090926 ~ Future of Kline's Lot Decided - Mayor Christopher Taylor

0:00Ann Arbor City Council voted 10-0 to sell a city-owned downtown property known as the Clines Lot to a high-end developer. That lot right now is used mostly for parking. The move now is expected to bring hundreds of new residents to downtown Ann Arbor. Joining us to talk about this is Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor on 1290 WLBY. Welcome Mayor, there were a lot of compelling reasons in favor of this project despite some pushback from the community. Thanks for having me and I couldn't agree more. The Clines Lot of course has been a surface parking lot for decades. Of course, Cantely serves a real function for people. People do need places to park and that's why we have thousands of parking places for residents in our downtown. But also, we need more people in our downtown. Our businesses, our entertainment venues, they need more residents in our downtown to help support the local businesses that need so much in the

1:02time when an office traffic isn't what it used to be. And so while there are trade-offs, I'm really excited about the opportunity that the sale of the Clines Lot presents. Yeah, it was really interesting to hear some of the council members talk about the changing face of downtown Ann Arbor, how most of the majority of people that go downtown are going out in the evening hours now and we don't see as much foot traffic in the daytime hours and that might be due to the fact work has really shifted hasn't it since COVID? It really has. Our downtown business occupancy is down by I think 20, not business occupancy. That's sort of like daily traffic occupancy down around 20%. And that has real consequences. That means, you know, retail traffic is, you have to be cadence to different the restaurant entertainment traffic services need to be cadence differently. And so, you know, we are as a municipal organization in the process of adjusting and responding and our local

2:04businesses are as well. All right. If you're not a townie and you don't know the landscape of downtown Ann Arbor, we're talking about a plot of land that's off of Ashley. It's right behind Conor O'Neal's, the arc, which are all positioned on Main Street. And this is going to be a mixed use high rise, 450 housing units to be brought into downtown Ann Arbor. How is that going to change the face of downtown? Do you think mayor? Well, I think it'll increase foot traffic on the regular. That's what I'm particularly excited about. We know that our downtown during the evening hours is hopping and bustling so often. But during the day, it's a little different than it used to be. And so, you know, with the addition of the, you know, 330 units, 309 units of new permanent affordable housing across the street from the library, with the addition of the, you know, 400 plus units on the Klein's lot, eventually with the addition of hundreds of units on the library lot,

3:11where the, you know, we are in the process of transferring that property to the library. There will be a real increase in the number of residents working, moving, playing, entertaining themselves within our downtown, adding vibrancy to the place that we already left so much. There's also going to be 10,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space. What is the likelihood that we finally get a viable grocery store in downtown Ann Arbor? Well, it is not a command economy. And so, you know, we're not in a position to dictate or require or, you know, or do anything we can. It's my hope that that is an option which will be, you know, very seriously reviewed by the property owners. And they'll be able to move in that direction. If the market demand is there, if the services are there, if the internal access is there, that would be a great addition for a downtown. I also, you know, don't want to sleep on the fact that we do have grocery options already. You can buy, you can buy produce and, and protein at

4:17Argus, you can go to Sparrow and, and, and Terry Town, you can wander and out over the people's food co-op or hop on over up to Target. There are places to buy food in our downtown. I recognize that we don't have a, you know, the, the, the single full service. And, and maybe this will be that location. But I also want to ensure people that it is far from a food desert. Yeah, that is true. I'm glad you reminded us of that. We're talking with Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor on Ann Arbor's talk station, 1290 WLBY. So this push and pull on this whole issue of the Clinds lot revolved around some people in town wanting this to become affordable housing. And this structure has been described as luxury housing in downtown Ann Arbor that the developer will be creating. Even housing commissioner Jennifer Hall supported market rate housing. And it's is hope that maybe from the sale of this that some of the money can be poured into affordable housing. How do you see that coming together? My understanding is the city's going to net what a little over

5:2114 million from this project. Is that correct? I think the minimum is in the 14th. The, the, the, the open expectation is somewhere higher. You know, to, you know, 1617. Okay. At the, at the next council meeting, I expect there to be a resolution presented from from staff. Of course, for city, for the city council's full reflection as to how we can allocate and designate some of the monies from the client's lead in the event that that that that sell closes. I do want to say that, you know, I was very appreciative of of, of, of his halls or description of the reality of how affordable housing gets built. You can't just wish it. You have to finance it. And she described very clearly how we are able to finance some affordable housing, but that for affordable housing, the site, such as the client that is just simply not reality. And so, you know, we need market housing. So we're moving in the market house direction. We're proud of the hundreds of units

