The Madison Redux
Carsten Hohnke, who represents Ward 5 on Ann Arbor city council, attended Tuesday evening's meeting about The Madison. In the background is Laurie Blakeney, owner of the Ann Arbor School of Yoga and the mother of Newcombe Clark, who's a partner in The Madison project.
Many of the 15 or so people gathered in the downtown Ann Arbor library on Tuesday night were clearly neighbors. There were handshakes, waves, nods of greetings and, in at least one case, the delivery of a Christmas gift. And as the meeting unfolded, it also became clear that these people had another common bond: Opposition, or at least strong skepticism, to a revived apartment project called The Madison.
Developer Jeff Helminski and Newcombe Clark of Bluestone Realty plan to resubmit a scaled-down version of The Madison to the city on Dec. 29, and were holding this meeting to tell neighbors about their new plans and to get feedback on the project. Located on East Madison between South Fourth and Fifth avenues, the original proposal called for a 14-story building with 161 units. This new one has four stories, with 60 units.
That’s still too large for some. [Full Story]