7 Comments

  1. By Brad
    May 12, 2013 at 9:06 am | permalink

    The Blightosauruses are looking hungry! Yay!!

  2. By Timothy Durham
    May 12, 2013 at 9:48 am | permalink

    Great news!

  3. By Liz Margolis
    May 12, 2013 at 12:35 pm | permalink

    I’ll believe it when they have it all knocked down…blight to our neighborhood. Not holding my breath on the new development.

  4. By TJ
    May 12, 2013 at 3:55 pm | permalink

    Ominous photo!

  5. By Mary Morgan
    May 13, 2013 at 9:55 am | permalink

    This press release about the demolition was sent out Monday morning (5/13/13) by Nathan Voght of the Washtenaw County office of community and economic development, which manages the county’s brownfield redevelopment program:

    Georgetown Mall Demolition and Environmental Remediation Set to Begin

    Ann Arbor, MI – Washtenaw County officials report that grant funded demolition and soil remediation of the former Georgetown Mall is scheduled to begin the week of May 13th. After a series of delays, the work to remove the abandoned buildings and clean up the site is poised to proceed. The site is proposed for a new development, called Packard Square, which will consist of a mixed-use building, 20,000 square feet of commercial space, and 230 market rate apartments. In addition, an underground parking garage will provide tenant parking.

    Washtenaw County secured a $1 million grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in 2012 to assist with demolition of the blighted buildings, and clean-up of soil contaminated from the former dry cleaning operations on site. “The grant work was initially delayed while the County ensured grant related contracts, and those required by the developer to fund non-grant related work, are all in place,” said Washtenaw County Brownfield Redevelopment Coordinator, Nathan Voght. “Demolition permit applications have been filed, and we should see activity on the site starting the week of May 13th and it’s scheduled to wrap up by the end of July.”

    The building and site demolition, and environmental remediation work should take approximately two months. However, further testing under the after removal of the contaminated soil may extend that time frame if additional measures are required to safely re-use the property.

    For more information contact Nathan Voght, in the Washtenaw County Office of Community and Economic Development, at voghtn@ewashtenaw.org or 734-222-3860. For more information about the MDEQ Brownfield Redevelopment Program, visit the MDEQ website at http://www.michigan.gov/deqbrownfields.

  6. By Brad
    May 14, 2013 at 7:37 pm | permalink

    FYI, the excavators that were in front of the mall have been moved around back. They are not not gone and they are still looking ready to devour some blight!

  7. By Barbara
    May 19, 2013 at 2:36 pm | permalink

    They tore down the old chain-link fence surrounding the lot and put a shiny new one up. They’ve started tearing up some of the parking lot. A few days ago there was a big hole at the Page Ave entrance that has since been filled in. Not entirely sure this is progress (especially the fence part) but at least there is activity.