Community

Located just southwest of Packard and Platt, this neighborhood now has a mix of housing types and sizes, as well as varying yards and various dogs and a whole lot of trees (we’ve even got a magical little forest on our west side).

When Stephanie Clark and Hans Fruechtenicht had their first child, Claire, they knew they wanted to move back home to Michigan. (The two had been living in Columbus, Ohio while Stephanie completed her residency.) In 2013, they both landed jobs with the U-M—he as a philanthropy researcher, she as a physician—and made the move to Ann Arbor’s Dicken neighborhood. The west-side wooded enclave stood out as a place where they could affordably raise their young family. 

Right on the Old West Side, beside Argus Farm Stop, stands a century-old industrial-style building overlooking the train tracks. Once a manufacturing facility, it was given a new life when it was converted into residential lofts in 2005. Its brick facade stands in quiet contrast to the colorful historic homes with porches, peaked roofs, and tree-lined yards that surround it. There was something about that unlikely pairing that felt oddly familiar.

If someone tells you an island exists in Ann Arbor, you’d do well to believe them. This island sits boldly between rushing Carpenter to the west and trickling Golfside to the east, roaring Washtenaw Ave. to the north, and thrumming Packard to the south. The beating heart of this island is Carpenter Elementary, and what better heart might any island ask for than a place of discovery and learning, friendship, and a grand grassy space for play.