South Fifth Apartment Complex?

The Brou presents a guest post by Connie Crump, esteemed colleague, Old West Side homeowner, and woman of impeccable taste...

Preservationists and downtown fans are alarmed by a new $22 million proposal to replace five landmark homes on South Fifth Avenue with an 84-unit apartment building. The City Place project is proposed by Alex de Parry, is targeted for middle-income renters, so-called workforce housing, according to the Aug. 21 issue of the Ann Arbor News.

Neighborhood observers are concerned that it may become student housing if de Parry can't find enough workforce tenants to fill all the one- to three-bedroom units. Mostly they're concerned about the loss of architecturally significant houses on a highly visible block downtown. The homes that would be razed are not in pristine condition but they are restorable. Currently rental properties, they hold 22 units just south of the library on the east side of Fifth Avenue. de Parry owns one more house on the SE corner of Fifth Avenue and William Street that is in a historic district - the other homes are not protected.

Compared to some of the ratty derelict houses in the Old West Side Historic District that have been preserved by actions of the Historic District Commission, the Fifth Avenue homes are in great shape. The purported new design will resemble a "series of Boston browstones," de Parry told The News. Eeck. Not in character with the neighborhood, already ill-served by the looming hulk of the abandoned Y. And The News neglected to report on an important aspect of the project (Surprise). It will be financed by deParry's partner, Bluestone Advisors, a local commercial real estate powerhouse.

On an unrelated note, The News' inexperienced editorial staff also managed to place the project on the wrong side of Main Street by confusing Fifth Avenue with Fifth Street. Real Ann Arborites know that Fifth Avenue runs north and south, east of Main Street, while Fifth Street, also a north-south street, is several blocks west, in the Old West Side neighborhood. Stay tuned.

Mandy's Last Word:
Friends of The Brou will be amused to learn that I was busted yet again. Landlord Alex de Parry cornered me as I was taking the photos above. de Parry was somewhat confrontational–not to mention a close talker–as I chatted him up about the proposed project. "It will cost me more to renovate these properties than it will to build new," he reasserted. "Have you ever been to Beacon Hill? That's what I'm going for." I pointed out that brownstones aren't exactly Ann Arbor vernacular, that maybe he might have more success proposing something sympatico with the other buildings on the street. "There's no such thing as Ann Arbor architecture!" de Parry proclaimed.

I then asked de Parry who would live in these 'Beacon Hill' like apartments. "The same people who are renting now - U of M staff, grad students, and students." He said this with an absolutely straight face as we stood watching several obvious undergrads schlepping boxes into one of his houses. I pointed out that this contradicts the media reports, which mention the mysterious, seldom-seen middle income workers. "Google," de Parry said waving his arm northward, "I'm targeting the people who work at Google." Riiiiiggght.

Folks, more often than not I'm pro-density, and tend to be sympathetic to developers who need a course in Tea Leaf Reading to work in Ann Arbor. You can probably hear my indignant squawking all the way to Toledo when a Magic 8-Ball is necessary to predict whether City Council will accept the recommendations of its own Planning Commission. But when I was in school I lived in a hideous apartment building on East Madison that I'm sure seemed like a good idea when it was approved and built by the guys in leisure suits in 1974. I'd hate to see the same thing happen to that stretch of South Fifth.