The Latest Ann Arbor Real Estate News

This week Ann Arbor will close its Traverwood Branch of the Ann Arbor Public Library for the refinishing of the wooden floor there.

Traverwood Library, Ann Arbor.

Earlier in the week the library was closed and will remain so until the 23 of February. The relatively new library building, constructed in 2008, had it’s lobby constructed from dead ash trees that were removed during the construction of the building. This approach to sustainability is the driving force behind the unusual close-down.

Library Director Josie Parker indicated some of the reasons for the shut down and pointed out how the library intends always use the most sustainable means to keep the library in shape. Due to high traffic in the lobby area the wood here has come to need repair and refinishing sooner than expected. Finishes used in the initial construction are not holding up to all of the wear and tear, but Ms. Parker remains faithful.

“We could simply throw all caution to the wind and finish the floor like a basketball court, but that seems shortsighted and unjustified.” Parker reiterated Ann Arbor’s desire to continue repairing the library in the most responsible fashion. She added that the whole project would include sanding, repairs and refinishing.

The repairs are estimated to cost between 10,000 and 12,000 dollars. This is the second time that repairs have been made to this part of the library since it opened. Δ John Fenton

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The University of Michigan Hospital. Downtown Ann Arbor, MI.

There are the obvious reasons: Money and access to resources. PiperParnters brought us updates on the money in an earlier post during our focus on hospitals, but how about the sheer numbers of people. One of the biggest ways the U of M Health Systems affects the Ann Arbor area is in the number of people who, year after year, find themselves looking for a location to live due to the nature of their employment.  Doctors, residents, students, support staff, how many of thousands of them are there and what exactly is their role in Ann Arbor living outside of the hospital system?

On an average the University has 800 – 900 total intern doctors, surgeons and faculty members.  That’s permanent, regular hospital staff who are working at U of M professionally. These are the people who will be looking for a starter home, some place to begin their family or even a home to grow old in. They want to be by the job and also near schools for their kids and easy access to work and life for their spouses.

The hospital also picks up quite few helping hands each year. Due to the extensive school and research programs associated with the hospital hundreds flock for the chance to join the full time staff. Every year on an average the University Hospital brings in over 200 – 300 new staff members.  Roughly 100 of those new faces will be hired as faculty. Over 200 residents doctors will be graduating from their three years of residency, many will be hired on as new staff  while many will also be replaced by new residencies.

It works like this: When you graduate from medical school, you are either a doctor of medicine or a surgeon, but either way you must complete time as a resident doctor.  Your fist year is spent in this capacity at a hospital and can last as long as three years or be as short as one. Once this residency is completed, most doctors will then find themselves a post residency for specialty or a fellowship. Again people looking to establish residence in Ann Arbor.

There are a number of nearby condos in Ann Arbor that fit a variety of those needs. Click on the links for more detailed descriptions of the condos.

Northside Ridge Condos

Cambridge Condos

Northside Glenn Condos

Geddes Lake Condos

Berkshire Creek Condos

Brentwood Square Condos

All of these condos are near enough to the hospital for a walking commute to work or at the very least a short bus ride. Later in the coming week we will cover more of the potential residences for hospital employees and the variety of living arrangements that suit their particular needs. Δ John Fenton

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Ann Arbor has an impressive history with education and public learning. It is important here. It remains the cornerstone to a solid community foundation. Not least of the tools in Ann Arbor, public libraries, good, healthy, robust libraries, are essential to this building and forward vision.

Interior of Ann Arbor's Traverwood Public Library. by A. Piper

What’s the deal with the library article though?

What do libraries have to do with real estate?

Surely little and less. Whatever public or personal perception of these institutions may be in modern America, one thing remains certain: the library is a central tool in forming and sustaining a community.

More than most things building a library or leaving the funding available to keep one open says that this community is serious about it’s growth and development. That, here in this city, people will be able to learn and share ideas under a common roof provided for the by the institution of government. For free.

This is not so radical an idea today. We browse the internet for literally endless amounts of information that become available instantly. What a tremendous agent of democracy; a global forum, uncensored and for the time being protected from the forces of evil by the citizenry itself. A perfect replacement for the dusty old way. For the library.

Where you live, what you do and how you do it, all are affected by the internet in someway in today’s America. It is an entity, while a library in contrast is a symbol as much as it is a tool. Having one signifies that the government is not only willing to share information with us, but that they are willing to give it to us, that knowledge and information are deemed important and relevant to a society, and that people ought to have the best possible means of access to the information for free in order to participate.

Until cities, municipalities, towns and villages begin providing uncensored, free internet. When it becomes a trend, and not just a splashy headline. When every citizen has access to the internet for free, like walking into a public building. Please don’t stop building or caring for our nations libraries.

Ann Arbor has fantastic public libraries and because of their often over looked roll in community building Ann Arbor Real Estate Watch will be focusing on them briefly over the next week. Stay tuned and don’t forget to like us on Facebook for more updates and interesting Ann Arbor real estate news and info. Δ John Fenton

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Whether you are a health nut or not, successfully employed or a student , everyone love a little variety, especially when it comes to the stomach. Luckily Ann Arbor is full of food shopping variety. From the very freshest to the strangest or most expensive foods these Ann Arbor area grocers are the perfect place to stock up.

Ann Arbor Whole Foods on Washtenaw

Whole Foods
3135 Washtenaw Avenue
990 West Eisenhower Parkway
The organic food superstore Whole Foods is the Thrifty Acres of the healthy food world. It is huge, it really is and ours is small. But inside you will find virtually anything you need from ready made lunch to a variety of wines. The meat, poultry and fish are absolutely among the best in town and not unfairly priced (try the salmon). Besides carrying consumable products Whole Foods also carries supplements and holistic goods for all those aches, pains or health kicks. Arguably the best part of anyone’s Whole Food experience is samples. Free Samples.

The Plum Market
375 North Maple Road
Another great store to consider is The Plum Market, the number one competition to Whole Foods. With a smaller store to manage the staff at Plum Market are often very helpful and always friendly. They carry many organic, natural and specialty items, the deserts are fabulous, the wine selection is abundant and the deli with the specialty cheese is great. Everyone there is very knowledgeable and willing to give you a sample and explain what goes well with items that you may be looking to serve.

The Produce Station
1629 S State St
They offer the best to go salad bar, sandwiches and dinners that are prepared by their chef. They also offer a catering service for dinners and you can order whatever you want for a party. Their wine selection is improving and you can always find a wine connoisseur there to help. Their produce is unlike anywhere else, hands down. During the summer months they offer a wide variety of plants for your gardens.

According to PiperPartners real estate specialist Karolynn Schofield, “owner Craig Schmidt personally drives out at 3:30am to the west side of Michigan to get the best tasting fruits and vegetables.” She adds, “believe it or not, the prices are not that much more, but the flavor and quality cannot be compared to anywhere else. He is all about supporting the local and Michigan.”

The Great Harvest Bread Company
2220 South Main Street
Fresh breads every day, get a slice to taste one or all of them. So healthy and it tastes and smells unbelievable. If you can add the stop, this may be the place to get all your bread needs.

Trader Joe’s
2398 East Stadium Boulevard
Like the rest of the places on this list you’ll find all the health food items and good you could want. What else will you find at Trader Joe’s? Beer, wine, coffee. Not that the others do not have these things, it is merely that Trader Joe’s has among its selection a large variety of cheap ones. Not cheap in the sense that it cost little produce, little to sell and tastes like awful. Cheap in the sense that you may just bought the nest three dollar bottle of wine ever. Their own brand of beers offers something other than the yellowed water downed pilsner of popularity and for regular six pack prices. 

So whether you’re new to Ann Arbor or a long time resident, get out there and check out ALL of the places to buy your food at, one day you might surprise yourself. Δ John Fenton

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The 10 story downtown Ann Arbor high-rise, boasting condos, retail and office space, Ashley Terrace, has been remodeled and renamed 111 North Ashley by new owners Alidade Capital Fund LP.

111 North Ashley, Downtown Ann Arbor.

Remodeling has been completed on the re-branded 111 North Ashley, formerly Ashley Terrace. According to reports in the AnnArbor.com the new owners are now ready to move on and market the space that has been unoccupied for so long.

Built in 2008 Ashley Terrace was closed on by Bank of America for foreclosure in early 2010 with an outstanding balance of 20 million dollars.  The building was then sold to the new owners in 2011 by Bank of America for six million dollars with 29 unsold condo units and more than 20,000 square feet of retail and office space that has not been rented.

