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.
