The University of Michigan has reached an agreement to purchase an approximately 140-acre parcel at 4090 Geddes Road from Concordia University. The Board of Regents approved the purchase for a negotiated price of $60 million at its May 21 meeting. The tentative closing date is June 30, subject to environmental review and completion of due diligence.
The agreement follows outreach earlier this year from Concordia representatives who asked U-M to consider acquiring the property and expressed a desire that the campus continue to serve educational purposes.
“As the purchase moves forward, the university will evaluate how the site may support long-term educational, research or health-related priorities consistent with its mission,” said Paul Corliss, assistant vice president for public affairs and internal communications. “As one of the world’s leading research universities and health systems, U-M plans decades in advance to ensure it has the space and capacity needed to support evolving academic, research and community needs.”
The property includes administration buildings, classrooms, residence halls, athletic facilities, the historic Earhart manor, and a chapel.
Any future plans for the property will follow careful review and due diligence, including coordination with local officials, neighbors and community stakeholders as this process moves forward.
This potential purchase is similar to strategic land acquisitions U-M has made in recent years. In 2018, the university acquired the Fingerle Hardware property, which allowed for the future relocation of Elbel Field and development of Wolverine Village Phase I, scheduled to open in August 2026.
In 2009, the university acquired Pfizer’s former Ann Arbor research campus and transformed it over time into the North Campus Research Complex, now a major center for biomedical research and innovation.
Alsan Kazan
I worry for the City of Ann Arbor and it’s dwindling tax base, with all of the recent property acquisitions by the University of Michigan within city limits.
Joseph Clark
I am fully supportive, 100%, of the purchase of the Concordia Campus.
History has shown that there will always be tax concerns, too high, or not enough revenue or how tax dollars are spent, but the opportunity to obtain land for the benefit of future generations once lost is gone forever. The rising generation will not remember or care about what taxes were or were not, but they will be forever grateful for the gift of this property and the benefit it will be to them. It is a duty we have to those who follow after us and I am grateful for the wisdom and foresight of the Regents to make this purchase and to honor Concordia by continuing to use this property for educational purposes, to continue, if you will, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work they who have taught here have thus far so nobly advanced. This is right and good, and I am grateful.
Adam Horton
I don’t mind this purchase as Concordia was already a University therefore they already didn’t pay taxes.