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Politics & Government

Historic District Commission Approves New Building Design for Vacant Gas Station Property

The new plans for the new three-story multi-use building will go in front of the planning commission next week.

Ed Dombrowski and Omar Hamdan, owners of a are one step closer to getting the go-ahead from the city to build a three-story restaurant and retail building on the corner of Ann Arbor Trail and Main Street, next to the .

Plymouth's Historic District Commission granted a certificate of approval Wednesday for a modified building project. Changes had to be made to the original design of the building to comply with .

One major change to the design was the removal of the slightly sunken main floor that would act as a food court. The commission required engineer Ziad Elbaba and designer Ali Raichouni, of M.A. Designers Group in Detroit, to bring the main floor to street, or "grade," level.

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Planning Commission Chair Conrad Schewe believes that having the main floor of a building partially under ground goes against city ordinance.

"For good or for bad, the city thinks it's important for the main floor of a building to be at grade level," Schewe told Elbaba and Raichouni . "It adds to the whole street experience where people can look into windows and see people in businesses, and not be at eye level with a brick wall."

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According to Raichouni, the building will now be six feet taller than in the original plan, and stand 13 feet above the Box Bar. Some commission members worried that much height over the adjoining building would make the area look odd.

 “My concern is what the size of the building will look like," said commissioner Richard Irwin.

Commission Vice Chairman Grant Gardner called the new height of the building an “unfortunate consequence" of the planning commission's request, but acknowledged that they "have their reasons.”

The windows on the project have also been changed slightly to accommodate the building being raised the additional six feet. The windows will now be eight feet tall and 18 inches off the ground. They will also be placed in a way that aligns with the windows of the neighboring buildings, which are the Mayflower and the Box bar.

Historic commissioners Gardner, Irwin, Patricia Malcolm and Colleen Polin voted to approve the plans. Commissioners Stella Green and Glenn Kremer were not in attendence at Wednesday's meeting, and commissioner Joseph Phillips agreed not to vote or comment on the project due to a potential conflict of interest brought up by the city's attorney. The Box Bar, whose owner is claiming damage from the demolition of the old gas station structure in January, is a former client of Phillips', who is an architect.

The next step for the revised project is to appear again in front of the planning commission next Wednesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

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