South Fifth Avenue, closed for nearly two years, to open by June 19
Construction crew members work to attach glass panels above an entry to the new underground parking structure along Fifth Avenue in Ann Arbor Wednesday.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
But construction delays ensued, and by the time they blocked off the street in August of 2010, they were expecting it to reopen in the fall of 2011. In late November, they hoped it would open by the end of January. And then they hoped by May.
Construction continues on Fifth Avenue, which has been closed for almost two years.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
For Pushpinder Sethi, owner of the Earthen Jar restaurant at 311 S. Fifth Ave., next to the construction site, the day can’t come soon enough.
His business is down about 50 percent from what it was before the street closed, he said. “I hope with the opening of this street that it will bring the business back,” he said. “We will cross our fingers. . . . We are very thankful to all the customers who have been helping us during these hard times.”
Workers at the site said they have finished all the underground utility work. Wednesday they were grading the surface. When that's finished, they can put down the new asphalt.
The garage itself is expected to open by July 12, Pollay said. The DDA broke ground on the $50 million project, which will have more than 600 parking spots, in October of 2009.
Sethi hopes that the garage will be a boon for the business. “I think so, but you don’t know,” he said. “We are thinking that the people will start coming and parking there.”
Amy Sullivan, senior project manager for contractor Christman Co., said it's gratifying to see the project coming to an end.
"There’s a lot to do and lot of people working to make it happen," she said. "There’s been a lot of time and effort put into every detail of the project. We’re very excited to be nearing the end."
Comments
Charley Sullivan
Fri, Jun 8, 2012 : 7:26 a.m.
Business at the Earthen Jar down 50% . . . somehow there seems to be a need for some compensation there.
Frustrated in A2
Fri, Jun 8, 2012 : 3:12 a.m.
I keep telling myself that 5th Ave will never open so if it does (key word is IF) then I will be shocked!
amlive
Fri, Jun 8, 2012 : 2:58 a.m.
Could someone please, pretty please, compile a complete list of all the expected or promised completion dates that have been missed so far?
Swimmer
Fri, Jun 8, 2012 : 1:14 a.m.
Will the parking fee be significantly lower than the on-street and surface lot fees? I would hope so, but doubt it.
Goofus
Fri, Jun 8, 2012 : 12:50 a.m.
I bet the Christman worker crews are sorry to see their overtime and looooong lunches end so soon.
Goofus
Fri, Jun 8, 2012 : 12:47 a.m.
Beat Costco by about a week.... maybe.
Ross
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 6:59 p.m.
Boycott the structure. What a fantastic boondoggle. City Council and the DDA should truly be ashamed of themselves for ramming this giant mistake down our throats.
mczacharias
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 6:32 p.m.
"South Fifth Avenue, closed for nearly two years, to open by June 19" ....... .......wanna bet?
Brad
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 6:49 p.m.
Yeah, I'll take some "over" action on that one!
harry
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 5:07 p.m.
yes
Barzoom
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 5:05 p.m.
Just wait...They'll close it again, along with 4th Ave. to build the new Transit Center.
amlive
Fri, Jun 8, 2012 : 2:56 a.m.
That in August, then probably a new library, and then of course a conference center or whatever is going to go on top of the parking structure. If all goes well we may have a break in construction on that block sometime in the early 2020's.
Les Gov
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 4:52 p.m.
So the facts per this article is that it took a little less than "three" years for the City of Ann Arbor to build a parking garage! Almost "Three" years, if they stick to the current timetable, and with great weather conditions. For reference...A General Electric ABWR Nuclear Power Plant was built in Three years! So this parking garage takes almost as long as a Nuclear Power Plant to be built?! What an embarrassment for everyone involved! AA.com needs to look into the reported inept management of this parking garage. Something sure doesn't smell right! What has this cost us taxpayers of Ann Arbor? Exactly where has the money gone? Who is being held accountable for this failure? I wonder...did the City of Ann Arbor build a nuclear power plant underground and camouflage it as a parking garage? If so, the time to build this thing could make sense. (Ok..I'm sure that isn't the case...but it seems the only reason this thing took so long.)
EyeHeartA2
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 4:26 p.m.
" $50 million project" SWEET. $500,000.00 more for ART. Any German artists looking to get rich at the expense of AA taxpayers?
David Cahill
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 3:52 p.m.
Why should we believe this opening date when all the others have been missed? Another case of Lucy and the football....
Goofus
Fri, Jun 8, 2012 : 12:48 a.m.
I got it. I'm a man. I'm 40.
Tom Teague
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 7:12 p.m.
Am I showing my age when I say that I got your reference to Lucy and the football?
MjC
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 12:53 p.m.
I'll believe this when I can actually drive my car down the street...
Mike58
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 12:30 p.m.
I work downtown and walk by the area nearly everyday. I ALWAYS see empty parking spots on the surface lot across from the library and next to the AATA bus plaza. Other than the Art Fair and maybe a couple other events, I can't see how this garage will even come close to being filled. It seems there were some assumptions made when this was being built that no longer apply. There are no plans to build a conference center to fill this garage with cars, and with Borders gone there is no anchor downtown to draw people in. Hopefully they can pay for this 50 million dollar hole with the revenue generated on Friday and Saturday from visitors dining downtown. I don't see how though.
Lisa
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 12:28 p.m.
Now if they could just pave the top of this thing and set up a surface lot, we could get back to normal.
a2grateful
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 12:25 p.m.
"They come to see the ambiance of Ann Arbor. . ." And if they want to stay near campus, they do. Campus Inn and Bell Tower Hotel have rooms to spare. If they needed more rooms, they would build more. Taxpayers don't want to subsidize Hieftje's hotel or hive-mind council conference center. Drain the DDA and the buckets. Their giant revenue sucking sound they produce bodes poorly for the well being of the city's future. A park atop the structure is a far better alternative to a failed hotel. If anything else is built there, it better produce tax revenue for the city, with no risk to public coffers.
Sooze
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 12:01 p.m.
One idea at the beginning was to have a hotel/conference center on top of those 600 parking places. Parks are great but how about re-thinking the idea of a centrally located place near the university and all our great restaurants for visitors and conferences? Surely the university community and whole town (on many top 10 lists and drawing lots of visitors ready to be impressed) would benefit. They come to see the ambiance of Ann Arbor, not Briarwood.
Swordsman
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 11:41 a.m.
AA.com, how about an investigation about what the heck happened to this project?
Paul Epstein
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 11:03 a.m.
Aw shucks. Now Ann Arbor's traffic engineer cannot have any more fun knowing the one alternate route around this mess has lights timed to turn red upon arrival, one after the other, and take sadistic pleasure in knowing everybody has to slam on their brakes at every intersection. Ah well,.....sigh......the rest of the city will have to suffice for that.
Brad
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 10:56 a.m.
Hopefully after this the DDA will never again be allowed to manage any sizeable project. They totally blew this one. And then again, who thought they had this expertise in the first place?
sh1
Thu, Jun 7, 2012 : 10:48 a.m.
I'm curious if the contractor had any penalties for being so behind in schedule (taking twice as long as contracted to complete the project). This, even with a mild winter where they could work every day.