McKinley to renovate old National City space on Liberty

The Liberty retail expansion for the McKinley Towne Centre has been downsized, but is still moving forward.McKinley will continue with its plans to renovate the old National City Bank storefront if the City Council approves the sale of some common space Thursday. McKinley originally planned to raze that structure and two more next to the towne centre and build a new 2-story retail space between it and the Michigan Theater.Those plans were shelved, but the existing retail space looks like it will not only stay but be updated to complement the recently refurbished towne centre.McKinley transformed what was formerly an unattractive building into an attractive, colorful office complex, nowheadquarters to Google’s Adwords division. The once fortress-like building has become an inviting place for pedestrians by opening up its ground floor retail to businesses like Bar Louie, Salsarita’s and AT&T while building over the surface parking lot.The expansion will continue that success, extending the traditional brick facade that houses Salsa Rita’s and AT&T all of the way to the Michigan Theater. The old storefronts and the alleyway will be eliminated for the ground floor new retail and second floor office space.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke