'Dated' gas station on Ann Arbor-Saline Road may add coffee shop

The station, located at 2679 Ann Arbor-Saline Road, sits on a 1.44-acre site at the corner of Eisenhower Parkway near the Cranbrook Village Shopping Center. It was built in 1995.

Site plans submitted to the City of Ann Arbor call to construct a 2,189-square-foot addition, convert the 900-square-foot car wash area to retail space, reconfigure the parking lot and increase the parking spaces from 9 to 16. Plans include a provision for a coffee and pastry shop.

The property is registered to Abraham Ajrouch, who purchased it in 1996 for $660,000, according to city documents. Ajrouch is working with William Goodreau of Civil Design Services based in Fowlerville, Mich.

Ajrouch estimates that eliminating the car wash facility would reduce traffic count by 70 to 100 per day, according to the plans.

There was a citizen participation meeting for the project on Dec. 16.

Although there is no lease signed yet for a coffee shop to operate out of the additional space, Goodreau said that’s the ideal plan.

“[Ajrouch] wants to leave a small portion on the north side for that.”

The reason for the project, Goodreau said, is to make a more “modern facility” out of a “dated gas station.”

“I think [Ajrouch] will doll it up a little more than the old, existing gas station,” he said.