Stories indexed with the term ‘Liberty Lofts’

Commercial space, in the foreground, abuts Liberty Lofts condominiums in the background. This shot is taken from West Liberty Street, looking south. (Photo by the writer.)

The cavernous commercial space next to the Liberty Lofts condo complex isn’t always empty –  as recently as May, The Chronicle documented a temporary architectural exhibit there. Mostly, though, passers-by can look through the floor-to-ceiling windows and see roughly 18,000 square feet of emptiness at the corner of Liberty and First.

But on Wednesday, July 8, the former factory space will have another temporary occupant: Karen Myers and Archie Welch are holding an open house from 3:30-7 p.m., hoping to garner support for a European-style indoor farmers market. [Full Story]

From left to right: Ron Mucha, Greg Jones, David Strosberg, Kevin McDonald (city attorney's office). Mucha and Strosberg are with Morningside LLC, while Jones, a former chair of Ann Arbor's Historic District Commission, is the architect on the parking lot.

By the conclusion of its Thursday evening meeting, Ann Arbor’s historic district commission had denied the application by Morningside LLC  for permission to demolish two houses on the Old West Side.

Morningside wanted the option for demolition of the structures to give them more flexibility in the marketing of a 19,000 square foot greenhouse space adjoining the Liberty Lofts condominium project. The plan was to add additional parking spaces, if a tenant requested them.

The commission took three votes on three different motions related to the application for demolition, but was not able to pass any of them. The votes all split 3-3 among the six commissioners who attended the meeting. Given the failure to pass any of the motions, the body had fully considered the application and thus acted on it without approving it, which meant that the application failed.

What were all those motions about? [Full Story]