Semi-OT: the changing look of Ann Arbor (around campus area)
Hello all.
I just got back from Ann Arbor today - it was the first time back since the 2019 football season. Driving by campus, I noticed that entire corner of E.University and S. University was demolished (i.e PNC bank, Lucky Kitchen, South U pizza, etc). I'm sure they are going to erect some plush high-rise condo with high-end retail on the first floor, but it was somewhat shocking to me. So much has changed
But it got me thinking about how much Ann Arbor, particularly around the campus area, has changed over the past 15 plus years, and I'm not so sure the all change was for the better. It seems to me that the college experience in Ann Arbor has turned way more luxurious. While conceptually there is nothing wrong with luxury, but I always thought that there was a certain charm to "roughin' it" in college. I think the campus area has lost some of its charm with all the new developments, but then again could be just me getting old and nostalgic.
So MgoBlog'osphere. What say you about all the structural changes to the Ann Arbor campus area?
it started well before 15 years ago.....it was in transition in the 80's when I was there. Sort of a David Brooks "Bobos in Paradise" kind of town....
As recently as the late '90s there were only two high-rises near campus - Tower Plaza and University Towers. All the rest are from this century.
I went to Michigan and my friends went to OSU, since I lived on the border in Michigan and they lived in Toledo. 92-96 I would drive down when I wasn't in school and visit them. Ann Arbor was maintaining, for years, but Columbus, near campus went from stundent dives, pizza places, and record stores to high rise everything. The areas near OSU's campus are nearly nonrecognizable compared to what they were when we were in school. I'm sure it was just a matter of time before the same thing happened in Ann Arbor. It's actually surprising to me since I paid around $50k for my instate degree to Michigan while a comparable degree including room and board was a little more than half that at OSU, mainly because the cost of tuition was about 1/4 of Michigan's at the time.
half the cost........half the degree
When I started the only new high rise was Zaragon. Fast forward 4 years and we got Landmark, Zaragon West, Arbor Blu, 411… who knows how many there are now lol.
It does suck to see some of the old staples gone but it does place pressure on the landlords around E University to actually renovate their old ass pregame houses or students will just live elsewhere.
Tower Plaza and University Towers. All the rest are from this century.
These two eyesores demonstrate the issue with all these other tacky and cheap high-rises being built. Tower Plaza and University Towers have been eyesores perhaps since they were constructed but most certainly since the 80s when I was a student. Like the Florida condo crisis showed us, these buildings have a lifespan and nobody really wants to pay to keep them modern. And tearing them down is no easy task, so they just pollute the skyline for decades and decades. Pretty sure Tower Plaza's monthly condo fees are massive, thus the price of units is relatively cheap. University Towers also seems to hurt all the businesses around it. Sort of a haunting presence on its S University block.
Look at some of the house rentals around central campus and you will be reminded of the “roughing” it days rather quickly.
The student ghetto has not been gentrified?
Heh, not sure there are any economic forces to "gentrify" there. Sure, it looks slummy, but the rents are exorbitant despite that. Why update/renovate when you can win the same clientele with 1800s-era amenities?
With McKinley involved, the only aspect of gentrification will be higher prices for the same dumps.
Although some of the student slums are still around, there are also A LOT of new, high-end rental buildings around the campus. South U is starting to look like Michigan Ave. in Chicago there are so many high rises. And all those are upscale and expensive.
My son was in 611 and then moved to houses after that. The houses, all very close to Central Campus, are decidedly not as nice to 611.
Started downhill when the first Italian Ice store opened.
When Steve’s Lunch closed, the die was cast.
No shit.
Ha! Steve’s did have the best bi-bim-bob.
even my Korean girlfriend at the time thought is was old country legit.
Unfortunately I’m not. But I do remember Crex’s stories about meeting his Korean girlfriends parents. Good shit Jed!
I could eat Korean and Japanese food every single meal and love it. (Just don’t tell my South American wife I said that)
Username checks out.
There's a Korean restaurant at the same address called Rich JC. Not sure if same restaurant or owner, but it's a replacement in the same spot
I never ate there. Not sure why.
That was my freshman year go to meal. So sad
:(
and that's not even the first version of Steve's Lunch. The original Steve served $3.00 breakfasts. And he made coffee-drinking studiers leave once he decided they's been there too long.
CHEESE STEAK HOAGIE
oh no wait that was the one at the foot of broadway sorry
Yeah, you’re thinking broadway cafe. Another good spot, but no steve’s lunch
Steve's bean sprout and cheese omelet is still the best I've ever had. And this goes back to the early '70s.
Nice callback. The picture needs to have the right cook in it, though. Short, skinny Korean guy with a cigarette dangling, sitting on a wooden stool, and working the wide spatula on the flat top to turn a 2' by 2' layer of thin eggs into a 4" by 12" omlette. Yum.
Some of the student housing is just absurd, it's no wonder why they charge $70 grand a year for out of state tuition plus room and board. Why would anyone pay that unless their parents are paying all their bills?
