U-M to add 2,300 bed dorm on Elbel site, Band to move to Fingerle site
https://record.umich.edu/articles/university-to-add-2300-beds-to-central-campus-housing/
"The University of Michigan will develop the first new Central Campus housing for first-year students in decades by adding a 2,300-bed residence hall and dining facility on what is currently Elbel Field, between East Hoover Avenue and Hill Street.
The plan now being developed also calls for the Michigan Marching Band’s Elbel Field practice facility to be relocated to the university’s South Fifth Avenue property one block north with other open space. U-M bought the 6.1-acre former site of Fingerle Lumber in 2018."
December 8th, 2022 at 5:08 PM ^
Fond memories of late nights spent on a blanket at Elbel looking up at the stars, listening to the summer noises, and getting paranoid every time a light flashed.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:34 PM ^
First time is shroomed was on that field, late at night in the summer of ‘97. Back then, Ann Arbor in the summer felt like this secret slice of heaven shared by the few that hung around.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:48 PM ^
I could not agree more! I consider my summers in Ann Arbor the best times of the best years of my life.
December 8th, 2022 at 6:52 PM ^
Preach. I played a lot of volleyball at Elbel the summer of '92.
December 8th, 2022 at 7:49 PM ^
Oh yeah! Wednesday night reggae night in the Union courtyard and the outdoor film nights behind the dental school. All the amenities of a big college campus with a much more manageable number of people. No lines!
December 8th, 2022 at 5:53 PM ^
Coming back to Ann Arbor with a young family—and finally a little money—I discovered this secret summer slice of heaven.
December 8th, 2022 at 6:17 PM ^
i broke my pinky finger playing catch on that field. had to learn how to play guitar with just 3 fingers for a while. 22 years later, it's still a bit wonky.
December 8th, 2022 at 7:08 PM ^
Blew out my ankle playing ultimate on the field.
December 8th, 2022 at 7:35 PM ^
What a fraternity! I broke my pinky on that field playing football with the guys in 1990. What great memories!
December 8th, 2022 at 9:25 PM ^
Too funny. I have a scar on my hand acquired playing football on Elbel field in 2000.
I lived near Elbel one year on S. Division and my only complaint about that part of town was how loud the train was that came through around 2-3am.
December 8th, 2022 at 10:17 PM ^
I also broke my pinky on Elbel tossing the football around before marching band practice back in '98.
This is getting spooky.
December 8th, 2022 at 8:02 PM ^
The University's gonna need a donor for naming rights.
Maybe if we all chipped in a couple bucks to donate, they'd name it MGoDorm.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:09 PM ^
I’m gonna wait to hear from some MMB members to tell me if this is good or bad, then either be outraged/happy based on their input.
thanks
December 8th, 2022 at 5:13 PM ^
Sounds like a good idea, count me in
December 8th, 2022 at 5:20 PM ^
Ballislife below isn’t happy. prepare to start the outrage …. though we should wait until we get a Gaussian distribution of the MMB population if possible. from that, we should have a large enough N to determine whether outrage or happiness is the proper approach (based on a 1 way anova, tukeys post-hoc, significance of p<0.01 just to ensure the data is really tight)
December 8th, 2022 at 5:30 PM ^
It's a smart, and necessary, decision. The University is severely lacking in Central Campus housing, especially with Markley potentially closing. A few years ago, they bought the land where the new MMB practice grounds will be, and there were rumors the site could be used for a new dorm...but the problem is the site is on a 100-year flood plain. By building a dorm on Elbel and redeveloping the new land into a field (currently it's just an empty concrete lot), the University has found a way to build new Central Campus housing and dodge the flood issue. It's no big deal if the MMB's practice field floods every 100 years, but you can't put a dorm there.
December 10th, 2022 at 1:08 PM ^
I was wondering why they weren’t going to build the new student housing on the Fingerle site and leave the MMB at Elbel. I have A LOT of memories of Elbel Field, from 4 years of MMB stuff to the obligatory broken finger playing “touch” football to, well…!
December 8th, 2022 at 5:54 PM ^
EXACTLY what I was going to say. It's like pre-plagiarism.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:55 PM ^
I am still preparing to get very angry or very excited about this, just need a few more people to help me know which way this is going.
December 8th, 2022 at 7:10 PM ^
I was more unhappy for selfish reasons. The band made my experience at the university that much more memorable. The bonds of friendship made on that field won’t be lost. But it 100% makes sense from a logistical standpoint. And like I said, I’m very much looking forward to seeing the new practice field and I’m excited for future MMB members to make their own memories there.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:37 PM ^
“I’m gonna wait…”
First time we’ve heard that from Dr. Jaws!
December 8th, 2022 at 5:53 PM ^
😆 The most impatient man is turning over a new leaf
December 8th, 2022 at 8:07 PM ^
hey now, I’m extremely patient with everything except football season
December 8th, 2022 at 11:48 PM ^
But do you have the patience of one thousand cows?
December 8th, 2022 at 6:48 PM ^
Tuba player in 1981 football season in MMB. This is a good deal - we need more student housing and the extra walk is no big deal when you're 18-22. Made the walk many times to/from Revelli Hall. We used to walk to the paved lot that's at the north end anyway. If it was pouring rain, we practiced indoor.
FYI: on HC that year, got to meet both George Cavender and William Revelli who were long-term MMB legendary directors. Lasting great memories!
