Richard Van House watches from the roof of his Ashley Terrace condo as his hot tub swings into place Tuesday afternoon.
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
Richard Van House faced an unusual dilemma: How to get a 1,000-pound hot tub onto the roof of his penthouse condo in downtown Ann Arbor.
Today, the retired Ford Motor Co. executive had three lanes of traffic closed on Ashley Street just north of Huron as crews from Redford-based Connelly Crane used a 120-ton crane to place Van House's new purchase atop the 125-foot Ashley Terrace Condominiums building.
"It was the only way to get it up," said Van House, who retired two years ago after 40 years with Ford. "There's not a freight elevator in the building or an elevator that's large enough to take it up, so this was it. It was either this or a helicopter, and this was cheaper."
Vickie Van House takes pictures through her window as a crane begins to haul a hot tub into place atop the roof of Van House's Ashley Terrace condo.
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
The three east lanes of North Ashley, between Huron and the access drive to the Greyhound bus station, were blocked off for about four hours. The city approved the lane closure and traffic detour.
"We had to get permits to block off the street," Van House said, standing at the corner of Huron and Ashley as crews positioned the crane for the lift.
"We've been working on this project for some time, getting all the necessary approvals and so forth," Van House said. "To preserve the warranty on the roof, we actually had to build a platform that it's going to sit on, and the roofing company came in and re-roofed over the top of the platform just to make sure we didn't have any leaks."
Crane operator Jon Wolf said this isn't the first time he's had to hoist a hot tub to the top of a condo building.
"We do them a lot - hot tubs, swimming pools, you name it," he said. "Just about anything that needs lifting."
Van House said he purchased the hot tub from Lifestyles Hot Tubs on Jackson Road.
"It's a five-person hot tub, so it should be good up there. It's got all the bells and whistles on it," he said, suggesting it'll be nice to be able to use it this winter.
"My wife is anxious to get it up there and have it operational so she can use it and our grandkids can use it," he said. "This is pretty exciting."
Ryan J. Stanton covers government for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.
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