Stories indexed with the term ‘Avalon’

At its Sept. 7, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority board voted to renew a grant to Avalon Housing that the board had originally approved two years ago for the Near North affordable housing project on North Main street.

The grant is for $400,000, with another $100,000 available if the project achieves LEED certification. The grant would be paid when the project receives a certificate of occupancy, and a waiver of all liens. Avalon must also have an agreement in place with the city/county office of community development to ensure that income eligibility requirements are met for all residents.

The income eligibility requirements for the 39 units in Near North are based on affordability as defined for two categories of apartments. … [Full Story]

At its March 21, 2011 meeting, the Ann Arbor city council voted to approve the transfer of the property at 1500 Pauline from the Washtenaw Affordable Housing Corp. (WAHC) to Avalon Housing. The council also approved the release of WAHC from all terms of their $700,000 federal HOME loan, $300,000 federal CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) loan and Housing Affordability Agreement. Avalon is currently managing all of WAHC’s properties as part of a consolidation, described as a “merger,” that began two years ago.

At its Feb. 22, 2011 meeting the city council approved a site plan for the 1500 Pauline property, allowing Avalon to construct 32 dwelling units and 39 surface parking spaces. The plan includes demolition of four existing apartment buildings – known as the Parkhurst Apartment complex – containing 48 units. The new construction would include six new buildings totaling 53,185 square feet. Five of the buildings would include one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and three-bedroom townhomes. The sixth building would be a community center with a playground. The project won a recommendation from the city’s planning commission at that body’s Jan. 20, 2011 meeting.

This brief was filed from the boardroom in the Washtenaw County administration building, where the council is meeting due to renovations in the city hall building. A more detailed report will follow: [link] [Full Story]

Downtown Development Authority board meeting (March 4, 2009): At Wednesday’s monthly board meeting of the Downtown Development Authority, Rene Greff asked the rhetorical question: “Do you want to hook that cart to a controversial horse?” And she was not talking about a new transportation option for downtown. But the “cart” was the idea of transportation demand management. The “horse” was city council’s recent request that the DDA increase its revenues to assure adequate reserve fund balances. [Full Story]