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10/3/2014 See the Completed Amenity Spaces at Ann Arbor City Apartments

Ann Arbor City Apartments tenants have new amenities to enjoy: two outdoor communal spaces featuring a yoga patio, movie screen, gas fire pit and bar area.

The amenities, which were completed this week, were on display Thursday night at the grand opening event for the 155-unit building, located on the southeast corner of South First and West Washington streets.

City officials and the team responsible for opening the building – including contractors, designers and bankers – were invited to the grand opening. A party for the building’s tenants is planned for Friday, Oct. 3.

Ann Arbor City Apartments now has two outdoor amenity spaces: the Zen Garden and the Sky Deck.

The Zen Garden has a water feature, boulders, a covered yoga patio, lounge chairs and benches. It’s located on the building’s first floor, near the indoor gym and business center.

“(The Zen Garden is) for relaxation and a chance to get away from the city,” said Roger Tertocha, Village Green’s director of public relations.

The Sky Deck is located on the building’s top floor, and it has an outdoor shower, gas fire pit, lounge chairs, lounge bed, grill, bar area and outdoor movie screen. The Sky Deck is connected to the indoor Sky Club, which has a fireplace, pool table, televisions and a kitchen that tenants can reserve for parties.

The amenities at Ann Arbor City Apartments are open to tenants 24/7. Tertocha said tenants will likely have access to the outdoor amenity spaces during the winter if they wish to use them.

Ann Arbor City Apartments’ grand opening comes 10 months after tenants started moving into the building, and after some residents expressed concernthat the building’s outdoor amenities weren’t delivered in a timely fashion.

Jonathan Holtzman, CEO of Farmington Hills-based Village Green, told The Ann Arbor News in August that some aspects of the building’s construction took longer than originally anticipated. He cited weather and business related issues for delays. There was also a mid-construction change in the building’s contractor, when Village Green Construction took over from O’Neal Construction.

As of Thursday evening, finishing touches were still being made to the building. Tertocha said permanent room number signs have been ordered to install outside each unit, and some work is being finished on the building’s exterior.

Holtzman said some sort of art display or mural will be installed on the building's windowless south wall.

Village Green developed Ann Arbor City Apartments on the site of a former city-owned parking lot. The development — which is targeted toward professional renters instead of University of Michigan students — broke ground in January 2012.

As part of the project, Village Green constructed a three-story, 251-space parking garage on the bottom of the building that the city of Ann Arbor purchased and Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority manages. The general public and tenants of the apartments share the garage.

Monthly rental rates at the building range between $1,435 for a 601-square-foot studio unit to $2,870 for a 1,138-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bath unit. Utilities are not included in the rental rates.

Holtzman said Ann Arbor City Apartments is 100 percent occupied and was fully leased before the first tenants started moving in. He said there is a long waiting list to get a unit in the building.

Article by Lizzy Alfs