Ann Arbor

The paradox of cheap parking, in real time

Free parking is far from free.Excerpt:Last spring, I heard about an interesting dataset about Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I lived for four years as an undergraduate student. Busy with the flurry of activity leading up to my completion of graduate school, I stored it away to look at later. After all, real-time information on cities is hard enough to come by, let alone on the simultaneously ubiquitous and fascinating topic of parking.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor sends 415 W Washington proposals back to drawing board

Development proposals for 415 W Washington, take two!That's basically what the Ann Arbor City Council said Monday night when it asked the three organizations vying to develop the city-owned property just north of downtown. The Ann Arbor Art Center, Chicago-based developer Morningside Group (the Liberty Lofts people) and the Old West Square LLC (a partnership that includes Peter Allen of Kingsley Lane and Lower Town fame) all want to redevelop the 2.5 acre site.The parcel, located at 415 W Washington next to the railroad tracks, served as the city's old Department of Public Works. The city no longer has use for it and issued a request for proposals early last year.The Old West Square's plans call for a mixed-use development that will focus on the cultural and arts community while strengthening a connection to a greenway and public space. The Ann Arbor Art Center wants to make the site its future home. Morningside wants to create a mixed-use development there.City officials were impressed with the plans, but want to see them reworked before making a decision. Among the issues are creating a publicly-owned greenway along the existing floodway, renovating existing office building for an arts and/or civic use, removing the garages behind the office building, building a new multi-family or live-work residential building at the southwest corner of the site and creating pedestrian and vehicle connections to both Liberty and Washington Streets.The city originally requested redevelopment proposals that respect the surrounding residential neighborhood, utilize green building practices, mitigate floodplain issues and preserve the historical two-story industrial building built in 1907.Source: Wendy Rampson, systems planner for the city of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

A rust belt oasis, the University of Michigan is spending billions to grow

The University of Michigan's light is so bright The New York Times has been drawn to its construction boom like a moth to the flame.Excerpt:An army of ironworkers, masons, carpenters and laborers are swarming the campus of the University of Michigan these days, as the university undertakes a construction campaign budgeted at $2.5 billion, ranking it among the largest university building programs in the United States.Nine major buildings for science, medicine, health, art, business, sports, food service and student housing are in various stages of construction here. They encompass nearly three million square feet, at a cost of about $1.66 billion. Five others are in the design stage. This comes after the completion in the last two years of 10 other buildings — for biomedical research, cardiovascular treatment, science, technology, engineering, public health, public policy and drama — covering 1.7 million square feet at a cost of $836.4 million. The square footage in the new and renovated buildings comes to the equivalent of 105 acres."Having the right facilities is crucial to a thriving public research university," said Philip J. Hanlon, vice provost for academic and budgetary affairs at the University of Michigan, where the first building was completed in 1840. "We are producing the work force of the future in the industries of the future. And we are doing that even as the help our state government provides is declining."Read the rest of the story here.

Downtown Ann Arbor businesses finally go green with recycling services

Ann Arbor is known for its ambitious recycling program but the dirty little secret is that that ambition didn't extend to downtown businesses.Things are about to change. The Ann Arbor City Council approved a program that will give downtown businesses recycling options by July. The goal is to divert up to 60 percent of the solid waste stream to recycling.The city and its downtown development authority have been pushing to make the downtown district as sustainable as possible. The reasons range from helping boosting the city's already green image to helping save downtown businesses and residents money.The new commercial recycling program includes providing containers and recycling the basics for downtown businesses, such as paper and plastic. The details of the plan are still being worked out.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Is Ann Arbor one of America’s most literate cities?

If you're reading this then you're part of the reason Ann Arbor is considered one of the world's most literate cities.Excerpt:No list of America's Most Literate Cities would be complete without Ann Arbor.Or would it?A recent study ranked Seattle and Minneapolis as tied for first place on the literacy list. Ann Arbor - a city that finds itself near the top of all kinds of lists - wasn't ranked.But there's a reason. The literacy list, published since 2003, only ranks cities with populations above 250,000. Detroit is the highest ranked Michigan city at 51st, just ahead of Newark, N.J.Many local book experts say Ann Arbor could hold its own against any metro city.Read the rest of the story here.

Ann Arbor SPARK’s Finney: Tech economy can grow

Growth isn’t exactly the easiest thing to achieve right now but Ann Arbor SPARK's Michael Finney thinks that's precisely what Ann Arbor's tech economy will do.Excerpt:The lack of access to credit threatens the short-term health of Ann Arbor's startup business community, but Ann Arbor SPARK CEO Michael Finney believes the region's tech economy can still grow in 2009. Finney said he expects there to continue to be significant opportunity to generate "high-value, knowledge-intensive jobs" in "innovation-based sectors" such as information technology, clinical services and medical devices.Read the rest of the story here and what other local leaders see for the Ann Arbor-area economy here.

High-tech boost seen for region as U-M buys Pfizer property

Ann Arbor’s Arboretum Ventures becomes state’s leading VC fund

A2 Hosting takes off in Ann Arbor, hopes to hire 5 this year

Five years ago Bryan Muthig and a business partner started A2 Hosting with the idea that website hosting was a good idea. It turned out to be a darned good decision. The firm, based out of Ann Arbor's southeast side, now employs 17 people. Some of them telecommute but they're all located in southeast Michigan. "Most of our growth has come in the last 2-3 years," says Muthig, the president and CEO of A2 Hosting. "We were at four people three years ago."The firm hopes to hire five people this year after enjoying 40 percent revenue growth. That's because it hosts the likes of Ubuntugeek.com, 43folders.com and the blog for a famous U.S. politician.Muthig expects to continue that growth and take on more sites as time passes. He is even looking into getting into design and applications development."Assuming the world doesn't fall into chaos," Muthig says.Source: Bryan Muthig, president and CEO of A2 HostingWriter: Jon Zemke