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Posted on Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 12:29 p.m.

Ann Arbor officials get closer to deal on Heritage Row apartments

By Ryan J. Stanton

Ann Arbor officials say they're making progress in negotiations with the developer of City Place apartments and hopeful they can avoid demolition of seven houses along Fifth Avenue.

City Council Member Carsten Hohnke, who has been in talks with developer Jeff Helminski, expressed his growing confidence earlier this week that a solution could be found to stop City Place and maintain the character of the streetscape.

Wendy Rampson, the city's planning manager, also offered an update on the negotiations between the city and the developer at a Planning Commission meeting Tuesday.

heritage row.jpg

A look at the Heritage Row proposal by developer Alex de Perry from last year.

File photo | AnnArbor.com

Hohnke, D-5th Ward, has been leading the charge to bring back an alternate development proposal, known as Heritage Row, for reconsideration. A majority of council members previously voted in favor of Heritage Row — which promised to preserve the seven houses that City Place would knock down — but the project still fell one vote short of approval.

Developer Alex de Parry recently handed control of the property over to Helminski, who has been preparing to move forward with the approved by-right project known as City Place, an outcome neighborhood residents and city officials don't want to see happen.

Helminski believes the Heritage Row project, as proposed by de Parry last year, isn't economically viable, and so he's been in talks with the city about revising it. Most notably he proposes cutting back on affordable housing and historic preservation elements, as well as eliminating geothermal and underground parking features.

Rampson said Helminski and his team are still working out costs to see what it will take to move Heritage Row forward.

"In order to proceed with that type of project, he needs to have increased density and some other changes to the project," she said.

Helminski could not be reached for comment.

Heritage Row is a planned unit development, which calls for a deviation from existing zoning and thus requires a promise of public benefits in exchange. Rampson said the city's staff is trying to determine from previous City Council and Planning Commission discussions which public benefits outlined in the Heritage Row proposal are considered most valuable.

"And then (they need) to see if this proposal still has that, or whether it changes enough significantly that the public benefit doesn't meet that threshold," she said. "So that's where we're at."

DDA Executive Director Susan Pollay has been in conversations with the developer about a possible arrangement where, instead of the developer providing underground parking on site, the DDA would provide permits to allow Heritage Row tenants to park downtown.

The project site is one block south of where the DDA is building a 700-space underground parking structure on what's commonly referred to as the Library Lot.

"In talking with the DDA, there is an interest in certainly providing parking permits, but not reserving them at the Library Lot, because we only have so many that are going to be available for a potential development on top of the Library Lot," Rampson said. "So the idea was to talk about being flexible within the number of structures within the distance of this site."

As the city's staff continues to work out a deal with Helminski, officials say time is of the essence since the developer is anxious to move ahead with City Place. The City Council is expected to consider a revised version of Heritage Row at its next meeting on Monday. If approved then, the project could come back for final consideration on Oct. 24.

"We're trying to pull all of these things together basically in the next two weeks," Rampson told planning commissioners Tuesday night.

While de Parry previously promised to rehabilitate the seven houses in keeping with federal guidelines for historic preservation, known as Secretary of the Interior's standards, Helminski is asking for more leeway when it comes to what to do with the century-old houses.

Rampson said the developer has acknowledged he doesn't have a very good sense of the state of repair of all of the houses, and so he's asking to reserve the ability to do replacement of some parts or all parts of the houses if they're found to be deteriorated.

"When you last saw the PUD, it included Secretary of Interior standards, so he's proposing to remove that and keep the character of the buildings but not restore them in a historical fashion," Rampson told commissioners.

"He's proposing to retain seven houses in the same essential form, but I think if he finds one that's beyond repair, the proposal right now is to take it down and rebuild like," she said. "He's written it that it he could potentially rebuild the whole house or portions that had been deteriorated — replacement with modern materials, replacing windows that were deteriorated — so clearly not Secretary of Interior standard renovations for the buildings."

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 e-mail newsletters.

Comments

Veracity

Thu, Oct 13, 2011 : 6:55 p.m.

Neither Heritage Row nor City Place can be expected to attract much occupancy as potential leasers will not find value nor ambiance living there. Expect bankruptcy within two years leaving the city with a vacant unsightly building and no increase in tax revenue. Ashley Terrace offered similar luxury living but in a better location and more attractive building but it still failed. No demand exists downtown for luxury priced accommodations. But, yes! Developers have a right to build on private property whatever meets city code. All they need is financing so that they can happily run off with their sizable development fee, leaving behind buildings that will be subject to the vagaries of the bankruptcy court.

ChunkyPastaSauce

Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 9:47 p.m.

Not totally in favor of Heritage Row but it is certainly much better than City Place. I feel like City Place would dilute the A2 feel. Glad to see they are trying to correct the mistake.

Mick52

Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 7:54 p.m.

Park a block away from where you live? Not far but I think it would be a big negative to anyone who could find an alternate location where you don't have to carry the groceries that far.

Ron Granger

Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 5:08 p.m.

Are there any changes to city laws than can prevent this sort of fiasco in the future? Specifically, developments that are unwelcome and uncharacteristic of the city. And also the strong-arm tactics - the "approve it, or we'll do something *really* ugly!"

Lionel Hutz

Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 7:17 p.m.

The heritage row prop looks better than most of the residential areas surrounding downtown. Many of these surrounding homes are in ill repair and need to be demolished.

Ron Granger

Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 6:38 p.m.

Thanks Tom. Recent events suggest this does need follow-up. I imagine it does need to be formally made a part of zoning in order for the city to stop such developments without getting sued.

Tom Whitaker

Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 6:12 p.m.

A study of the R4C/R2A zoning districts was commissioned by Council in March of 2009 (several days before City Place was submitted, in fact), but it has yet to yield any recommendations as planning staff and City Council have given it low priority. One of the primary thrusts of this study was supposed to be an effort to bring the zoning into compliance with the Central Area component of the master plan that was adopted way back in 1992. The Central Area Plan called any combining of individual lots for large developments "inappropriate" in the residential areas surrounding downtown. If you agree that this, and other components of the Central Area Plan ought to be better codified in the zoning, please contact City Council. They've been a bit distracted lately with parking structures, trains, and public art.

DonBee

Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 4:43 p.m.

If I were the council, I would get this done before the choices get still worse.