Developers to renovate old Handicraft building into Belgian brew pub

Concentrate, 8/28/2008

Two down and the third corner of the Liberty/Division intersection is about to fall to renovation in downtown Ann Arbor.

Excerpt:

Compare what the intersection of Ann Arbor's Liberty and Division streets looked like 10 years ago to what it looks like today and it's easy to reach the "night-and-day" conclusion. The difference will be even more stark after the old Handicraft building is renovated later this year.

Ten years ago bums ruled the Liberty Plaza park on the southwest corner, and the now colorful Google Adwords headquarters was a drab concrete structure, reminiscent of the worst in Soviet-era architecture. Both saw dramatic changes in aesthetics and popularity.

Now, another downtown ugly duckling of a building will soon be a swan when the Handicraft, which recently housed the KAPLAN testing center and a rental furniture store, is restored. The developers plan to turn the 53,000-square-foot structure into a mixed-use building, featuring a Belgian brew pub.

Read the rest of the story here.

Redevelopment

Ann Arbor