Developers push for demo with downtown Ann Arbor projects

Decades old downtown building stock could soon be coming down in Ann Arbor.Two developers are advocating for the demolition of a handful of historic homes and old buildings. Razing them will make room for more dense housing in one project while the other will expand a surface parking lot.Morningside, the company behind Liberty Lofts, wants to level the old gas station at the corner of Liberty and Second streets. Two other single-family homes next to the old gas station would also come down. The demolitions would allow the developer to expand the adjacent surface parking lot for Liberty Lofts' retail space.The other project is the Madison, which is proposed to replace seven century-old homes on Madison across the street from Fingerle Lumber. These homes now serve as student rentals and are in poor condition.The developer, Jeff Helminski, originally wanted to build a 14-story high-rise with 161 rental units. Those plans have now been downsized to four stories and about 60 units. A public meeting on the project will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Ann Arbor District Library's downtown branch, 343 S. Fifth Ave.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor offers easy way to check development updates

Finding out what's going on in your neighborhood is never one-stop shopping, but finding out what's being built in your neighborhood in Ann Arbor is.The city has come up with a couple of interactive Internet features that allow residents to keep tabs on what's being built and bulldozed in their neighborhood. Click here and it will take you to the city's website where you can you can find what planning petitions, a.k.a. projects, are under review.These can be found on an interactive Google map, RSS feed or through email updates. However, the information on the projects is not details, like what can be found in city staff reports to City Council. The information listed will give users a general idea of what the developer is proposing.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M plans to upgrade East Quad, lab space, utility tunnels

The University of Michigan has OKed more upgrades for the school's campus, including millions of dollars in projects for the university's dorms, laboratories, hospital and utility tunnels.The university plans to spend $2.1 million renovating the 11,300-square-foot auditorium in East Quad. The venue, built in 1970, is used for for musical and theatrical petformances, and for poetry readings. The work will improve the facility's technology, lighting, stage, seats and architectural finishes. A vertical lift and second fire exit will also be added to make the auditorium compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and safety codes. Work is set to begin this fall.About $6.6 million will be spent fixing the university's tunnel system. Those tunnels house things like electric lines and water pipes. About 600 feet of tunnels and 125 feet of pipes will be replaces, starting this fall.Another $1.2 million will be spent modernizing the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Building. Approximately 8,300 gross square feet of existing student laboratory will be reconfigured into three new research laboratories for faculty and students. Work is also set to start this fall.Not to be left out, the University of Michigan Hospital will receive $3.25 million in upgrades for its air-conditioning system. That project is slated to begin in the spring of 2010.Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

Washtenaw-area land trusts protect 1,072 acres in 2008

It's not like developers are stockpiling land right now, but local land trusts and preservation programs in Washtenaw County are still working hard to sock away more natural rural space.These nine organizations have helped put 1,072 acres out of reach of future development last year. It turns out that 2008 is the third consecutive year that more than 1,000 acres of farms, natural areas and open space have been preserved. So far 10,533 acres total have been marked for preservation.These programs include Ann Arbor's Greenbelt, the Raisin Valley Land Trust, Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy, and Washtenaw Land Trust, among other similar organizations surrounding Ann Arbor. These organizations often buy the land's development rights so it can remain private property but not turn into another dreaded sub division. Source: Washtenaw Land TrustWriter: Jon Zemke

