Ann Arbor moving ahead with demolition of 6 houses on North Main using its own blight fund
The city of Ann Arbor is moving ahead with demolition of six boarded-up houses along North Main Street using money from its dangerous building fund after losing state grant funding.
City Administrator Steve Powers informed City Council members of the decision in an email Monday afternoon, saying the demolition and restoration of the site will take nine weeks and a notice to proceed will be issued to the city's demolition contractor this week.
"The schedule accounts for the sequencing of tasks that have to be completed before demolition of the structures can begin," Powers wrote in the email. "Asbestos abatement and demolition notifications to MDEQ each have 10-working-days notification requirement. There is a likelihood that we may be able to complete this work in less than nine weeks."
Cars drive past the houses on North Main last month after they were supposed to be demolished.
Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com
The city has determined state funding is unavailable at this time, Powers said, but the city will try to recoup its costs by placing liens on the properties for the cost of the demolition.
The city had been awarded a $96,000 grant from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority in September but failed to complete the demolition by a March 15 deadline and lost the money.
Asked recently why the city's acceptance of the grant didn't go to the City Council for approval until mid-February when the deadline was less than a month away, Powers said the grant was not accepted until the city received technical assistance from MSHDA.
He said the assistance was requested in December and received mid-February, and by then it turned out to be too late to execute the demolition by March 15.
Mayor John Hieftje relayed concerns from city staff members last month, saying the city was having a hard time getting ahold of MSHDA and that was the reason for the delay and missed deadline.
MSDHA spokeswoman Katie Bach relayed a somewhat different story last month, saying the agency worked hard to cooperate with the city on the issue.
"The problem is the city didn’t make it a priority to demolish the homes in the 700 block of North Main until eight weeks before the grant was set to expire and there were issues with those demos because they were part of a failed development project, which had nothing to do with MSHDA," she said. "Ann Arbor was trying to fix failed federal HOME-funded development properties by using NSP1 money."
Powers said he is authorizing the demolition of the houses on the 700 block of North Main because of their location on a main gateway into the city, the length of time the houses have been abandoned, and the severity of their decay.
The City Council has established a process to demolish dangerous buildings. In January, the city's Building Board of Appeals deemed the houses dangerous.
The property owners' consent was received in January.
The city has demolition contractors pre-selected and on standby. The contractor that is available to proceed and provides an acceptable bid will be selected, Powers said.
The houses originally were supposed to be demolished to make way for a $15 million affordable housing project called Near North, a project that is now dead due to financing troubles.
A spokesperson for Avalon Housing, one of the partners on the project, said in September 2011 the houses would be demolished soon. Months dragged on and that never happened.
Ann Arbor officials pledged last August to have the houses demolished within 45 to 60 days. Less than a month later, the development team announced the Near North project was dead.
In all, there are eight boarded-up houses from 626-724 N. Main that are owned by a limited partnership between Three Oaks Group and Avalon Housing.
The city has declared six of the eight houses dangerous buildings. That means the two southernmost houses will remain standing.
City officials said the property owners have waived all proceedings and admitted the buildings are dangerous, but they're uncertain if Three Oaks and Avalon are completely walking away from the property or what the plans are for the two houses that will remain standing.
Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529. You also can follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's email newsletters.
Comments
The Picker
Wed, Apr 17, 2013 : 1:37 a.m.
Perhaps the dozers can keep rolling and take down the gas station at Summit while there at it !!!
Ypsi Russell
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 4:09 p.m.
Why isn't Avalon doing more for Ypsilanti?
mady
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 3:23 p.m.
I'll believe it when i see the 'dozers.
Dirty Mouth
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 3 p.m.
THANK YOU CITY OF ANN ARBOR!!! In the interim, I suggest during the land into a Dog Park.
DJBudSonic
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 2:47 p.m.
Of course the property owner consents, who wouldn't defer payment of $90K worth of work being done for you? One of the ideas behind council approval of projects is to weed out those developers who are unqualified, have no interest in improving the property, or are unlikely to complete the work. Avalon and Three Oaks score on all three of these counts. $90k for a park is cheap, make sure you do a good job of landscaping, and don't crack the sidewalks with your equipment.
Terry Reilly
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 2:19 p.m.
Whatever. I'll believe it when I see it. All sides are merely positioning for maximum visibility so that if/when demolition actually happens they will have a photo op to use in a future political moment. Sheesh.
craig stolefield
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 2:06 p.m.
Sounds like there were too many complications to begin with to use the MSHDA money. Conflicts with the federal HOME funds, etc. Too bad the feds pulled the plug on the Avalon project, they do good work. Its good to see the city moving forward on the demo and maybe when its cleaned up something else will come along. Affordable housing is worth another try.
music to my ear
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 12:30 p.m.
whenever, there is blight in our town,we must make it beautiful ,TEAR IT DOWN.
Brad
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 12:02 p.m.
If you have any money left in that "blight" bucket please bring it over to the Georgetown Mall. Sure it isn't downtown, but neither are we. And we pay taxes at the same rate as everyone else. It's almost like taxation without representation over here.
The Picker
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 11:22 a.m.