December 8th, 2022 at 6:57 PM ^
Agree with you Tybert. I was a Trombone in the MMB from 1979-1983. We marched on a paved Elbel and it probably cost me 2 meniscus surgeries later in life. A better practice environment would be great for the future members of the MMB.
December 8th, 2022 at 7:09 PM ^
Okay - it is decided, and I have realized that I feel absolutely euphoric about this development!
December 8th, 2022 at 8:08 PM ^
agreed
December 8th, 2022 at 10:03 PM ^
Alto Sax in 90 and 91, and I agree completely. Meeting Revelli was special. I’ll miss the old practice field and game day parking lot, but I suspect the new field will be even better and there’s no question that we need more housing on campus.
December 8th, 2022 at 7:17 PM ^
Spent 5 years in the band (slow student). I have zero problems with this decision, FWIW.
Yeah, I have great memories of Elbel, but they all took place on basic grass and asphalt, and the people around me were what made the place special.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:09 PM ^
Big profit in housing students in Ann Arbor.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:10 PM ^
I’m assuming this means the rest of Baits and maybe Bursley Housing will close then?
December 8th, 2022 at 7:08 PM ^
then what's going to happen to the hill?
December 8th, 2022 at 8:45 PM ^
My uneducated opinion: they’ll keep MoJo, Alice Lloyd, Couzens, and Stockwell (they’re all recently renovated and very nice). But I wouldn’t be shocked if they built something on Palmer Field. It would suck because that used to a be a really fun place to play pickup football and soccer but the medical campus is running out of space (hence Markley demolition) and Palmer Field is very valuable real estate.
December 9th, 2022 at 10:28 AM ^
The medical campus can literally expand across the street tho? Unless that’s a canyon if I don’t recall correctly.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:23 PM ^
Exact opposite per a recent Regent guest on one of the MGoPodcasts who basically said this new dorm was coming soon.
This is the university trying to make sure almost every student that wants it can find accommodation in University-owned housing as an alternative to rapidly rising private rents.
EDIT - Forgot about the Markley part (also part of the podcast discussion) as the Med Center needs the space.
December 8th, 2022 at 6:30 PM ^
Saw a reddit where someone was asking about housing for post docs ain AA. The thread said it was $2,000 a month for a two bedroom apartment. That's crazy. That's like a mortgage on a $350,000 house.
December 9th, 2022 at 7:39 AM ^
You either have a very good interest rate or very low taxes.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:13 PM ^
As an alum of the MMB, I am not a fan of this. There's a lot of history with that part of campus, and it'll be sad to not be able to see it when I visit after the dorm is built. However, I know that change is life's only constant, and I'm excited to see what the new practice area will look like.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:20 PM ^
The central campus area has changed a lot since the 70's when I was in school. I hate to be the grumpy old man, but I find it to be more "big" feeling instead of small town quaint.
While I am not crazy about a lot of the changes, change is inevitable and I hope the city's residents and contemporary student population like and enjoy it.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:36 PM ^
70s?
I went to UM in the early 2010s.
There were only 2 high rises on South U when I started: Zaragon and U-Towers.
4 when I graduated: Landmark, Zaragon, U-Towers and Zaragon-West near the Union
I think there are 7?? or 8??? now?? with another in construction on South U.
This goes without mentioning 411 and the other high rises in downtown A2
December 8th, 2022 at 7:10 PM ^
Yep, I was there in the mid 90's. S. University is completely unrecognizable to me now. Village Apothecary is gone, no more Village Corner.
Maize and Blue Deli and Brown Jug. That's all I recognized last time I was down there.
December 8th, 2022 at 7:50 PM ^
You make me not want to go back. Graduated in 96. Lived in Markley, was in the band 2 years, loved it. But also not attached to the buildings.
December 8th, 2022 at 10:06 PM ^
Charley’s was still there the last time I was on campus (2018). I drank a lot of Long Island Iced Teas there in the 90s.
December 8th, 2022 at 6:57 PM ^
It's understandable either way - as a MMB alum and donor I figured this is just progress, even if uneven on its impact. North campus looks nothing like it did in 1985 when we'd play softball games with the grad students in the then-open field.
One thing is I think our current AD and admin are more favorable toward spending money on the band. I remember David Brand-ing 1st refusing to pay for the band to travel to Jerry World for the 2012 Bama game, until some donors stepped up to foot the bill.
December 8th, 2022 at 7:13 PM ^
I was in the band during that time. It went from fiasco to fun/exhausting really quick, as it went from a multi-day trip to a 27 hour turn and burn.
December 9th, 2022 at 7:48 AM ^
Oh man - maybe its a good idea to not build? It would be like building on an indian burial site, MMB members long forgotten will haunt the halls.
Can you imagine waking up to the sounds of Yellow and Blue resonating through the halls? Walking out to the building to the fat guy tuba song...
December 8th, 2022 at 5:19 PM ^
The U said back when they bought the property that it was going to build the replacement for Markley Hall. That means Markley Hall’s days are numbered. RIP. Plenty of fun memories in that dungeon.
AA has changed a lot since even the mid 2010s when I was there. Hell, BTB isn’t even at its OG location (the one in my user pic) anymore. But everything in life changes.
December 8th, 2022 at 5:47 PM ^
When I was there, BTB had yet to get C&D’d and was still “Big Ten Burrito”