New Enterprise Forum names Healthmedia founder as Entrepreneur of the Year

Construction wraps up on Dexter library, March opening set

At long last, books in Dexter have a new home. The new Dexter District Library is finished.Construction workers are putting the finishing touches on the new building while movers begin to move the library's stacks into their new home. Library officials are planning for an early March opening."It's all sort of hitting us pretty fast but it's great," says Paul McCann, library director for the Dexter District Library.The new building is in downtown Dexter, 3255 Alpine Street, and overlooks Warrior Creek Park and the Mill Creek bridge. The $7.8 million structure measures out at 25,000-square-feet and two stories. It features more space for books and other materials, studying and reading space and meeting rooms. There will also be computer rooms and wireless Internet access for library patrons.There will be expanded computer resources, significantly more study space, a quiet reading area and more comfortable seating throughout the building. The meeting room space will comfortably accommodate 200 people without the moving book stacks to free up space, which must be done in the current library.It replaces the 4,200-square-foot old library, formerly the Methodist Church Education Building, it moved into in 1996. The future of the old building has been tossed around ever since the library announced it was moving. The village at one time intended to move its offices into it, and is still considering that option. McCann says the library is also looking at selling the building to DISS Data by the time it moves into its new home.Source: Paul McCann, library director for the Dexter District LibraryWriter: Jon Zemke

Ypsilanti to revamp historic elementary schools into company space

The last pieces of the Schoolpictures.com project in Ypsilanti are starting to fall into place. State bureaucrats are giving the development a thumps up while construction workers hurry to finish the project. The Michigan Economic Growth Authority recently approved $86,800 in tax incentives for the $2.8 million project.Schoolpictures is in the process of taking over the old Ave Maria University campus, which includes two old elementary school buildings. The campus is on Forest Avenue between the campus of Eastern Michigan University and Frog Island Park. It's moving from Pittsfield Township because its growth has been so rapid its old HQ just couldn't accommodate all the new employees.Schoolpictures.com started with seven employees three years ago and has since grown to more than 40. The company's business has more than doubled in that time and it hopes to reach well beyond those numbers in the next five years.Source: Michigan Economic Growth Corporation and the city of YpsilantiWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor looks for bicyclist input at meeting tonight

Ann Arbor city officials have some big ideas about expanding bicycling options in Tree Town, but they need input from locals first.The city is applying for a Bicycle Friendly Community Award from the League of American Bicyclists. It needs citizen ideas to round out the application, hence the meeting set for 6 p.m. tonight.City officials are going for a large federal grant that will add dozens of miles of bike lanes, trails and sidewalks in the city within a few years instead of a few decades. This award will help secure those funds, worth millions of dollars.The meeting will be held in City Council’s chambers in City Hall, on the second floor of 100 N Fifth Ave. All bicyclists and supporters of alternative transportation are encouraged to come. For information, click here.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Jackson asks for westward extension of Detroit-Ann Arbor line

It's easy to make the southeast Michigan connection when thinking about Detroit and Ann Arbor, but Jackson?Most people wouldn't consider the birthplace of the Republican Party part of the Metro Detroit mix, but Jackson's leaders are lobbying to be let into the game by including it in one of the region's marquee projects - the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line.Currently the project's first phase, set to become a reality in the fall of 2010, stretches between Ann Arbor and Detroit with stops at Ypsilanti, Metro Airport and Dearborn. That's it for now, according to Carmine Palombo, director of transportation programs for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, which is spearheading the project.He added there is talk of extending the line north into Oakland County with stops at Royal Oak, Birmingham/Troy and Pontiac as part of a second phase. SEMCOG is also looking at utilizing Jackson's rail yard as a base for the line, but extending the line to downtown Jackson isn't in the cards, at least not for the project's first phase.Local leaders in Jackson are trying to change that. They argue that if the line uses it rail yard, which would save the project significant money in start-up construction costs, it makes sense to extend the line less than a mile into downtown Jackson's existing train station.Jackson is about 35 miles west of Ann Arbor. Bruce Inosencio, a spokesman for the Jackson Citizens for Economic Growth, points out that section of I-94 that connects the two communities is heavily travelled, making the extension of the line no-brainer."It's very busy. It's very heavily utilized," Inosencio says. "There are a number of companies here in Jackson who have a lot of workers from Washtenaw and Wayne counties."He claims that 61 percent of the 300 employees of one Jackson company --he declined to name it-- live in the Ann Arbor area or east of it, hoping to make skeptics warm to the idea bringing Jackson online with the project.Source: Carmine Palombo, director of transportation programs for the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments and Bruce Inosencio, a spokesman for the Jackson Citizens for Economic GrowthWriter: Jon Zemke