Ann Arbor

Zingerman’s expands coffee options near Ann Arbor Airport

By Newsroom

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August 26, 2009

People can get a cup of Zingerman's coffee in two locations, and the newest one is in one of Ann Arbor's most unlikely spots.Zingerman's Coffee is opening a retail-and-processing site in an industrial area on Plaza Drive, in the Airport Plaza Business Park next to the world-famous eatery's Bake House and Creamery. The Zingerman's brand houses a family of businesses that all specialize in creating food or services around food, such as bread, customer service and coffee.Although the original deli serves as the officials face and base of the umbrella company, many of its offshoots have facilities outside of the Kerrytown location to meet demand. Zingerman's Coffee has had to turn down business because its previous facilities weren't big enough. Its new 6,400 square feet is expected to solve that problem while giving lovers of Zingerman's coffee one more place to enjoy their product."One of the things we like to say is you can buy the products where they're made," says Pete Sickman-Garner, marketing manager for Zingerman's.Zingerman's Coffee products are only available at the Kerrytown location for the time being. The new location won't have the same coffee-shop theme as the main coffee house, but it promises to have the Zingerman's flavor that gives the business its unique character.For years Zingerman's has stood it ground at its original location, turning down opportunities to franchise or open new locations outside of Washtenaw County. Zingerman's has looked at the idea of opening a Ypsilanti location because so many of its employees live in that emerging bohemia that the founders so readily identify with, however, nothing has yet to come from that idea. It is still looking at expanding its Kerrytown location.Source: Pete Sickman-Garner, marketing manager for Zingerman'sWriter: Jon Zemke

University of Michigan’s Stephen Forrest: ‘We’ve got to commit to something’

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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August 26, 2009

Ann Arbor's newest tech chief, Stephen Forrest, is making the case for more incentives to lure more new economy businesses to Michigan.Excerpt:Stephen Forrest doesn’t mind picking winners.In fact, he thinks it’s imperative.Forrest, the University of Michigan’s vice president for research and chairman of Ann Arbor SPARK, is a fervent proponent of leveraging university technology to reconstruct Michigan’s economy on the backbone of alternative energy and other technologies. Michigan’s attraction of $1.3 billion in battery grants from the U.S. Department of Energy in July marked a key step in the state’s economic revival plan, he said. Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor puts West Park upgrades on fast track

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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August 26, 2009

Lots of people look at Ann Arbor's West Park and think its area with potential to be so much more. Now the city is poised to capitalize on that."We got ranked very high for federal stimulus money so we're zooming the project forward," says Amy Kuras, a park planner for the city of Ann Arbor.The upgrades include making the park much friendlier to the environment and patrons. The $3.5 million project could begin as early as next summer.On the environmental end, the project will include creating a number of bioswells, linear depressions similar to rain gardens filled with native plants, that will help absorb the water runoff that runs through the park's east/west crevice. It will include a boardwalk along part of it and another part will snake in front of the band shell.The band shell will have a plaza built around it to facilitate more seating and gathering for events. The basketball courts on the east end will be moved to higher ground to make room for a new community garden. The stairs coming down from Huron Avenue will also be replaced.Source: Amy Kuras, park planner for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Stop the presses forever: Ann Arbor News’ demise still drawing headlines

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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August 26, 2009

The demise of the Ann Arbor continues to garner attention across the nation.Excerpt:ANN ARBOR, Michigan -- As she prepared informational packets for school board members 10 days ago, secretary Amy Osinski yelled a question to her boss that probably wouldn't be asked in a city with a daily newspaper."Hey Liz, what should we do about clipping articles now?"Liz Margolis, director of communications for the 16,500-student Ann Arbor school district, was preoccupied with other effects from the local paper ceasing daily publication three weeks earlier. Two of her three teenage sons were competing in the city's annual junior golf tournament, and she could find nary a story or photo anywhere."The Ann Arbor News covered the heck out of it," Margolis said, lamenting the loss of a companion for her boys."Even though they're online all day, not having that sports page at night is a tragedy. My middle son took the sports pages to bed every night and studied the box scores."Across this city of 114,000, residents are coming to grips with the loss of their venerable daily newspaper, replaced by a Web version. Declining ad revenue and a prolonged recession are ravaging the newspaper industry, last year killing such iconic mastheads as Denver's 149-year-old Rocky Mountain News and the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer.Read the rest of the story here.

Mass transit round-up in Ann Arbor area

By Newsroom

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Development News

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August 26, 2009

Mass transit advocates won one and lost one in Ann Arbor this month. Welcome the Canton Express commuter bus. Say goodbye to The Link bus loop through downtown.The Canton Express began operation earlier this week, connecting commuters from the Plymouth/Canton area to downtown Ann Arbor. The bus makes two trips from Canton's Independence Park in the morning and returns twice in the afternoon. It makes stops at the University of Michigan, U-M Hospital and downtown.The Canton Express is run on the same concept as an identical line between Chelsea and Ann Arbor. The Chelsea line started last year and has built a steady ridership. The idea is to help downtown and U-M workers make their daily commute more efficiently, allowing more people to use downtown without having to find homes for their cars.Gone is The Link downtown bus. The little purple busses connected downtown and far reaches of U-M's campus with a number of stops in between, similar to how The People Mover works in downtown Detroit. The Link, which has been around for most of this decade, never lived up to ridership expectations and was cut so the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority could maintain other bus services.Source: Ann Arbor Transportation AuthorityWriter: Jon Zemke