Powers sez: the city will "try" to recoup the funds for the demo by placing liens on the property? The city is either going to lien the property or not! If you or I had this problem there would be no question of what the city would do, but as we know in Ann Arbor everyone is equal. It just that some are more equal than others!
The Picker
Wed, Apr 17, 2013 : 1:34 a.m.
Lizzy, The assumption is that the property has some value, and a lien is satisified before any further transfer of ownership. The bank could walk away as well, but I doubt it. What will happen is that the buildings will be torn down, the redemption period will end and the bank will auction off the lots. And IF the city has placed the liens the taxpayers will be reimbursed for the demo.
ordmad
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 5:34 p.m.
@ Lizzy: The bank doesn't get any money from the ultimate sale of the property until the City is paid off. And if the current owners happen to redeem it and get it back, they too will have to pay the lien before any transfer. That's how a lien works.
Lizzy Alfs
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 2:17 p.m.
I think the "try" is because they honestly don't know if they can recoup the money. Because the property is in a redemption period, the original owners likely aren't going to get the property back or pay demo costs. That leaves the bank to pay the lien, but I'm not sure how or if that would happen.
Goober
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 11:07 a.m.
Why should the state or other tax payers foot the bill for this clean up? I vote that our city leadership go after all of the property owners for their piece of the demolition and clean up costs. Logical? I think so. Not a lien - recoup out-of-pocket costs!
Barzoom
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 10:35 a.m.
Another case of mismanagement and finger pointing by our current city government.
Carole
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 10:35 a.m.
It sure would have saved some funding if the city had been on top of things to get the grant.
Goofus
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 2:16 a.m.
N. Main Blight Blues. Demolition moving along pretty quick After news of HighRise Mayor's dalliance with MSHDA outed. Meanwhile, new art for city hall framed and touted.
ordmad
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 2:07 a.m.
The for-profit co-developer is underwater holding property worth less than the mortgage. You can't get blood from a turnip. Avalon, however, isn't. They are equally responsible for this mess. $90,000 won't put them out of business, but it will hurt, hopefully just enough to make them less foolish next time around. Please hold those that are accountable, accountable.
PSJ
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 4:11 a.m.
Probably can't go after Avalon for the demo costs.It appears that an entity, in which they have an ownership Interest, is the owner of the parcels.
Letti
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 12:52 a.m.
The length of time that these houses have remained standing is absurd and unacceptable. It has been documented that at least six of these houses could never be repaired and are such a danger they must be demolished. But, they are still standing. Rip the freaking things down and allow someone to build something there that isn't a total dangerous eyesore.
JBK
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 1:15 a.m.
The Mayor could build a 10 story homeless shelter with an Olympic pool, bar for happy hour, full service kitchen, massage table and a dry cleaner on site. :) After all, we all know how much we love homeless people in A2. And I am sure will be voted down by all of the Left Wing Loons that have nothing better to do. In all seriousness Letti, I do hope these houses come down, but something tells me this will take a few months for the Mayor to complete. Afterall, he may find some NEW art that he wants in front of City Hall..........:) lol
lynel
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 12:41 a.m.
Can we get some kind of pool going? Ryan could run it, 5 bucks, pick a date for this demolition to begin AND finish.
Brad
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : noon
"Timely"? A little late for that.
Brad
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 11:58 a.m.
I'll have the "over" on that, please.
lynel
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 1:18 a.m.
So, Ryan, you got $5.00 on July 15th?
Ryan J. Stanton
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 12:59 a.m.
Let's hope for a timely demolition about a month from now (and I realize after three years of watching this there's no good way to predict what's going to happen here).
David Cahill
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 12:37 a.m.
I'm glad the foot-dragging by the City seems to be over.
Brad
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 12:55 p.m.
Yes, now we can move onto the money-wasting.
demistify
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 12:28 a.m.
Nobody has started to campaign to make this a historical district yet?
RUKiddingMe
Mon, Apr 15, 2013 : 11:56 p.m.
And just in case it wasn't made clear in past articles, yes, Avalon has received grants (as in your tax money) from the DDA. Will they CONTINUE to get your money? Probably, unless we all start getting a lot more vocal.
JBK
Tue, Apr 16, 2013 : 1:09 a.m.
All the more reason for the DDA to be eliminated. END the joke!
A2M3
Mon, Apr 15, 2013 : 11:37 p.m.
Could have been covered by a state grant, but no...
RUKiddingMe
Mon, Apr 15, 2013 : 11:30 p.m.
Am I misremembering that Avalon received money from the city at some point? I hope that's not still going to happen. "but they're uncertain if Three Oaks and Avalon are completely walking away from the property or what the plans are for the two houses that will remain standing." I'm unsure as to why the owners on record cannot be sued for the money to demolish these buildings. They bought them. The owners on record are entities that currently exist, are not imprisoned, and are not under Chapter 7 or 11 Bankruptcy. Why can they maintain ownership and have the city demolish the dangerous properties for them? Why are we so uncertain about recouping costs? Why would either of these businesses continue to exist and get/use money in this town after this?
whojix
Mon, Apr 15, 2013 : 11:25 p.m.
Maybe the third time is the charm. This is the third time right? Hard to keep track of how many times they promise to be moving ahead with this.