Abbot

Smaller mid-century ranch homes abound on the flat, quiet streets of Ann Arbor’s relatively affordable and family-friendly Abbot neighborhood on the northwest side with pockets of million-dollar spreads in the tony twenty-year-old Walnut Ridge subdivision. Veterans Memorial Park offers an outdoor pool in spring and summer and an indoor ice arena in the fall and winter, along with a 30,000-square-foot skatepark. North and west of M-14, newer rural residential development mixes with farmland between Wagner and Zeeb; these Scio Twp. lots are typically big enough to require a riding lawn mower.

Around the school itself, the Hollywood Park subdivision, named for a three-acre park adjacent to school grounds, is close to highway access ramps and the commercial strip along Maple and Stadium, which includes two groceries: upscale Plum Market and discount ALDI. A major apartment complex, 328-unit Arbor Landings, is discreetly tucked away off Dexter Rd. west of Maple; on Maple itself, the latest phase of the Maple Cove complex continues its march southward toward Miller. At its westernmost point, Abbot’s district dips south of Jackson Ave. to take in most of the Scio Farms manufactured home community (a few blocks in this community are assigned to Haisley School). Woodview Commons’ 100 rental townhouses were under construction as the City Guide went to press; though just beyond the AAPS boundary, they’ll have Ann Arbor addresses.

Abbot grads go to Forsythe Middle School and then Skyline High.

Bike lanes: Maple, Dexter Rd., and Miller are all major arterial streets with bike lanes. Portions of Jackson Ave. have bike lanes.

Walking: Abbot School has a Walk Score of 50. Walking on Maple to shopping is possible, but Dexter Rd. has no sidewalks and is dangerous for pedestrians.

Allen

Allen Elementary serves four noncontiguous areas in southeast Ann Arbor, mostly around Washtenaw Ave. and US-23. The school’s immediate surroundings are a compact section of single-family red-brick houses built in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the 103-unit ranch-style Carleton Court apartment complex at Packard. Students also are bused in from three huge rental complexes south of I-94: the 582-unit Pines of Cloverlane and 440-unit Hamptons of Cloverlane, both off Michigan Ave., and the 609-unit University Townhouses co-op off Ellsworth.

Yet Allen students also hail from more bucolic and upscale swaths north of Washtenaw Ave., with unpaved streets and large, wooded lots along Chalmers and Woodland as well as bigger, newer homes in the Woodcreek subdivision. The area includes tract mansions along the river that tower over the smaller, architect-designed homes of the Thornoaks sub, which Pittsfield Twp. designated as a Local Historic District in 2018 to preserve its unique mid-century modern charm. Another upper-middle-class segment is south of Michigan Ave. in Hickory Pointe, a subdivision with sixty-five homes, five parks, and a swim club.

Allen School lies behind historic Cobblestone Farm and year-round city recreation favorite Buhr Park, which features a swimming pool, outdoor ice rink, and sports fields. A new community, Veridian at County Farm, is currently taking reservations for homes; powered by solar, it will be one of the nation’s first mixed-income net-zero energy communities, and a third of the landscape will be dedicated to food production, along with a local farm store.

Allen grads go to either Scarlett or Tappan middle schools, and from there to either Huron or Pioneer high schools.

Bike lanes: Platt, Packard, and Stone School Rd. have bike lanes. Washtenaw Ave. has an off-street path. The school’s immediate neighborhood is well-connected with bike-friendly streets that make it viable to ride from E. Stadium on Brockman Blvd. and St. Francis Dr., across Medford, Towner, and Easy St., all the way to Packard or through Buhr Park. In the northern segment of the zoning district, dedicated bike lanes run from Gallup Park south on Huron Pkwy. to Washtenaw Ave.

Walking: Allen School has a Walk Score of 32. The Woodcreek subdivision area is close to Arborland-area shopping, with groceries and more, but many areas are not within walking distance of retail.

Angell

Homes served by Angell School range from fraternities and student apartments near the U-M campus to exclusive homes to the north and east, including residences of prominent university and medical school faculty. Bordering on the 123-acre Nichols Arboretum, a wooded natural area sloping down to the Huron River, Angell in its northern reaches is parklike itself. The riverside areas are among the city’s most expensive neighborhoods, with stately mansions and large, secluded homes.

East of the Arb, the streets north of Geddes are lined with one-of-a-kind homes from the decades on either side of World War II. Perched on the slopes overlooking the river are newer custom-built houses, many in mid-century modern styles. Many are architectural showpieces—including the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Palmer House on Orchard Hills Dr., where you can stay overnight. South of Geddes are the winding, wooded streets of another top-dollar neighborhood, Ann Arbor Hills, also with many custom designed homes.

The Angell district also reaches north of the river to take in the modernist 360-unit Huron Towers, built in 1960 and constructed using the then-new lift-slab system devised by U-M architecture prof Philip Youtz, and U-M family housing on North Campus. Bordering North Campus is University Commons, consisting of 92 condos independently owned by residents, who are at least 55 years old and many of whom are retired university faculty or staff. Children also are bused in from the huge 598-unit Golfside Lake apartment complex east of US-23.

Angell grads go on to Tappan or Scarlett middle schools and meet up again at Huron High.

Bike lanes: Geddes and Hill have bike paths. Campus areas are also well supplied with bike infrastructure.

Walking: Angell School has a Walk Score of 75, and many parts of the neighborhood are within walking distance of shopping on South University.

Arbor Meadows

5229 W. Michigan, Ypsilanti 48197 • (734) 572–1445
Within the Ann Arbor Public Schools District. 409 lots, est. 1987. Rent: Single wide: $759. Double-wide: $769-779. Heated pool, 2 playgrounds, basketball court, exercise room, clubhouse, and community events. Pet-friendly. [email protected], arbormeadowsmhc.com

Bach

With their porch swings and bountiful front-yard gardens, the homes of the city’s Old West Side—just a short walk from downtown—welcome passersby to the heart of the Bach Elementary area, which boasts thirteen historic districts. Most homes are small Victorians built by 19th-century German immigrants. Many have been painstakingly restored. In exchange for some of the highest prices per square foot in the city, buyers get shady streets, houses with character, and a fabulous location.

Also served by Bach School (Ann Arborites say “Bah”) are the neighborhoods around downtown and the U-M campus, including the Old Fourth Ward Historic District. Increasingly gentrified, with rehabbed single-family homes as well as a growing collection of luxury condominiums, the area is also home to many well-worn student rentals. North of Miller, homes are set close to the sidewalk on narrow lots, with porch sitters, bike riders, and kids playing on the sidewalk. Long economically and racially mixed, this neighborhood has become less diverse as prices rise, but rentals remain available.

Farther south, single-family bungalows, small ranches, and a few story-and-a-halfs (most built after World War II) thread outward from Allmendinger Park, with its softball diamonds, playground, tennis and basketball courts, and picnic facilities. Lilacs line its perimeter.

This area also encompasses Michigan Stadium, and that means homeowners in the vicinity can make significant revenue offering parking in their driveways and yards during football season.

To the east, Bach extends past downtown all the way to the U-M Diag. The red-brick buildings of 207-unit Nob Hill, the old-timer among the area’s apartment complexes, fit comfortably into the neighborhood’s southern edge. Bordering the Old West Side and downtown sit the 68-unit Liberty Lofts condos, a tasteful conversion of a former auto parts plant.

Downtown student apartments are well represented here and are steadily creeping west. The new offerings are sprouting like bamboo. The nineteen-story Legacy near Michigan Theater, aiming for a fall 2025 opening, is downtown’s tallest building since the twenty-six-story Tower Plaza on E. William opened in 1969. There’s much more to come: Another ten student towers are proposed in Bach and other neighborhoods touching Central Campus.

On S. Main is Ashley Mews, which has condos modeled after traditional brownstones, a central courtyard, and underground parking; another 120 units are promised for the adjacent sixteen-story tower vacated by DTE Energy. Many high-end condos in this area are also still in the works, including a seven-unit boutique condo building at 212 Miller; 330 Detroit St., which sits on the triangular block formed by Detroit St., Fifth Ave., and Catherine St., boasts fifteen luxury units. A thirty-seven-unit mid-rise condo has been proposed to replace Braun Ct. across from the Farmers Market; next door, the affordable Dunbar Tower will soon add sixty-three subsidized units.

Bach School also serves the triangle bounded by S. Main, Eisenhower, and Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. Residents of the 306-unit Woodland Mews flats and townhouses (which include both owner-occupied condos and rental units) can walk to Busch’s supermarket and Whole Foods—or to a game at U-M’s soccer stadium.

Bach grads go on to Slauson Middle School, but some on the northern edge can choose Forsythe Middle School. Those who live north of Huron attend Skyline High; the rest go to Pioneer High.

Bike lanes: The city’s protected bike lane on William connects the west side with the university. On the west side, Liberty has a bike lane, Seventh has one northbound (the Bach side), and wide Washington is a suggested route.

Walking: Bach School’s Walk Score is 86, and that’s probably one of the lower scores within the school’s zoning boundaries. Downtown residents are just a few minutes’ walk from the Farmers Market, the People’s Food Co-op, Zingerman’s Deli, and Kerrytown Market & Shops, and almost every corner of this neighborhood has retail nearby.

Bryant-Pattengill

Bryant and Pattengill are paired elementary schools in two neighborhoods south of Washtenaw Ave., with Bryant providing K–2 and Pattengill grades 3–5. Bryant’s immediate neighborhood offers some of the city’s least expensive housing, with small ranch homes and multifamily complexes. Homes are bigger and more expensive near Pattengill, where kids go for grades 3 to 5. The schools have quite different histories, reflected by their namesakes; Bryant opened in 1973 and honors longtime AAPS custodian Clifford Bryant, whereas Pattengill opened in 1957 and is named for a former high school principal who died in 1908.

The neighborhoods off Packard include streets of modest and some larger homes, plus apartment and condo complexes, including the affordable Pattengill Condos and the 249 luxury apartments in the George. The area surrounding Pattengill, once prime farmland, was built up after World War II. Kimberly Hills, south of Independence, has newer and bigger homes, some on dirt roads that date to its past as a township “island.” Southwest of Packard, moderately priced houses built in the 1940s and 1950s are mixed with apartments.

The subdivisions near and south of Eisenhower are slightly more affluent. Tri-levels, ranches, colonials, and Cape Cods sit along winding streets. Georgetown, west of Stone School Rd., has a semi-private golf course, private pool, and tennis courts.

South of the interchange of Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. and I-94 in Pittsfield Township, newer single-family houses line a maze of twisting streets behind the Oak Valley and Waters Place shopping centers. Subs here include Briar Hill, Lake Forest, Lake Forest Highlands, the Pines at Lake Forest, and the Villas at Bella Vista, and there are condos within the Estates at Bella Vista.
South of Ellsworth are the winding roads of the huge Stonebridge golf course subdivision and nearby smaller subs, with stately executive homes and detached condominiums in a large area that’s divided between the Ann Arbor and Saline school districts.

Multifamily housing is also abundant. Small apartment buildings line Packard and E. Stadium. Midsize complexes along Packard include Mulberry Row (120 units), Pine Valley (164 units), Homestead Commons (112 units), and the upscale 134-unit Ponds at Georgetown. Spruce Knob, just to the south off Stone School Rd., adds 168 units. Woodbury Gardens, off Stadium at South Industrial, is one of the city’s biggest rental complexes, with 538 units; Arbor Village, behind St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, has 237. Smaller but closer to campus and downtown, 2111 Packard will add seventy-two units on a site that was once a Kroger supermarket. Yet more apartments are available at the five complexes in the Briarwood Mall area—the Emerson and Briar Cove south of Eisenhower, ReNew, Hidden Valley Club, and the Villas at Main Street to the north.

Condos and co-ops include the 306 affordable townhouses of Forest Hills Cooperative on Ellsworth, the 76-unit Cloverly Village at Ellsworth and Stone School Rd., the 116-unit Georgetown Commons, and a trio of complexes off Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. south of I-94: Heatherwood with 188 2- and 3-bedroom ranches; and Oak Meadows and Weatherstone, each with more than 300 mid-priced units.

Bryant-Pattengill grads go to Tappan Middle School and then Pioneer High.

Bike lanes: Packard, E. Stadium, South Industrial, S. State, E. Eisenhower, and Stone School Rd. have bike lanes; Jewett Ave. is bike-friendly from South Industrial to Packard, as is Page Ave. and Esch Ave. from Jewett to King George Blvd. King George connects E. Eisenhower to Packard.

Walking: Bryant School has a Walk Score of 21 and Pattengill School has a Walk Score of 37. Homes in the southwestern part of the district are close to shopping on Ann Arbor–Saline Rd. and Eisenhower, but for the most part, this area features residential subdivisions far from retail. This may change as parts of the Briarwood Mall property are reconceived as residential.

Burns Park

Blocks of tree-canopied streets and well-tended classic old homes set around a historic park and school—as well as its location near both U-M’s campus and downtown—make Burns Park one of the city’s most desirable neighborhoods.

Northeast of the namesake park, the shady streets climb the gentle slopes of the area known as Ives Woods, which has one of the highest median household incomes in Ann Arbor. Even higher in income is the area north of Washtenaw Ave., where eclectic homes on large, wooded lots dot the streets stretching east toward Huron Pkwy.

Burns Park includes the South University business district, home to the eighteen-story, 240-unit University Towers apartments—ugly to some, but home to Madonna back in the mid-1970s during her brief undergraduate stint. Starting in the mid-2000s, developers began creating new luxury student high-rises, including the ten-story Z Place on East University, the fourteen-story Landmark kitty-corner from U Towers, and the thirteen-story Sterling Arbor Blu, which rises above the Pizza House restaurant. The twelve-story Vic Village North and the fourteen-story Six11 were built most recently. Construction on thirteen-story Vic Village South, which began in early 2022, is expected to reach completion in time for the fall 2024 semester.

Near Packard and Hill, older houses occupied by longtime residents mingle with large fraternity, sorority, and cooperative houses and student apartment buildings. More student rentals are sprinkled around Lower Burns Park (affectionately “LoBuPa”) south and west of Packard; nonstudents predominate in the 262-unit Ann Arbor Woods apartments on Medford.

This area is walking distance to Michigan Stadium, so many homeowners in the vicinity make good money offering parking in their driveways and yards during football season.

Students also are bused to Burns Park from Arbor Pointe, with 280 apartments across from Washtenaw Community College, and the huge Glencoe Hills complex, whose 584 units extend from Washtenaw Ave. to Clark east of US-23. Almost all of those kids go on to Scarlett and then to Huron.

Students from the immediate Burns Park area go to Tappan Middle School and then either Huron High or Pioneer High.

Bike lanes: Packard and Stadium (from Packard to Washtenaw Ave.) have marked bike lanes, as does State St. south of Packard and Hill St. from Church St. to Washtenaw and Huron Pkwy. from Gallup Park to Washtenaw Ave. Huron River Dr. has a sidewalk path. Many streets in the immediate school area, including Granger Ave., S. Forest, and Brockman are designated as bike-friendly.

Walking: Burns Park School has a Walk Score of 63. Part of the appeal of historic Burns Park lies in its proximity to the U-M—it’s a hike in winter, but walkable from most places. The eastern part of the district is within walking distance of retail on Washtenaw Ave. or Stadium.

