University of Michigan will sell 2 houses - but the buyer has to move them
The former caretaker's house at the University of Michigan Golf Course, which is up for bids — but the buyer will have to move it to a new location.
Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com
The catch for buyers: Both will need to be moved to a new location.
University officials have decided to remove the structures from their property, but they're trying to sell them instead of demolishing them, said Sue Gott, campus planner.
"We've done this before," Gott said. "We always want to make the opportunity available when it's appropriate."
The houses are quite different.
One is the former caretaker's house on the grounds of the University of Michigan Golf Course, located at the corner of South Main and East Stadium.
It was built in 1939, Gott said, "when the university wanted to have a caretaker living on site."
But that changed, and the house went vacant a number of years ago, she said.
"The site ... is no longer useful for golf course purposes," Gott said. "It is still on well water and septic, and it no longer has a function that is consistent with the university's mission today."
From the outside, Gott said, "it's a nice-looking house."
As for the interior, she said, buyers will have to judge for themselves during a walk-through at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
U-M plans to restore the site. Eventually, Gott said, "it'll just become part of the golf course."
The other house on the market is 963 Wall St., which U-M purchased last fall because of its proximity to Kellogg Eye Center.
That house is in poor condition, Gott said. The city had assessed it at $71,100, and U-M paid $350,000 for it. The walk-through is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, right after the golf course home is opened to the public.
No specific use is planned for this property either, at least so far.
"It is likely to be used for expanded parking as an interim use," Gott said.
U-M is taking bids through 2 p.m. July 5, and the houses must be removed from the property within 21 days of the accepted offer. The office of Procurement Services is handling the bids.
At a time when vacant land is selling for a fraction of the prices recorded 5 to 10 years ago, the bidding may indicate not just value of the structures — it also could tell what the effort of moving them to an inexpensive piece of land and then rehabbing could be worth to an investor.
"So much of how one views either a home or ... a rental opportunity is subjective to the individual," she said.
Comments
JK
Mon, Jul 18, 2011 : 3:05 a.m.
Wait a minute here, the article has confused the South Main St. house with the Wall St. house. Maybe the U paid $350,00 for the Wall st house.
Bertha Venation
Mon, Aug 1, 2011 : 4:27 p.m.
That's what I got out of it.
JK
Mon, Jul 18, 2011 : 3:02 a.m.
Well, this article is way off on many accounts.....My family and I just moved out of this house the end of March after living there for 11 years. The previous Superintendent lived there for 10 years before us (and the previous care taker and his wife lived there for many years before Jim and his wife. Jim told us the house was the original farm house for what was a 169 acre horse farm. He said the house was built in the early 1900. UofM bought it in 1929 and built the course. The house has plaster walls, old furnace covers from early 1900 and real wooden doors. It was not built in 1940's as Ms. Gott's stated.... I did not look up old records for it but am sure they would be archived. UofM did not pay $350,000 for it in the 1940's.
foobar417
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 2:28 p.m.
TARNOWCZYK HELEN & J sold 963 Wall Street to the Regents for $350k on 12/1/2010. Tax records are public ... just go to the city website.
grye
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 2:22 p.m.
I have some worthless stock I'd like to sell at a big premium. Wonder of the "U" would be interested in it.
windjmar
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 12:41 p.m.
More interesting would be who owned the house that the U paid $350K for?
Paula Gardner
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 2:27 p.m.
The sellers, from the city assessor: TARNOWCZYK HELEN & J Here's the story that I wrote last fall on property purchases. The houses on South Division (which I'm told will not be demolished for the recently reignited expansion of the Institute for Social Research) were a bigger deal at the time: <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/u-m-offers-1725m-to-buy-2-student-rentals-on-south-division-in-ann-arbor/">http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/u-m-offers-1725m-to-buy-2-student-rentals-on-south-division-in-ann-arbor/</a>
timjbd
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 2:20 p.m.
Yes. That WOULD be interesting to know.
bluemax79
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 12:06 p.m.
way to watch out for the taxpayers money. buying a house that is in POOR condition and for WAY too much money.
rs
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 10:44 a.m.
UM paid $350, 000 for a house assessed at $71,000? To make it worse they don't even want the house and have no plans for the property beside using it as an interim parking lot? Its nice UM feels the need to raise tuition every fall then spend their money this recklessly.
Chip Reed
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 2:07 a.m.
Main and Stadium is the Golf and Outing Club. Is this the house by the 14th green?
Barb
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 3:04 p.m.
It's actually on Main nearer to the corner at Scio Church. It's not close to Stadium at all, really.
jore
Tue, Jun 28, 2011 : 1:57 a.m.
The city had assessed it at $71,100, and U-M paid $350,000 for it. The walk-through is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, right after the golf course home is opened to the public.