Development News

Ann Arbor MichCon brownfield becomes home of sustainability

Thursday, February 11, 2010

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Ann Arbor

One of Ann Arbor's most polluted properties is getting a second life centered around sustainable projects, ranging from disassembling buildings to the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line.

Excerpt:

The old MichCon property on Ann Arbor's north side (near the Amtrak station) shouldn't be exhibiting as much life as it is these days. The property is one of the most polluted in the city - usually a development death sentence. Not for this couple of acres along the Huron River.

In a way that could only seem to happen in Ann Arbor, local stakeholders are generating interest and green projects on the site. Such projects include the disassembling and recycling of a building, proposals for redevelopment, and even serious conversations about turning it into a cog in the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter train line.

DTE Energy, which owns the property, disassembled an old industrial building there. That resulted in recycling between 95-99 percent of the building, including donating parts of it to Habitat for Humanity and a Michigan school. The now empty space is being seriously considered as overflow parking for the Detroit-Ann Arbor commuter rail line.

Read the rest of the story here.