Ann Arbor City Hall expansion set to earn City Council approval in August

After lots of pot stirring, plans for an expansion of the Ann Arbor City Hall are nearly finished and ready to go before City Council.

The financing is in place, the city planning commission has recommended giving a thumbs up to the project and now City Council must sign off later this summer. If and when it does that the city can put the $47 million project out to bid this fall and start construction early next year.

“They’re serious about getting this going,” says Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority.

The plans, which city officials have hemmed and hawed over for months, call for the expansion to occur on the side of the Guy C Larcom City Hall at the corner of East Huron and East Ann streets. The 102,000 square-foot building will house the Ann Arbor Police Department and the 15th District Court.

It will be more urban in design, building up to the lot lines and impacting the Huron Street corridor. City officials will also apply for LEED certification at the gold level, achieving one of the highest levels of environmentally friendly construction.
 
Proponents claim the new addition will help alleviate overcrowding issues at City Hall and provide more modern facilities for the police department and courts. However, a number of city officials and community groups have argued against the project as too costly and unnecessary.
 
Source: Susan Pollay, spokeswoman for the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority
Writer: Jon Zemke