Small talk: Ann Arbor chef Aronoff

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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August 26, 2009

One of Ann Arbor's top chefs dishes about the new show she was on – Top Chef.Excerpt:Chef, cookbook author and restaurant owner Eve Aronoff, 40, of Ann Arbor made her television debut last week as a contestant on Bravo's "Top Chef." Aronoff grew up in East Lansing and attended culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. She's the chef/owner of Eve in Ann Arbor and author of her own cookbook, "Eve: Contemporary Cuisine, Methode Traditionelle."This is the sixth season for the popular reality show, which this year takes place in Las Vegas. It airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on Bravo. While Aronoff is not able to reveal anything about what happens on the show (she nearly missed being eliminated on the first episode), she was forthcoming about her career and passion for cooking. Read the rest of the story here.

U-M Zipcar fleets adds 2 cars, expands fleet to 15

By Newsroom

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Development News

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August 26, 2009

The University of Michigan's Zipcar fleet has grown beyond a baker's dozen and can now barely be counted on three hands.The university just received two new vehicles, rounding out the Zipcar fleet to a total of 15 automobiles. Those cars range from Ford Focuses to Honda hybrids to Mini Coopers."We have a wide variety of fuel efficient vehicles," says Grant Winston, an associate director with the university's Parking & Transportation Services Dept, which oversees the Zipcar fleet.Zipcar is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm that specializes in providing European-style car sharing in urban centers. Users pay a small annual fee to be able to rent a car on an hourly basis, which is often cheaper than renting a car for a day from car-rental company. About 1,400 students, faculty and staff at the university utilize its Zipcar fleet. The fleet has a 45 percentage utilization rate over a 24-7 basis, which is considered ideal because it makes sure a car is always available. Downtown Ann Arbor also started its own Zipcar fleet, which now consists of four vehicles."We have a growing portion of our membership among students," Winston says. "Undergraduate students aren't allowed to have a car on campus so this gives them wheels when they need them."Source: Grant Winston, associate director at the University of Michigan's Parking & Transportation Services DeptWriter: Jon Zemke

filterD Event Of The Week: Great Lakes Swimmers

By Jeff Meyers

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Arts & Culture

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August 26, 2009

Toronto's Great Lakes Swimmers run the emotional spectrum from heartache to heartbreak. Drenched in reverb and boasting luminous melodies that evoke such artists as Nick Drake, Emmy Lou Harris, and Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), this new-to-you band is only one of six scintillating events we spotlight in this week's filterD, your local guide to what's worth checking out.

Ann Arbor fights to keep its business attraction advantage amid falling building prices

By Newsroom

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General

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August 26, 2009

A skilled workforce and high quality of life aren’t the only things Ann Arbor needs to compete when it comes to business attraction.Excerpt:When Mercedes announced in March that it would open a 60,000-square-foot R&D facility in Ann Arbor, the company accelerated its search for local real estate - and everyone involved believed this region could reasonably accommodate the need.The search, I’m told, started to focus on vacant land in the South State corridor.But then Mercedes pulled out of talks, and now appears bound for Redford Township, near Detroit.The obvious question is: Why Redford?The company told local officials it couldn’t ignore the economic benefits of using excess capacity that it already has in another building. That building, in this case, is the Detroit Diesel facility.But the situation also raises questions about the drivers of corporate siting decisions in 2009 - and how Ann Arbor could be further impacted.Ann Arbor, it appears, is now competing on a much larger regional playing field, with price taking the lead.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor’s underground parking deck moves forward

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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August 26, 2009

The underground parking structure next to the Ann Arbor Library's Main Branch continues its steady slog toward becoming a reality.The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority approved upgrading the 6-inch water mains along Fifth Avenue to 12-inch water mains and hired Lansing-based Christman to handle the pre-construction planning. It all means shovels will go in the ground for the water mains by October and the main hole for the parking deck will start going down by early winter."I think we may start excavating in November," says Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority.The DDA is spending $38 million to build a 3-story underground parking garage under Fifth Avenue and the surface parking lot adjacent to the downtown library branch. The new structure, set to open by the 2011 Art Fair, will feature 677 parking spaces, replacing the 200 spaces on the surface lot.The parking deck will feature a number of green features, including plentiful natural light, dimmers on the parking light and LED to save electricity. It will also feature power outlets for electric cars. The DDA is also looking into utilizing geothermal heating systems, solar panels and reusing gravel from the excavation in the cement for the structure."It's going to be as green as we can make it," Pollay says.Happening separately but impacting the same project is the newly released request for proposals for a development above it. The city issued the RFP to solicit development projects for the space above the parking garage.The perimeter of the large site could reach as high as 4-6 stories. The interior of the block could go as high as 18 stories and facilitate office, residential or hotel space or even a combination of those. Ideas bandied about for the space include an office tower and convention center.Source: Susan Pollay, executive director of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development AuthorityWriter: Jon Zemke