ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — A long-vacant piece of downtown Ann Arbor is set to be transformed after a groundbreaking Monday for The Adeline, a 20-story affordable housing complex that will bring 330 apartments to the city.
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The building is located next to the Blake Transit Center and across from the public library.
Jennifer Hall of the Ann Arbor Housing Commission said the project is among the most significant the city has undertaken.
"It's one of the largest affordable housing projects in the city."
The complex will offer 1- and 2-bedroom units to households earning up to 80% of the area's median income. For a family of 4, that could mean earning up to about $100,000 a year. About one-third of the units will be reserved for families earning less than about $38,000 a year.
Hall said the need for affordable housing has never been more urgent in her 4 decades of work.
"Because we didn't do what we're doing now, 40 years ago. If we have built this housing back in the 1980s, the 1990s, we wouldn't have as big of a crisis as we do today."
Hall said the goal is to build more than just housing.
"It's going to be very active and we're going to try to make sure we build community and that people have a great place to live."
A name rooted in Ann Arbor history
The Adeline is named after Adeline Thompson, a fixture in the Ann Arbor community for nearly 40 years. In 1964, Adeline and her husband Robert opened DeLong's Bar-B-Q Pit, one of Ann Arbor's historic Black-owned businesses.
Her granddaughter, Angela Davis, said the name is a perfect tribute.
"I couldn't have thought of it myself and it was absolutely perfect."
Davis said her grandmother's legacy makes the building's mission especially meaningful.
"She saw them and met them where they were at so this here is significant to this community because now the barriers are dropped, we're trying to bring people back here, and a lot of people are trying to find an affordable house to live in."
Residents weigh in
Ann Arbor residents have mixed reactions to the project.
Lauren Park, who is new to the city, said she welcomes the development.
"I think that's great especially with the price of living, housing specifically these days."
Park said affordable housing should be a community priority.
"Just from my point of view, I think giving people shelter and food and other necessary resources is kind of more of a priority than our own comfort."
Long-time Ann Arbor resident Dan Powell said he is less certain the project will deliver the change its supporters are hoping for.
"There are a lot of people that seem to be unhappy with the general state of homelessness and that sort of thing in Ann Arbor without the buildings, so I'm a little skeptical that the buildings going to greatly change the nature, the make of the city."
The first residents are expected to move into The Adeline in 2028.
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