University Village

From ArborWiki

University Village, or, alternately, 601 Forest, is the proposed development on South University at Forest Avenue, where Village Corner stands now. It would replace existing commercial structures with a new student-oriented apartment high-rise.

Plans early in 2008 called for the building to include 726,000 sq ft in two attached towers, 19 and 26 stories tall, tying Tower Plaza Condominiums for the tallest building in Ann Arbor by floors. The ground floor would include 16,000 square feet of retail space, with three stories of underground parking.

As of August 2008, a somewhat scaled-down version included 464,000 sq ft in a tower rising 21 stories, including 342 apartments atop the ground floor retail space, and costing $150m.

The developers are planning for LEED Certification as a green building, including a green roof and courtyard area. Among the structures in line for demolition are the former Bagel Factory, the Village Corner store, a student rental structure, a branch of the Student Bike Shop and a party store.

The project has met opposition from some in the area, including concerns about traffic, parking, and other impacts.

The developers are Dan Ketelaar and Ron Hughes.

[edit] In the news

Oakland Business Review, March 2009. 601 Forest developers battling in court

In a circuit court lawsuit filed in February, Ketelaar accused Hughes and several of his development companies of not paying an agreed-upon monthly $12,000 fee to Ketelaar, breaching a confidentiality agreement, "failing to perform their primary responsibility as they never obtained or arranged for financing of the project," and seeking to freeze Ketelaar out as an owner of the project.