County board OKs Brownfield plan for 618 S. Main St. apartments in Ann Arbor

The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners gave its stamp of approval to the brownfield plan for Ann Arbor developer Dan Ketelaar’s urban apartment community Wednesday night during its regular meeting.

The apartments, destined for 618 South Main St. in Ann Arbor, will be marketed to young professionals, but two commissioners who voted against the project said the rent will be too high for for young professionals.

The county board passed the plan in an 8-2 vote. The plan came before commissioners in its final phases with little opportunity for the then to make changes to it without further complicating the project.

Commissioners Yousef Rabhi and Felicia Brabec voted against approving the brownfield plan after voicing concerns that young professionals would not actually be able to afford the rent that would be charged for the apartments.

Commissioner Rolland Sizemore Jr. was absent from the meeting.

Ketelaar said the vast majority of the apartments in the 618 South Main building would be available to those in the 90 to 100 percent bracket of median income.

The project, located at the site of the former Fox Tent & Awning building, north of Mosley between Main and Ashley streets, calls for tearing down two existing structures for the construction of a seven-story building that would house about 231 bedrooms, 121 underground parking spaces, 65 bicycle parking spaces and pedestrian amenities along the adjacent streets.

“My vote is certainly not a vote of no confidence in what you’ve done,” Rabhi said to Ketelaar before voting against approving the plan.

Rabhi explained he liked the development project - including Ketelaar’s plans for a green roof to prevent storm water runoff - but couldn’t cast his vote for the measure because it would not bring accessible, affordable housing to downtown.

“I appreciate what you’re doing to bring a new crowd of folks downtown,” he said.

Brabec said she viewed herself as a young professional when she moved to Ann Abror as a doctoral student. The rent at the 618 South Main complex would have been too “exorbitant” for her to afford at the time, she said.

The Ann Arbor City Council also voted 8-2 in June to approve the site plan and brownfield plan.

Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.