Preservation of housing, historical buildings not antithesis of commercial growth
Preservation of housing, historical buildings not
By SUSAN WINEBERG
Over the past few weeks, The News has run several important articles about the downtown office building boom, developments in the Kerrytown area, and problems of affordable housing. At first glance, these may seem unrelated, but they are in fact developments which have profound ramifications upon one another. Both the boom in downtown office construction and developments in the Kerrytown area have resulted in the loss of many units of affordable housing. We are now approaching a watershed in our plans for future development as the Affordable Housing Task Force and City Council attempt to construct a housing strategy for Ann Arbor. One of the major goals of this strategy should be to increase and preserve affordable housing in the central city without jeopardizing good commercial growth.
Good commercial growth creates jobs, revitalizes downtown and preserves historic structures. This was the sentiment stated in a 95-page document prepared for the Ann Arbor City Planning Commission by the City Planning Department in 1975. Known as the “Downtown Ann Arbor Development and Conservation Strategy,” it came shortly after the year-long sesquicentennial celebration in 1974 and just prior to the bicentennial of the United States in 1976. It reflects the spirit of these times and a new and enthusiastic interest in historic preservation. One of its major concerns was housing in the downtown area and one of its major suggestions was that the upper floors of historic buildings be renovated, rehabilitated and reused.
A good portion of the report dealt with “conservation of character” and discussed ways in which “existing resources, strong design elements and historic architecture, which add to the character of the downtown, can be conserved.” It looked specifically at eight “character areas” including Main Street, Liberty Street, and the Kerrytown (then called North Central) area. The general polices for land use and development in the latter, which includes the Farmers’ Market, were: (1) to maintain the existing balance between residential and commercial uses; (2) to encourage new residential development and preserve all sound existing dwellings; and (3) to limit commercial growth to its traditional locations on Fourth Avenue, Main Street and in the (Farmers’) Market Triangle.
The report emphasized that Planning Commission wished to protect the residential character of the neighborhood and the old-fashioned atmosphere at Farmers’ Market and even recommended preserving the brick streets.
Unfortunately, recent commercial developments in the Farmers’ Market area and in the adjacent Old Fourth Ward Historic District have begun to erode the residential quality of the area. The city has helped this to some extent by changing traffic patterns and building “pedestrian” improvements which seem aimed at encouraging commercial traffic at the expense of the residential feel of the area. No efforts have been made by the city to preserve existing housing.
It is not difficult to compute the losses of affordable housing in these two areas. In the area immediately adjacent to Kerrytown, we have seen the creation o Braun Court from seven detached residential houses The Kerrytown Concert House was a single-family home until its creation a year or so ago. The Brauer Building at Catherine Street and Fifth Avenue required the demolition of four 19th-century houses. The former apartment above Zingerman’s is no longer rental property and the two houses to the south of Zingerman’s on Detroit Street were recently converted from residential to commercial use. The Stofflet Block (“Old Towne Condominiums”) will soon be converted from rental property to condos.
In the nearby Old Fourth Ward Historic District, we have the proposed Perry Office Building at Fifth Avenue and Ann Street, which will require the demolition of an older house, the conversion of the large mansion at 538 N. Division Street to offices and the conversion of the former house at 544 N. Division Street to an agency-run group home. The plans for converting the Grace Bible Church into a restaurant involved the demolition of three houses.
If we assume that one house can accommodate four people and one apartment two people, we get a total of almost 100 affordable units lost within the last few years in these two areas alone. If we add in the houses destroyed by the office construction at Main and Liberty, the demolition of a house for parking next to Great Lakes Federal Savings and the conversion of the Downtown Club to offices, we could almost double this figure.
Not all of these conversions or demolitions have been bad and many of the conversions have resulted in the preservation of historic properties. The developers are perfectly within the zoning allowed for these areas and cannot be faulted for subverting Planning Commission’s desires. Yet these conversions need to be carefully examined as the trend continues and accelerates in the next few years. Clearly, the City Council and the Affordable Housing Task Force need to consider ways to stop office or commercial displacement of the small number of affordable units still available in central Ann Arbor when the Zoning Ordinance specifies residential use.
One route to the preservation of affordable units can clearly be the preservation of the historic buildings themselves. The News recently ran a story (April 7) about the award given to Bob Fisher by the Historic District Commission for his preservation of the house at 114 N. Division. Fisher used special financing through the City of Ann Arbor Community Development Department and tax credits for historic preservation to convert a former 12-unit rooming house into eleven efficiency and one-bedroom apartments. Low-interest loans were obtained for rehabilitation on condition that he provide some housing to low- and moderate-income tenants. Thus, preservation need not result in “gentrification” and the displacement of tenants as many people have erroneously assumed. Fisher deserves to be commended by the preservation community for his fine restoration of this late-19th century gem. He should also be applauded for his concerns with energy efficiency and the preservation of the stock of affordable housing.
This kind of partnership between the city and developers should be encouraged whenever possible, especially since the development pressures on these centrally located units will only be increasing in the future. The city needs to be more aggressive about promoting historic preservation for residents of the central areas. Historic preservation and affordable housing can be combined into workable projects where both preservationists and renters can reap benefits.
Neighborhoods win when restored properties become more visible and more attractive to the community at large. Instead of allowing the no-win situation of loss of housing and (perhaps) un-rented office space to continue, the city can promote a no-lose situation where everyone stands to gain. I suggest City Council members take another look at the 1975 strategies for downtown and development and re-direct some energy to historic preservation and rehabilitation. Perhaps in honor of Preservation Week (May 11-19), council can once again renew the interest in preservation and help preserve the diversity which the Planning Commission and so many of us appreciate about Ann Arbor.
Susan Wineberg is a member of the Ann Arbor Historic District Commission and secretary of the Old Fourth Ward Association. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Michigan.
NEWS PHOTO • CECIL LOCKARD
Commercial developments, such as around Kerrylown, have been criticized for taking over low- and moderate-income residential areas.