DDA to Work on Lease to Greyhound

Ann Arbor’s Greyhound bus station will be finding a temporary home at the Fourth & William parking structure in downtown Ann Arbor, when it’s forced to vacate its current facilities on Huron Street between Ashley and Main. That location will become a hotel when First Martin Corp. gets approval for a hotel project it plans to build there.

The two-year relocation will be made possible through a lease to be worked out with the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. The DDA board authorized the signing of a lease at its May 7, 2014 meeting.

The lease would cost Greyhound $1,525 a month, which works out to $36,600 for the two-year period. Buses would not pull into the structure, but would stage on Fourth Avenue. Currently Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority buses are using the west side of Fourth Avenue for staging. But in the next few weeks, when the new Blake Transit Center driveway is poured – which runs between Fourth and Fifth avenues – AAATA buses will no longer need the west side of Fourth Avenue for staging.

The lease by the DDA to Greyhound would include about 400 square feet of office space in the structure, which would be finished out by the DDA for Greyhound. The first year of rent is anticipated to cover the cost of the build out. The lease rate was described at the meeting as at the top of the market – especially considering that the space is located under a speed ramp for exiting the parking structure.

The DDA operates the public parking system on behalf of the city of Ann Arbor using city-owned structures, under a contract with the city of Ann Arbor. The DDA board discussion included reference to the fact that the DDA would ensure that all requirements of the city parking contract would be satisfied in reaching the lease agreement with Greyhound.

The clause in the contract on which the DDA will apparently rely is this one: “The DDA shall have the right to allocate portions of facilities to third party for long term parking usage and mutually agreed upon non-parking-related usage. The DDA shall provide an annual report to the City of any allocation identifying the specific facility and the size, nature and term of the allocation.” A traffic control order will need to be obtained from the city to allow the staging of buses in the public right-of-way.

The historic sign that is a feature of Greyhound’s current location will not be moved to the Fourth Avenue site.

This brief was filed from the DDA offices at 150 S. Fifth Ave., Suite 301, where the DDA holds its meetings. A more detailed report will follow: [link]