ANN ARBOR, MI – On football Saturdays, Patti Stacey says the first thing she does is crack open her condo window to hear the University of Michigan marching band.
“The band is on the field at 7 a.m. and you can hear it very clearly,” she said. “And then you get yourself together, and then you have to go to the tailgate.”
Stacey, who earned two degrees from UM in the 1970s and '80s, and her husband Noel Tichy, a UM business professor emeritus, have a fifth-floor penthouse in The Gallery, one of the newer high-end condo buildings in Ann Arbor.
Just off Main Street on the south side of downtown, they’re a stone’s throw from Michigan Stadium, a major selling point when they bought into the building over three years ago.
But their nearly $2 million football season crash pad is only home part of the year. They live in Florida over half the year, spend summers at their lake house a half hour outside Ann Arbor and come back in the fall.
They’re not alone in the lifestyle.
Many people, including wealthy UM alumni who are scattered around the country and want to maintain a connection to their alma mater, keep condos in Ann Arbor as second homes and live elsewhere much of the year, real estate agents say.
That leaves many condos sitting empty in a town where officials lament there’s a housing shortage, and the phenomenon likely contributes to the area’s high housing prices.
“Some of the people that we sell to at those high numbers have three houses,” said Stephanie Savarino, who has handled a lot of the luxury condo sales in Ann Arbor.
MLive/The Ann Arbor News reviewed tax records for a dozen high-end condo developments built in the downtown area and near the Big House in the last decade, finding 70 of 176 units – 40% – do not have principal residence exemptions, meaning they are not primary homes for the owners.
More broadly, 361 of 680 downtown residential properties, 53%, are not owners’ primary residences. That counts condos and houses, but not apartment buildings.
Some owners are major university donors with ties to the business school, athletics and hospital. Some have multimillion-dollar homes in other states. And some, like one financial industry executive in California, maintain digs to fly in for football games and might only come a handful of times each year, Savarino said.
“There are people who have made a lot of money who are now giving back or have made a lot of money period and just want to be here and associated with U of M,” she said.
In some cases, units may be rented out and used as income properties instead of second homes. A fifth-floor penthouse condo owned by a Chelsea-based property investor at 121 W. Kingsley St. recently was listed for rent for $9,500 per month, but it’s now for sale for $2.5 million.
Twelve of the 19 condos in The Gallery, 441 S. Ashley St., are not primary residences for owners. The owners live in places like Altadena and Newport Beach, California, as well as Nashville, Chicago, Grand Rapids and Charlevoix.
Several are owned by limited liability companies and trusts and it’s not always clear who’s behind them. One until recently was owned by Hail Yeah LLC, a reference to the UM fight song.
“It’s really cool,” Stacey said of the mix of people from all over who become her neighbors during football season.
At least a few former Michigan football players, including members of the 1997 championship team, have owned condos in the building, using them to come back for games and to visit their children attending UM, Stacey said.
It’s a huge hangout spot on football weekends and people always have company, she said.
Tyler Kinley, who lives in the building year-round with his wife and child, attests it’s quiet most of the time and comes alive on football weekends.
“Everyone comes in, it fills up,” he said. “All of a sudden, the lower-level parking area is full, a lot more in and out, a lot more just activity, and it’s fun.”
The building has restrictions against short-term rentals, he said, so when owners are away, condos often sit empty.
“It blew my mind how many were purchased by out-of-town people, because you can’t really rent it,” he said.
The upside is it’s super quiet and the building stays extremely clean, he said, but they also love neighbors.
“There’s tradeoffs, for sure,” said Kinley, who works in real estate and serves on the Downtown Development Authority.
He doesn’t see the trend as good or bad – just inevitable.
But it does put pressure on the Ann Arbor housing market and takes away housing supply that could go to year-round residents, real estate professionals and officials say.
The city has drafted a plan to significantly expand housing, citing a supply shortage, but it doesn’t specifically address the issue of people from out of town and out of state buying new condos as second homes, said Brett Lenart, city planning manager.
Places that sit empty a high percentage of the time probably work against what initially drew purchasers to the city, Lenart said.
