The Varsity: Demolition begins for 13-story high-rise in downtown Ann Arbor

The two-story office building at 425 E. Washington St., which housed the former Ann Arbor Prescription Shop is being replaced with a 177,180-square-foot building containing 181 apartments with 415 bedrooms. It’ll be tucked between Sterling 411 Lofts, another student high-rise to the west, and the First Baptist Church.

The project — which won approval from Ann Arbor City Council in November — includes 70 underground parking spaces, a fitness center, a management office and 121 bicycle parking spaces. There will be driveways off both Huron and Washington streets to different levels of the parking structure.

The developer is Potomac Holdings of Bethesda, Md., and Washington D.C.-based WDG Architecture is the senior architect. Brad Moore of Ann Arbor-based J Bradley Moore & Associates is the associate architect for the project. The contractor is Skanska.

The projected opening date of the high-rise is fall 2013.

The Varsity joins several housing developments under construction or in the planning stages near downtown Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan campus. Among them:

• Zaragon West on East William Street, City Place on Fifth Avenue and Landmark on South University Avenue all plan to open in fall 2012.
• The Ann Arbor City Apartments on East Washington Street broke ground in January and is expected to open sometime in 2013.
• 618 South Main on South Main Street received approval from Ann Arbor Planning Commission in January.
• Another student development, The Grove, is being proposed off South Maple Road near Pauline Boulevard a few miles away from campus.