Last spring Avis Farms was running out of
land. But that was before they moved to acquire the Cody property, the
127 acres on State Road immediately south of Avis Farms. Trish Kalmbach,
Avis Farms president, says Buffalo Bill Cody actually slept here, taking
advantage of a shirt tail relative’s hospitality when he was booked for
appearances in Detroit years ago.
Situated on the northwest corner of State and Textile
Road, the land is bisected by a Conrail freight railroad line. The
easternmost piece along State Road is already zoned as a Planned Unit Development
(PUD), while the acreage on the other side of the tracks remains Agricultural
– for now. Kalmbach says their proposal last month to Pittsfield Township
to rezone the Agricultural portion to Business Park met with no opposition.
“This means we could have the necessary permits and be ready to go [with
development] in a year,” she notes. That pushes the size of Avis Farms
to about 300 acres.
Avis South to Launch This Fall
Prior to getting the Cody land under contract,
Avis Farms had focused its development energy on Avis Farms South. This
is another parcel of 140 gross acres located on the adjacent southeast
corner of State Road and Textile Road. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kalmbach
notes that her permit applications for water and sewer usage at Avis South
were approved last month by the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority
(YCUA). and forwarded to the State of Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ) which will issue the permits.
YCUA (pronounced YUH-kuh by those in the know) is
not a household term. But the agency’s Larry Thomas notes that it sells
14 million gallons of water to users in Washtenaw and western Wayne County,
and treats 23 million gallons a day at its plant near Willow Run Airport.
The permits are the lifeblood of outlying development that has no access
to municipal Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti or Saline water and sewer hookups.
Avis South’s first building, which received
site plan approval at Pittsfield Township last month, should break ground
later this month, according to Trish Kalmbach. Avis South III, as it is
known, is being done on a speculative basis. That is to say the 75,000
square foot “flex” building will be built without any pre-leasing and,
if their luck holds, will be rented to a user by the time it is completed
late next spring. The Heil Partnership (architects) and J.S. Vig
Construction Company will design and build the building, respectively.
The asking rent, according to broker Cam McCausland, will be $14.50, triple
net.
Valley Ranch “Spec” Buildings Underway
After assessing the office market last spring,
Ann Arbor developer Thomas B. McMullen Co. pulled out all the stops on
its Ponds Office Center this summer. Construction is underway on a pair
of 30,300 square foot, single story buildings on five acres of land at
McMullen’s Valley Ranch Office Park, which is on Ann Arbor’s southwest
side between Ellsworth Road and the I-94 expressway. The ten year old business
park already hosts corporate headquarters for Discount Tire, Integrated
Design, Navigant International (formerly Lovejoy-Tiffany Travel) and Molly
Maid, Inc., among others.
Hobbs & Black designed the buildings,
and McMullen’s in-house construction arm is the general contractor. Occupancy
is projected for next spring. The asking rental rate is $15.00 per square
foot, triple net, and it includes a tenant buildout allowance for the space.
Leasing director Randy Maas indicates negotiations are already underway
with a user to lease about 45,000 square feet at the Ponds, but he declined
to disclose the name of the prospective tenant.
McMullen will break ground on another Valley
Ranch “spec” building this fall. Unnamed as of this writing, it is a 33,600
square foot “flex” building, located by the Valley Ranch water tower.
Scio Town Center To Add Office
Use
A revised plan for the former Scio Town Center
shopping center just west of Ann Arbor is expected to be submitted to the
Scio Township planning commission. Developer Joe Grammatico has not yet
built the 117,000 foot, Zeeb Road neighborhood shopping center he first
presented in 1996. Township Supervisor Spaulding Clark indicates the current
discussions involve a mix of retail, office and second story residential
uses for the site, which is located across Zeeb Road from the new 210,000
square foot Meijer store -- which is under construction.
For More Information Contact:
Bill Milliken, CCIM
Milliken Realty Company
100 Huron View Blvd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Tel: 734-821-4321
Fax: 734-821-4322
Internet: info@millikenrealty.com
Property listing data is based on information believed accurate & reliable. However, accuracy is not guaranteed.
Copyright © 2005 Milliken Realty Company
info@millikenrealty.com