Yeah, the campus started getting that weird neon look about 15 years ago, and also the chains started moving in. Not an improvement. I think the downtown area, in and around Main Street, still looks good. But the "student downtown," in and around South U, looks increasingly tacky.
Not to turn this into a conversation about gentrification - but AA does mirror much of what you see across the country in so-called "hot markets." For better or worse, the secret is out in a place like Ann Arbor - more people create more demand which lead to higher prices and sadly some of those little charming places that made the place so appealing to begin with can no longer afford to keep up.
As I age and get more and more like the "get off my lawn" type of person, I definitely agree with the OP here. But I've resigned myself to the cruel fate of a constantly changing world - not much one can do about it other than sigh and reminisce...
The new apartment buildings are actually driving the pricing of student housing down so I'm not sure how true this is. The gentrification is coming in the form of increasing tuition prices and the cost of living in Ann Arbor being high
The issue is that U-M keeps expanding its enrollment, which is necessitating new housing for students. For a long time we were in the 35,000 range, but now we're now around 45K. That difference represents 10% of the city's population.
In fact, despite all the construction, the university has added more students in the last 20 years than there has been new housing constructed near campus. The cost of housing consequently hasn't really dropped, it's just increased at a slower pace than it would otherwise have.
I think U-M might want to think about expanding the Dearborn and Flint campuses as trying to cram more and more students in Ann Arbor might not be the most practical solution.
I've never understood the negative connotation with "gentrification." Most people that complain about it seemingly don't understand that they hit the jackpot and are running into an incredible amount of unearned equity.
It can be good or bad depending on context. I think in Ann Arbor it's not necessarily bad as long as the personality of the city remains especially since the new apartments are driving down rent prices other nice apartments
That's a temporary, Covid-related thing. Prices will rise again when everyone is back on campus.
In the big picture, the high rises relieve some pressure on housing but they are still insufficient to meet the demand caused by increasing student enrollment by a third over 20 years.
I don't think that most of the people who are complaining about gentrification are the ones whose real estate holdings are increasing in value. They are the ones who are being priced out of their old neighborhoods and who can no longer afford the rent where they used to live
I remember someone in a shithole area of Ypsilanti bitching about a new restaurant moving in because the owner was from Ann Arbor. I am sad about many of the high rises especially on South U so some balance would be nice. They put a couple of high rises on Washington which simply replaced some ugly professional buildings. It will be interesting to see if these high rises eventually turn into student slums in 20 years.
Yeah, but for the lower classes who are renting and don't own the real estate there is no benefit to having their rent and the cost of living in their neighborhood increase. So poor people are hurt most by gentrification.
The fundamental aspects of South U are still in place imo. South U Pizza has been replaced by a better pizza place in Joe's. Charley's, Brown Jug, and Rick's still remain. The high rise apartments were completely necessary as affordable student housing was becoming a huge issue and all these new nice apartments are increasing competition and driving down prices. A lot of the nice apartments that were previously there have had to drop their rent prices by a few hundred dollars a month
When I was dropped off for my freshman year at Michigan, my dad looked out the window and said, oh my - what used to be my business school is now a hole in the ground! They were building Ross.
Now, when I go by campus, I say oh my - there is a new new business school that was built after Ross!
It's the circle of life. Glad the latest students have beautifully redone dorms and plush off campus housing; back in my day wifi was having a 50 foot ethernet cord and air conditioning was drinking some ice water.
Ethernet cord, you say? Back in my day, one guy on the floor had an Apple II and the internet wasn't going to be a thing for another 10 years.
Back in my day, the "techies" rigged the pay phones in the Union so that the deposited change dropped back down in the return.
LOL "payphone techies". ..CRISP class registrations at Lorch Hall and then using punch cards to run programs at NUBS was "technology" and gaming was the quarter Astroids arcade machine in West Quad. A few years later at the Entrepreneurs Club at the UM B-School, Steve Jobs was hinting at iPads coming, and eventually iPhones. That was fast!
Back in my day, wifi was a deck of punched cards.
I hope Sauer Court hasn't changed.
I hope Pizza Bob Uptown and Downtown are still around.
You know you are old when the Michigan B-School buildings you went to were torn down and replaced with new buildings . . . and then those buildings were torn down and replaced with new buildings.
Only the parking deck remains.
How close is the nearest crack house to central campus?
Mad Hatter's house
Ann Arbor has always changed but not with the rate nowadays. The number of high rise buildings has increased so much in the past 15 and even 20 years. Not sure when there will be a pause in this breakneck speed but there isn't too much room left to build or rebuild on.
I suppose demolition projects will increase-out with the old and in with the new in the future.
Wish they would find room to build a nice hotel, close to campus.
There are several new hotels on the way but there are already a bunch of OK hotels in town and surrounding areas. Do a Google search for "new hotels ann arbor," Although I've live in A2 for several years, the only problem I ever had finding a room was during a few game weekends every year long with Art Fair week and graduation.