Could revised 601 Forest plans leave space for another high-density development?
Could the fight over the 601 Forest project just be prelude to another fight down the road? It might turn out that way if its developers’ revised plans for a smaller version of the high-rise development are approved next week. The new designs shrink the original plans by half. The ‘adjusted’ building would be 14 stories tall instead of 26. It would house 150-175 rooms with 570-610 beds for students at the nearby University of Michigan. That’s down from 342 residential units with 1,100 beds in the original plans. 601 Forest would replace the Village Corner party store and a nearby apartment building at the corner of South University and Forest streets. The adjacent Mud Bowl would be left alone. The new proposed building’s footprint is almost half its original size. “That remaining parcel is about a half acre,” says Matt Kowalski, a city planner for the city of Ann Arbor. “It’s a significant parcel.” The developers, Hughes Properties and Omena Real Estate Investments, haven’t proposed do