New owners Alidade hope to lease all of the remaining 20,000 square feet this year while selling the available condo units. They are confident their strategy for marketing will fill the space and are approaching the challenge with an open mind. Their efforts will look for businesses who will need office and retail space combined and are offering the option of space on both floors. Their main focus: “quality renters” who will take up most of the space and who have a good line of credit. They hope to avoid only leasing the properties to make rent, a strategy that will hopefully attract long term tenants.

While selling the condos Alidade will not budge on the higher than usual sale price of their units. Again their strategy seems sound and confident, placing listings for only four of the units at a time and removing the listing if it can’t sell for the asking price, placing another in the listings.

Feelings on condos in downtown Ann Arbor have shifted one way or the other recently, some viewing rentals as the preferred option. Alidade hopes that by sticking to their sale prices they will find buyers who are either successful young couples or successful older people looking to enjoy the downtown experience. Δ John Fenton

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Hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and other means of funding to the University of Michigan’s health system could potentially generate 1.2 billion dollars in economic growth for downtown Ann Arbor, the surrounding area and the state of Michigan.

The University of Michigan Hospital. Downtown Ann Arbor, MI.

In 2011 the medical school was awarded 319.7 million dollars by the National Institutes of Health and placed second for total awarded to a public university with an affiliated medical school. The University of Michigan continually earns these grants and has appeared in the top ten benefiting schools four consecutive years now. In addition the school also raises about 490.5 dollars million total from other sources like state and federal agencies, industry and private donation.

According to the “ripple effect”, as indicated by the original article by uofmhealth.org, each dollar spent on research and development at an educational institute should generate nearly 2.5 dollars in local economic activity. This is without taking into consideration the effect newly developed technologies will have on markets as they become available or on the impact to the quality of life in the area.

In a move that makes the medical school at the University of Michigan seem even more impressive, the NIH awarded grant money to each of the schools 714 medical research projects, this in a  research climate that is undoubtedly competitive.

What is worth noticing is that the University and other major ‘investors’; the State, the Federal Government, and private industry, along with many other contributors, see the Ann Arbor area as an investment worth making. The University of Michigan is a positive force in Ann Arbor and it’s impact can be felt throughout the community, the Health System at U of M being among the many ways, spending 45% of the University’s money allocated to research and development. Δ John Fenton

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This week the Michigan Theater, located in downtown Ann Arbor, will be acting as the special host to a Sundance Film Festival world premier of the film, “For a Good Time Call”.

For several years the Michigan Theater has had the honor of hosting special Sundance Film Festival events and premiers. The Festival selects nine theaters each year from around the country to act as extensions of Sundance and show premiers. “For a Good Time Call”, the selection for the Michigan this year, is a comedy by director Jamie Travis, who is being hailed as a modern version of the young Steven Soderbergh. The premier in Ann Arbor will also feature a special Q and A session afterward with Mr. Travis and the screenwriters Katie Anne Naylon & Lauren Anne Miller.

For a Good Time Call
Thursday, January 26 at 7:30 PM

“Lauren and Katie, college frenemies with a mutual good friend, move in together at age 28 in order to afford an amazing Gramercy Park apartment. The unlikely pair start a phone sex line and become best friends while learning about this hilarious world of nighttime callers. When the hot line is hung up and reality comes calling, the most meaningful relationship of their lives is put to the test.” – Michtheater.org

Sundance Shorts
Sunday, January 29 at 7:00 PM

The Michigan will also screen the Sundance Film Festival’s selection of short films from 2011. The shorts will include live action and animated films covering a wide range of genres and topics. According to the Festival’s program categories a short film is, “limited only by run time, and driven by innovation and experimentation.” The category also hails short films as having the ability to raise above the traditional means of story telling through film. “From cutting-edge animation to the best in Native and documentary cinema, these Shorts Programs call out filmmaking’s most original imaginations.”

Why Ann Arbor?

This year Ann Arbor, MI and the Michigan Theater were selected along with theaters in; Boston, MA. Brooklyn, NY. Chicago, IL. Houston, TX. Nashville, TN. Orlando, FL. San Francisco, CA. and Tuscon, AZ.

In preparation for Sundance’s arrival in Ann Arbor, the staff at the Michigan Theater put together a video where Theater Director Russ Collins explains during last years Festival what exactly make the Michigan fit to host an internationally acclaimed film festival.

It’s not just the Michigan Theater’s beauty and age old charm that attracts Sundance, but also the atmosphere and cultural climate of downtown Ann Arbor.

Ticket information for the both screenings can be found at ticketmaster or by calling 800-745-3000. Δ John Fenton

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