MAVD News: 2006

Ann Arbor Business Review

March 23-29, 2006, Volume 4, Issue 12

MAV plans $200 million project
Yorktown Commons development would transform U.S. 23–Willis Road area near Toyota Tech Center

By Paula Gardner
pgardner@mbizrevew.com

A sleepy interchange south of Ann Arbor could be transformed into a 1 million-square-foot development that combines retail, residential and office uses along 3/4-mile of U.S. 23.

MAV Development of Ann Arbor is leading what company president Rob Aldrich calls "one of the biggest development deals in the country."

Powering the proposal for Yorktown Commons is the plan to build a Toyota Technical Center about 700 acres at the northwest corner of U.S. 23 and Willis Road, since that effort will bring water and sewer services to the area and boost its market potential.

The MAV project, located at the southeast corner of the interchange, will have a market value of $200 million, Aldrich estimated.

The scope of the project will elevate the corner into a hub for shopping and services for a trade area that extends from Ann Arbor to Dundee. By adding an office component and a variety of housing styles, Aldrich said, the project truly becomes a mixed-use center.

"Few sites in the county have this potential," Aldrich said.

Unlike many of the other major shopping districts under development across the region, Yorktown Commons will invoke many "new urbanism" concepts. They include clustering multi-family homes, staging buildings near sidewalks to maintain a pedestrian-oriented scale and using boulevards and landscaping to control traffic.

"This would have many characteristics of that, " Aldrich said. :It will be walkable, and pedestrian-oriented.

"There will be a lot of cars at the (northern portion of the) site," Aldrich added, noting the nature of retail centers. "But we want them integrated into the site so people can really walk once they park their cars."

Housing units are likely to total 200-300, with detached, single-family homes located at the southern border, near existing homes and around a pond. About 47 acres of open space will be preserved, a sat he building density intensifies as it moves north toward Willis Road.

Contrary to most of the new urbanism-based proposals that Washtenaw County communities have weighed over the past decade, MAV's proposal incorporates land with existing zoning that allows retail development.

The property also has well-defined boundaries - including the highway, an existing east-west connector road and Carpenter Road to the east. And while the rezoning request seeks to boost the allowed housing density, the number of units still would be in the range of a typical Washtenaw County residential development, rather than the 1,000-plus homes that have been in the largest traditional neighborhood proposals.

The placement on an underutilized piece of land, the former Rolling Hills Golf Course, will bring services to residents in the township and boost the commercial tax base of the township by an estimated $700,000 per year, officials said.

The proposal also could result in a projected 1,200 permanent jobs, according to estimates. By comparison, Toyota is forecast to bring 400-700 new jobs to the county.

"This kind of project illustrates the long-time growth potential of the Ann Arbor area and spinoff possibilities of projects like Toyota," said Tim Robinson, acting director of the Washtenaw Development Council.

Build-out could take up to six years, Aldrich said. Commercial portions would be developed in early phases, with offices the last component.

That also is a benefit to the area, Robinson said, since it will allow a natural absorption of all aspects of the real estate under the purview of the single developer.

"Personally, I think we're very fortunate to have developers with the local perspective like MAV, who are willing to take the long view on projects like this," Robinson said.

Aldrich said MAV will be the master developer, taking the project through all approvals. Partnerships with retail and residential developers are likely, Aldrich said, though MAV will retain oversight.

"Our goal is to have our lasting investment be something that happens last: the office piece," Aldrich said. "It's critical to us that the project be executed with the highest standards."

That includes ensuring that the design remains cohesive, with logical flow among all of the components,buffers to the nearby neighborhood and access so that people living nearby can make use of the shopping and civic functions.

"This really is a town center development," Aldrich said. Possibilities, according to the area plan, include a grocery, hotel, pharmacy and restaurants in the neighborhood center, or northern edge.

The village center, just south of that, could accommodate a range of anchor stores, smaller stores, a bank, pharmacy and restaurants.

The first step is to seek rezoning for the property into a Planned Unit Development. About 66 acres are in the township's urban services district, and the southern 43 acres are zoned for one-acre lots.

Negotiations are under way for the township to set up a utility district that would service the Toyota property and the nearby commercial land near the interchange.

Depending on approvals, construction could start in about a year, with part of the project coming to the market in 2008.

Consultants on the project include Mannik & Smith, traffic engineering; LSL Planning Inc; InSite Design Studio Inc., site analysis; and Gibbs Planning Group.

The property was assembled in 2004 (See Business Review, Dec. 16-22, 2004), and a bar on the corner of Willis and Carpenter is not part of the deal. Development plans - originally targeted for early 2005 - were put on hold as the township, state and Toyota worked through issues with that property.

Paula Gardner can be contacted at (734) 302-1715 or pgardner@mbizreview.com.

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