A site on North Main Street once planned for affordable housing is now slated to become 19 townhouse condominium units.

Formerly home to eight deteriorating houses, Avalon Housing had once proposed building 39 affordable units but scrapped the plans in 2012.  The site languished until earlier this year when demolition finally proceeded with the remaining homes.  Now Auburn Hills-based Trowbridge Companies has submitted plans to the city for a new market rate condominium development.

The project would sit on just under 1.2 acres at 700 N Main St and is alternately called “Near North” or “Ann Arbor North Townhouses” in site plans (in desperate need of a trendy new moniker, The Residences @ 700, LUX on Main or some other silliness).  The condos would join two other recently completed townhouse projects on North Main, Main on the Park and 414 N Main, both of which quickly sold out.

The design is sort of meh at best although it’s a gateway into downtown that is in need of some serious love.  It’s a little more modern than the other developments on Main Street but certainly not groundbreaking.  I’d like to see more of a statement here and I thought this would be a good location for mixed-income housing but based on the success of similar projects in the area, I can see the appeal for a developer.  Walk to downtown, a stone’s throw from Kerrytown, it’s an empty nester paradise and likely to sell quickly.

Overall this is a project that’s hard to get excited about but also hard to find a ton of fault with either.  It’s vacant land that was destined for moderate density residential.  Feel free to check out the plans and renderings at your leisure.

Edit: New renderings have been released for this project.  It appears the developer is taking a much more traditional approach.  17 townhouse condominiums