Landmark — the new student high-rise on Ann Arbor’s South University Avenue — was bustling with activity on Tuesday as construction crews, developers and building inspectors worked to get the high-rise move-in ready.
Mattresses were being hauled in as crews assembled furniture, poured concrete for the outdoor deck, decorated and made small finishing touches.
Hundreds of University of Michigan students plan to move into the 14-story building starting at noon Thursday.
“It really feels great to walk through a building that has been completed; to have it come together is fabulous,” said Ron Hughes, the Oakland County developer who proposed the housing project for the site more than four years ago. The property had been home to retailers like Village Corner and the former Bagel Factory.
Of the building’s 606 bedrooms — which range from studio units to six-bedrooms — 605 are occupied, according to JJ Smith, executive vice president of development and construction for Landmark property owner Campus Acquisitions.
He said all of the occupants are University of Michigan students and 50 percent are from out-of-state.
Rent at the high-rise ranges from $975 to $1,745.
Along with the convenient location, security features and 140 underground parking spaces, tenants are dishing out the big bucks for the building’s lavish amenities.
Landmark — similar to Ann Arbor’s other new student housing developments — offers fully furnished units, in-room washers and dryers and high-speed Internet and cable.
It has 27-inch flat-screen TVs in each bedroom, Tempur-Pedic mattresses in the top floor units and some outdoor patios.
The eighth floor of the building is known as the “scholarly floor” — intended for graduate students or tenants who want a quieter atmosphere.
The first-floor of the building has four retail tenants, including 7-Eleven, Tim Hortons and No Thai!. Smith said a deal is being negotiated for the final space.
The second floor of Landmark is dedicated to shared amenities: a spa room with a sauna, two tanning beds and a massage room; pool table and shuffleboard room; movie theater with Xbox; state-of-the-art fitness center; yoga, spinning and Pilates studio; business and research center with computers; and an outdoor deck with a BBQ, fire pit, bean bag toss, outdoor TV and a 40-person hot tub.
“Instead of the original plan for two hot tubs, we’re doing a huge hot tub instead,” Smith said. “We have heat lamps so people can use the hot tub in the winter and there will be a canopy structure over it.”
He added: “We took precautions (on the outdoor deck) by raising the railing, we added (one more) staircase than required so, in the event of an emergency, there are three exits.”
Ten resident advisors live and work in the building, there are surveillance cameras and the entire building is under security, Smith said.
He said all of these amenities, along with Landmark’s marketing techniques, made the building popular among students despite competition in the rental market.
The 200-bed Zaragon West and 144-bed City Place also opened this fall. Both are high-end developments with similar rent ranges.
“I think, right now, we’ve shown there is a demand for this,” Smith said. “I don’t think we’d be proposing four or six more of these in town but for the next few years, I think we’ll see these buildings continue to get filled.”
He continued: “If there are more buildings proposed, it could start to tip the scale, and we’ll see a large reduction in rents across the board.”
Lizzy Alfs is a business reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at 734-623-2584 or email her at lizzyalfs@annarbor.com. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lizzyalfs.