the plans for City Place in Ann Arbor look less like a place that should be in the city.

Excerpt:

The latest plans for City Place look like they belong in some sprawling Livingston County exurb with its unambitious architecture and surface parking lots. But it looks like it might be built in downtown Ann Arbor this September, now that the City Council is considering the project. It postponed making a decision on it Monday night until June 15.

This latest version of the project, in its sixth incarnation, is what happens when developers, city officials and local residents can't learn to play nice. It calls for two, 4-story buildings that will hold 24 apartments for students. The two buildings will be split by 36 surface parking spaces. They will replace seven historic houses, including one of the city's oldest houses, that had fallen into disrepair on Fifth Avenue near Packard.

The development meets what is called for by zoning in what the developer, Alex de Parry of Ann Arbor Builders, says is "strictly by the book." It's the design he says he was left with no choice to pursue after repeated breakdowns in the development process.

"When you can't work things out and the rules dictate certain things you have to follow the rules," de Parry says.

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Downtown Living, Historic Sites, Housing, Redevelopment

Ann Arbor debates smaller, suburban version of City Place

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