“I think it’s been happening in the city for a very long time, though, and will continue,” he said.
The degree to which the phenomenon is happening varies building by building.
At Kingsley Condominiums, 218 W. Kingsley St., 17 of 50 units are not owners’ primary residences. They live in places like Austin, Texas, Miami, Florida, and the affluent Pacific Palisades area in California.
A row of four condos dubbed Stadium View Condos near the Big House on Stadium Boulevard are all owned by an LLC in Massachusetts. None are primary residences.
Three of the four million-dollar condos at 103-109 W. Davis Ave. near the stadium are not primary residences for owners, who hail from Rochester Hills to Sarasota, Florida.
Seven of 17 condos in a five-story building at 309 N. Ashley St. are not owners’ primary residences. The owners live in places like Atlanta, Georgia, and San Antonio, Texas. One is a UM business school grad who’s a top executive at a global company.
Ten of the 24 condos at 410 N. First St. are not owners’ primary residences. That includes former UM basketball coach John Beilein and his wife Kathleen, who live in Naples, Florida. They bought a unit in the five-story building in October.
Parents sometimes buy condos as temporary investments when their children are attending UM, either as places to stay when they visit or for their children to live while in school.
Celebrity couple Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, hosts of “Live with Kelly and Mark” in New York City, paid $1.6 million for a condo on the north side of downtown in 2022 when their son was attending UM and they visited on a number of occasions. Their son graduated last year and they still own the condo in addition to their Manhattan townhouse and home in the Hamptons.
“They’re super nice people,” Savarino said. “I mean, like the nicest $150 million people I’ve ever met.”
Local real estate agent Rick Taylor said it’s hard to say just how much deep-pocketed cash buyers seeking second homes drive up Ann Arbor prices by being competitors in the market, but he points to one sale he handled a few years ago.
A wealthy UM alumnus in Denver purchased a condo at Liberty Lofts, 315 Second St., for nearly $1.3 million in 2022, after it sold for $450,000 in 2010 and just over $1 million in 2020. She bought it to have a place to stay for Michigan football games, Taylor said.
“I just remember going, holy cow, somebody’s willing to spend that much,” he said.
“But again, people spend money on silly things,” he said. "Some people spend money on sailboats and travel, and some people buy a second vacation home. And other people just have a love for the University of Michigan, an undying love that says, ‘You know, it just doesn’t matter how much money it is, we just love Michigan so much, we want to come back and support it.’ "
A penthouse condo at Ashley Mews, 414 S. Main St., that is not a primary residence for the owner, a retired business CEO, is for sale for $7 million. Listing agent Matthew Dejanovich said he expects it to appeal to UM alumni nostalgic for Ann Arbor.
Not everyone who keeps a second home in Ann Arbor is a Michigan grad or football fan.
Roy and Betty Davis, retired health care professionals in Big Lake, Alaska, said they bought a downtown condo in 2024 to have a place when they visit their son and daughter-in-law, who have medical jobs connected to the university.
“It’s quite the trip,” Roy Davis said of the over 3,000 miles they fly back and forth.
They like having their own place when they stay for weeks, helping take care of their grandchild.
“We love Ann Arbor,” Betty Davis said. “It’s a really amazing city and we kind of fell in love with Michigan.”
Betsy de Parry, who handled sales for The Gallery condos she and her husband Alex developed four years ago, confirmed several initial buyers were Michigan football fans who wanted a place when they came for games.
“The reality is that Ann Arbor is a college town. People are always going to want to come home to see games,” she said. “That’s a good thing. We love to see people come back, support their alma mater, support the businesses downtown.”
On the flip side, she sees how it might impact housing for people who want to live in the city.
Stacey said just about everybody in her building is a fairly huge Michigan fan, but it’s not just sports – they also love music, theater and dance. She and her husband are big university supporters and have funded scholarships for student athletes.
People who were fortunate to go to UM leave bleeding maize and blue and want to stay connected, Stacey said.
“It’s like embedded in you,” she said. “And it doesn’t matter where you are in the world, you’ll still wear Michigan gear. There’s something very special about Michigan.”
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