Why are you doing an addition?
Since Zingerman’s opened its front door in 1982, we’ve grown and grown:
• 2,000 sandwiches sold in 1982 compared to half a million sandwiches sold in 2009.
• 4 employees in 1982 compared to over 200 employees in 2010.
• 2 restrooms in 1982 compared to 3 restrooms in 2010.

The time has come and here’s what we need:
• A bigger kitchen.
• An efficient, well-designed, unified plan for the whole campus.
• Preservation of 422 Detroit Street (the original brick deli building).
• Enough storage to reduce frequency of deliveries and put less wear and tear on our staff.
• Better accessibility for guests and staff.
• No compromise of service given to guests or staff.
• Increased energy efficiency and new, greener technologies.

Where will it be?
The proposed project consists of a two-story addition to the historic deli building to be located directly to the east on the property at 322 E. Kingsley.

When will it happen?
We hope to start construction early in 2011 and complete construction by the spring of 2012. Our exact construction start date depends on approvals from several agencies. There is a specific process we are following and because of this process we will seek city approvals before we go before the Historic District Commission.

What will it look like?
The project is being designed to fit into the context of the Old Fourth Ward Historic District. The addition is envisioned as a simple two-story brick masonry building harkening back to an early 20th century industrial loft building in its materials and massing. Although this will be a new structure it will respect the historic deli and surrounding neighborhood.

The intention of the project design is to be sustainable and environmentally friendly.
The proposed project consists of a two-story addition (about 9,500 sf) to the historic deli building to be located directly to the east on the property at 322 E. Kingsley. This will entail removal of the badly damaged wood frame structure at 322 E. Kingsley to accommodate the proposed addition.
The new addition will house the cooking operations, dining areas, staff and building support spaces, storage and guest amenities (toilets) and will make the Zingerman’s Deli and campus much more accessible to guests and staff.

When will the project be built?
The start of construction is dependent upon our obtaining approvals from, among others, the Ann Arbor Historic District Commission, the Ann Arbor Planning Commission and the Ann Arbor City Council.

Ideally, construction will start in early in 2011 and be completed by spring of 2012.

Zingerman’s Deli Campus is located in the Old Fourth Ward Historic District. Five of the buildings on the Deli Campus are considered historic resources. We lovingly refer to those buildings as the Deli, Next Door, Annex (orange building), Garage and Kingsley (fire-damaged structure).

The Deli and Next Door are the “jewels” of our Deli Campus. They are the most recognized and most photographed of our buildings and are the main entrance to the Zingerman’s experience. We will preserve and honor both of them as part of our project.

What’s happened already?
We asked the Historic District Commission to issue a certificate of appropriateness to remove the Annex, Kingsley and Garage.

The Historic District Commission issued a certificate of appropriateness to remove the Garage, but declined our request to issue a certificate of appropriateness to remove the Annex and the Kingsley structure.

In order to build the new addition, we need to remove Kingsley (the burnt house), so we are taking the next step under the Historic Preservation Ordinance. We will ask the Historic District Commission to issue a notice to proceed to permit the demolition of this building.

When the Historic District Commission considers issuing a notice to proceed, it wants to know exactly what will replace what would be taken down. That requires us to obtain all necessary planning and zoning approvals, including site plan approval by the Planning Commission and the City Council.

What are the next steps?
We plan to submit an application for site plan approval at the end of March. The application will be submitted to the Planning Commission for consideration at a public meeting.

Once the Planning Commission approves our application (we’re optimists by nature!) the application will go to the City Council for approval. We hope to have the approvals from the Planning Commission and the City Council by late this summer.

Once we receive the approvals from the Planning Commission and the City Council, we will go back to the Historic District Commission and apply for their approval and a notice to proceed.

We will also submit drawings to the Ann Arbor Building Department for its review and approval.

If all goes well, we plan to have a shovel in the ground very early in 2011 and complete construction by the spring of 2012!