Ann Arbor's South University district is located just South East of the University of Michigan and caters strongly to the student population.  It hasn't quite been overrun by your typical college town eateries and retail yet, but increasing density in the area is beginning to reshape the area.  It's very busy, but that doesn't mean everyone likes it.  Some feel it's dated and ugly and would prefer to see much of it leveled and rebuilt.  Those people tend to identify with the more tasteful and urban cohesiveness of the State and Liberty districts and downtown.  But some like it the way it is and don't want it to change. 

 

Interesting thing is, historic photos show this area entirely uninspiring, filled with small homes in the early half of the last century.  The 60's were definitely a boom for this area as the homes were leveled and replaced with retail and student housing.  It might be a history somewhat close to parts of Toronto.

 

I threw in a few University buildings nearby, although I intend to do a University and Downtown Ann Arbor thread later.

 

University of Michigan ----------------------> South U

 

Walking through U of M's "Diag" you can see the South U district just ahead through the arch.

 

After you exit through the arch, the landscape quickly changes from academic to commercial.  U of M calls this a "town-gown" relationship.  The U has since overgrown its historic boundaries and spilled throughout the city weaving between businesses and apartment buildings.  The lines between campus and city have become very blurred

 

 

Left, the new Zaragon Student Housing Development.  Right, U of M's School of Social Work

 

This beauty was unfortunately leveled for Zaragon

 

The South U Business District

 

 

U of M's East Hall overshadows some businesses.

 

 

Ann Arbor's ugliest building in the distance.  The inside is no more attractive either.

 

 

 

 

Developers are planning to knock down the Village Corner Grocery Store for new student housing.

 

And Here's what it looks like.  Dish out the precast brick! :yuck:

 

South U has had an influx of many new asian restaurants in the last decade.

 

Developers in the late 90's originally wanted to demolish the block and fill it with these red brick apartments, but failed.  Only one got built shown here, completed in 1997

 

 

The Galleria is a 3-story indoor mall that failed....somewhat.  What succeeded were the stores that had entrances on the exterior.  The mall has since been reconfigured and almost been filled back to capacity.

 

It does get pretty damn cold here somedays...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Deep Dish Pizza in Ann Arbor

 

New infill

 

Just a zoning mess.  I don't think these will be around much longer.

 

View from the parking structure above during warmer weather:

 

Left, Zaragon Development.  Right U of M's East Quad.  Notice that students must walk past businesses to get to campus.  Again it's that mix of buildings that some love or hate.

 

The recently completed home for Ross School of Business.  A $100 million gift to the University

 

The Law Quad.  Built in the 1920's

 

The Law Quad will soon have a new building across the street.  Financed through gifts and donations:

Source UM AEC PLANT EXTENSION

 

 

The Law Library

 

Let's go inside:

 

If the Law Quad is too quiet for you, there's always the Grad Library across the street.  Shown here is the 2nd floor reading room with murals from the Chicago Colombian Exposition in the 1890's.  In my 6 years at U of M, I have studied in neither of these libraries sadly.

 

View looking back toward South U. from U of M's Ford School of Public policy, another donated building completed in 2007.

 

Stayed tuned for downtown and more of the University of Michigan

Excellent tour. Some of those buildings, both old and new, are stunning, and seeing the amount of pedestrian traffic and variety of commercial activity created by a campus makes me acutely aware of what's missing from Fort Mundane, with its isolated commuter campus.

Awesome! Ann Arbor looks really cool.

Very nice stuff - law library is an amazing space, but I'd be staring at all the details instead of studying...

super. love seeing the newer stuff since i've been there, ie., the ross building.

 

the first photo is the winner. perfect.

Ann Arbor is an extraordinary little city. I love it - even more than Madison.

This is an amazing 60s development; probably the best I have ever seen..

Yikes!

The Scarborough of Michigan.

The Scarborough of Michigan.

 

That's harsh!

If you want to be rude to Toronto, it's a slight step beneath Bloor...oooo!

Awesome- thanks.  More vibrancy on those streets than most rust belt cities several times AA's size. 

Ann Arbor is an extraordinary little city. I love it - even more than Madison.

 

WHAT!!!?!

 

It's always interesting how Madison and Ann Arbor compare themselves.  They should be sister cities because of their relatively friendly relationships toward one another on the urban side of things.  Even their school newspapers like to compare to the two positively.

it reminds me more of state college than madison. well maybe better put penn state's town is a wanna-be ann arbor.

Are there really no parking lots where residential development could take place? Even if justified, it's hard seeing nice old buildings knocked down. Looks like a cool street. I have yet to visit to compare it to High St.

It's a different model than OSU.  Ann Arbor/University of Michigan is more sporadic (central, south campus) around the downtown and Kerrytown area while OSU is essentially a block surrounded by urbanity.  Penn State is more like Ohio State in the large main street(s) at the edge of the university.  I agree that it is more like Madison in the sense of integration within a puny, small, worthless town in the middle of yooper-like states with random rich, "East Coast" kids eating at chocolate shops and hood _ _ _ _ as from Chicago or Detroit chopping it up at some Chinese BBQ place next door.

Are there really no parking lots where residential development could take place? Even if justified, it's hard seeing nice old buildings knocked down. Looks like a cool street. I have yet to visit to compare it to High St.

 

There isn't much surface parking.  The city has always viewed this as an evil for years and required any new parking to be underground.  In fact areas where some surface parking does exist will be replaced with several levels of underground parking, recapped and sold off to private developers.  There are many beautiful buildings here that will likely never be demolished.  But there are an unfortunate few that are unprotected, so when density shoots up, they'll like be replaced by taller structures.

 

BTW, here's an good areial of the city. 

Move to the upper right hand corner of the photo, where that brownish tall building is.  That's the area covered by this thread.  As you can see, this area is quite small and distant in relationship to downtown.

 

http://flickr.com/photos/photons/47861899/sizes/o/in/set-253454/

 

 

This is a photo of campus:

http://flickr.com/photos/photons/1246420318/sizes/o/

 

As you can see, it's difficult to tell where campus ends and city begins.  It's kind of mixed in.  However there are clear boundaries.  This map helps illustrate that.  There are outliers, but they don't really serve students, rather home to agencies, organizations, or research arms affiliated with the U.  (The map will flash once when loading, then reappear)

http://www.plantext.bf.umich.edu/campus.maps/CentralMedical3D.pdf