6:24of new permanent affordable housing that we are indeed building in our town, down ground, ground, already having been broken across the street from the library. But, but this is not the space for it. Right. There is going to be parking for the residents of, of this new housing development. Is that correct? I believe there'll be some. Yes. Okay. But no parking for public parking. There were some concerns that the arc has been working on. I think they were very thoughtful in their approach and working with the city on their concerns. Have you answered all of them? They revolved around the big buses, the tour buses that come in and needing a place to park to unload in the back there. Tour buses, school buses, school killed children coming to the arc and and touring it. And that sort of thing. So they had a number of issues. Are all of those satisfied in this? I don't like to speak for other people. It's my belief that they are. We work hard. You know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, five, five, the executive direct at the arc at the end of the, at the event yesterday. We know the

7:30arc is incredibly important part of our, of our community, not really the downtown, as are the other businesses on Main Street. The arc was very clear to us that they needed a couple of different things. They needed up alley access. They needed east west transit over the, the Clients Lot parcel. And they needed about 70, 75 feet of parking for buses on Ashley. We have provided for east west transit. We've, we have worked with the, the developer to expand the alley. And we, the city, control parking. And so we are committed to the 70, 75 feet of parking on Ashley. We're, the purchase agreement already provides for and the subsequent easements will, will forage east west transit. And the alley is going to be expanded. And so we listen, we, we respond. I'm excited about the

8:33prospect of this, of this development, bringing hundreds of new neighbors, hundreds of new patrons. And, and hopefully more than a handful of, of music cars. I'm glad to hear that got worked out. Mayor, let's go back to affordable housing for a minute. Let's say the money is to be able to be used for some kind of affordable housing. What is the next step for that in the city of Ann Arbor? How do you see that coming together? Yeah, so some of the, some of the money will, will be, I expect, used for affordable housing, but we do have other, other needs and some of those other needs will be addressed by the, by the proceeds. But with respect to affordable housing, we are moving forward with great guns, with great momentum and ambition on affordable housing. We have a course of affordable housing knowledge. We are looking to triple our affordable housing supply over the next five years, moving from 600 units to 1800 units of permanent city owned affordable housing, city supported affordable housing.

9:34We are building, you wander on over to the library and look across the street, you will see a construction site. That's us. We are building 330 units of new permanent affordable housing across the street from the library. We already have 60 units, kitty corner, to the people's food club. There'll be 200 plus units, kitty corner, to Briarwood, 250 units going in on commerce. We are expanding and accelerating affordable housing in our community. It's vital and we are not going to stop. Mayor, I haven't had a chance to talk with you since you lost the election recently. And I just wanted to thank you for your service all these years to the city of Ann Arbor. It is a job that is very hard. You've got people that love you, people who hate you, someone between, but you do the job every single day. And I am truly grateful for anyone like yourself who steps up to the plate and runs and doesn't just sit on the sidelines and complain

10:34about our town. So thank you so much for your service to our community. What is the next step for you in regards to politics? Will you stay in politics and how do you see that taking shape? First, thank you for your kindness. The service is mayor on city council. It's not stress-free, but it's truly worth it. We have an amazing community and participating and helping channel it in a way that serves today's residents, but also crucially serves tomorrow. It's been a blessing in an honor. So thank you for your kind words. For me, I don't expect elected office to be part of my future. I have served as an elected official for 18 years now. Of course, it's been a part-time job. I'm not a politician by profession. I'm a lawyer. And so going forward, I'm looking to find some other way to serve our community, some other ways to be active. I join the Curl Union,

11:37I have something else. I will surely have something to do on Monday nights. So it's going to be a good thing. Well, you are a beautiful singer and the mayor and his wife saying on our Christmas show a few years back and did a beautiful job. We love it. We're always welcome. So let's plan on that, sir. If you're going to not be in politics, we are glad to hear that you're going to still apply your talents around town. Thank you so much, sir. We appreciate it. All right. Ann Arbor. Thank you. Christopher Taylor. I'm the Lucian Lance Show Ann Arbor's talk station 1290 WLBY.