Downtown Ann Arbor City Apartments project up for approval

More tall buildings are lining up to be built in downtown Ann Arbor. A handful have already been approved and ready to rise with the latest green light going to the controversial 601 Forest. Next in line is Ann Arbor City Apartments, which will go for City Council approval Thursday night.That project has grown a little bit since it was first proposed. The 9-story building has gone from 146 units to 156. It’s even added a few more parking spots, raising that number to 244. The idea is that adding the spaces and units made the building more efficient and profitable.”It’s a great opportunity for us because there are no projects in Ann Arbor like the one we are proposing,” says Andrea Roebker, director of public relations for Village Green Companies.The Farmington Hills-based hopes to break ground on the development next spring and finish it within 18 months.”It’s a tough economy but we’re still moving forward,” Roebker says.The project would replace a 1940s era parking garage on First and Washington streets across from the Blind Pig and Cavern Club. That parking structure was removed three years ago. Gone will be a crumbling concrete structure, proposed to replace it is a modern-looking building. The bottom four levels of the building (two are underground) are set to be a parking garage decked out with ornamental metal grills. The upper stories are set to be rental apartments which will be marketed toward professionals.That’s something new for a downtown where new construction has either been reserved for student rentals or for-sale condos. The one- and two-bedroom apartments will average about 700 square feet. Ten percent of those apartments will be dedicated to affordable housing. The units will not have individual balconies or terraces, but there will be a community rooftop deck for all of the units. The apartments have access to as many as 73 spaces during the day and 146 spaces during the night. The rest of the spots will be open to the public. The parking garage will be run by the city. Village Green also plans to use extensive green building techniques and technologies in the Ann Arbor City Apartments building. Among those are using recyclable materials, installing a green roof and making the building energy efficient. The company also plans to keep the building as rental apartments for the foreseeable future. The company owns similar downtown apartment buildings in Minneapolis and Chicago. Source: Andrea Roebker, director of public relations for Village Green CompaniesWriter: Jon Zemke