Carpenter

Carpenter Elementary serves four noncontiguous areas including two northeast Pittsfield Twp. sections, all of which are long popular for affordable homes and semi-rural settings.

The small frame and ranch houses in the original Carpenter School neighborhood immediately to the east of US-23 and south of Washtenaw Ave. were built in the decade after World War II. Several generations live on these quiet, flat streets, laid out in a grid between Packard and Washtenaw Ave. Stretches of condos, townhouses, and single-family homes spread along Packard and in the Arbor Woods subdivision. An older neighborhood of small houses lies west of Golfside.

Children along Christina and adjoining streets north of Morgan are bused to Carpenter. So are those in an area between Crane and Golfside along and south of Textile, in the far southeast corner of the school district. South of Ellsworth and west of US-23, where the Carpenter area stretches south of Michigan Ave., subdivisions alternate with individual homes among acres of surviving farmland. The Estates at Pittsfield Glen, with entrances on Platt and Textile, offer newer, single-family homes. Wellesley Gardens, on Michigan Ave. just west of US-23, has 426 condos, lofts, and townhouses; the Arbor Knoll apartments are next door. To the west, on Stone School Rd. south of Ellsworth, are the 200 “upper and lower ranches” of the Woodside Meadows condominium complex.

Carpenter grads go to Scarlett Middle School and then Huron High.

Bike lanes: Packard has an east-west bike lane running from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti. E. Huron River Dr. and a portion of Hogback have bike lanes, and E. Ellsworth has dedicated bike lanes from Stone School Rd. to Platt. Michigan Ave. from Warner to Platt has a bike-friendly designation, as does Platt from Michigan Ave. to Rolling Meadow Ln.

Walking: Carpenter Elementary’s Walk Score is 60. The southwestern parts of the neighborhood are within walking distance of shopping at Carpenter and Packard.

Coachville

3423 Carpenter, Ypsilanti 48197 • (734) 971–1370
Within the Ann Arbor Public Schools District. 121 lots, est. 1950. Rent: $1389. Playground, basketball court, and laundry. Some pets allowed. Email through website, yescommunities.com/community/coachville

Dicken

Dicken is a west-side neighborhood with shady streets and classic suburban-style one- and two-story homes. It includes Dicken Woods, a nature area behind the elementary school that was saved from development by neighbors and is now the site of school and community nature programs.

Small parks are sprinkled throughout the area. Mushroom Park is known for its comical ceramic fungi; Las Vegas Park has a soccer field and playground; and Greenview Park, on the west side of Seventh St., provides a natural retreat for dog walkers and picnickers.

On former croplands southwest of I-94 and north of Scio Church Rd., the Ravines and Meadowinds subdivisions went up at the turn of the millennium; they have amenities like tennis courts and playgrounds. Off Scio Church Rd. near Maple, the seventy-six-unit luxury Kensington Woods condominium community forms a sweeping circle. West of Upland Dr., the 1990s-era Uplands offer slightly larger brick and wood residences, often with decks.

Closer to the school are Surrey Park, with 176 ranch-style prefab units, and the older, 312-unit Park Place.

Homeowners in the area directly west of Pioneer High often rent out their driveways or yards to U-M football fans on game days.

Dicken grads go on to Slauson Middle School and then Pioneer High.

Bike lanes: Neighborhood arteries including W. Stadium, Scio Church Rd., and W. Liberty all have marked bike lanes. Pauline and S. Seventh have buffered bike lanes. Also, a bike-friendly route runs between Pauline and Scio Church Rd. via Runnymede Blvd. and Covington Dr.

Walking: Dicken School’s Walk Score is 34. Homes north of the school, as well as the Surrey Park, Park Place, Summit View, Walden Hills, and Walden Village complexes are close to shopping centers, restaurants, gas stations, and the many stores along Maple and Stadium.