{"id":5988,"date":"2026-08-12T21:49:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/08\/12\/oxford-companies-and-ann-arbor-plan-to-beautify-citys-south-side\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T21:49:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T21:49:47","slug":"oxford-companies-and-ann-arbor-plan-to-beautify-citys-south-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/08\/12\/oxford-companies-and-ann-arbor-plan-to-beautify-citys-south-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Oxford Companies and Ann Arbor plan to beautify city&#8217;s south side"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In collaboration with the city of Ann Arbor, <a href=\"https:\/\/oxfordcompanies.com\/\">Oxford Companies<\/a> recently launched the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.southsidebiz.com\/\"> Southside Business Improvement Zone<\/a>, which aims to improve the city\u2019s south side. Southside BIZ\u2019s first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.southsidebiz.com\/current-projects\/state-street-median-beautification\">project<\/a> plans to redesign and beautify three medians on South State Street between Eisenhower Parkway and Interstate 94.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Business owners located within the Southside BIZ will have to pay an additional tax on top of their property taxes to fund the improvement projects. Stakeholders in the project include<a href=\"https:\/\/www.annarbor.org\/?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_term=destination%20ann%20arbor&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=2058058469&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAD3G4lkAxPS-9YE8BpuLVa5vlBKZV&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwm8bTBhDWARIsAC9Hi8k7zUTm24STl-AFWBM7stMvsD1BrGLCgspqdOsHsGsY2TXzD9F9fQEaAjtMEALw_wcB\"> Destination Ann Arbor<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.simon.com\/mall\/briarwood-mall\"> Briarwood Mall<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/annarborusa.org\/\"> Ann Arbor SPARK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oxford is also currently working on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/ann-arbor\/arbor-south-mixed-use-development-to-add-more-than-90000-sq-feet-of-commercial-space-to-ann-arbor-business-scene\/\"> Arbor South<\/a>, a large mixed-use development within the Southside BIZ. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Margaret Wyzlic, director of marketing and business development for Oxford Companies and Southside BIZ board member, said the Southside BIZ is separate from Oxford\u2019s real estate developments and aims to make common areas in the city more beautiful and accessible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOxford is equal partners for the Southside Business Improvement Zone with the others on the board,\u201d Wyzlic said. \u201cThere\u2019s this group of us who care very deeply about the way that the South Side neighborhood shows up aesthetically and visually, especially to visitors and people who are coming into our city from the I-94, State Street exit \u2014 it\u2019s one of the major ways people come into Ann Arbor, and right now it\u2019s a little underwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wyzlic said median reconstruction is the beginning of planned improvements to Ann Arbor\u2019s south side, which include additional infrastructure improvements and more installations of public art.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe median project is \u2026 hopefully the first of many overall projects that we will take on in the coming years,\u201d Wyzlic said. \u201cWe look forward to doing projects involving wayfinding, public art, additional welcome signage \u2014 things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ann Arbor SPARK, a nonprofit economic development organization, played a substantial role in the project\u2019s launch. Phil Santer, Ann Arbor SPARK chief operating officer, told The Daily the Southside BIZ will work to enhance a crucial part of Ann Arbor\u2019s community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne of the things we\u2019ve been going over the past couple of years is building out what we think will be good from the community aspect, and I think the business improvement zone is a great part of that work, because we do have this need in that part of town,\u201d Santer said. \u201cWe have lots of people who visit the area because of football games, sports, other activities and we want to make sure that Ann Arbor is represented as a place of significance and meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Santer said he believes Ann Arbor\u2019s south side has historically been neglected from improvements because of its position along the city\u2019s border with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pittsfield-mi.gov\/\">Pittsfield Township<\/a>. Santer said the BIZ, along with Arbor South, will improve the area\u2019s infrastructure and accessibility.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere hadn\u2019t been enough strategic thought given to that particular corridor in that way, because from a municipal perspective, they were just thinking of it as the end of their municipality, not as an entrance point for the region,\u201d Santer said. \u201cThere is a larger scale development Oxford is doing, Arbor South, which does envision a much denser, pedestrian-friendly and more mixed-use opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rackham student Jenna James, who is studying landscape architecture, wrote in an email to The Daily that she believes adding vegetation to the medians would improve the natural environment of an area with many large intersections and industrial buildings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur industriousness has done and is doing a lot of damage to ecosystems, and so now it is imperative that we step in to protect and feed these systems with our resources and that same industriousness we use to expand our lives,\u201d James wrote. \u201cWhen introducing plants and biological infrastructure, you are working towards providing an outlet for that stormwater.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Southside BIZ plans to replace three concrete, State Street medians with soil, providing a more water-absorbent landscape and hoping to create a more visually appealing median. James wrote that, in addition to the environmental and aesthetic benefits, replacing the median will reduce the need for engineered drainage systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf there are no outlets for water to absorb, we have to rely heavily on unnatural engineering,\u201d James wrote. \u201cThe difficulty for practitioners and those investing in projects like these is the unwelcoming conditions (for plants).\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first phase of construction for Southside BIZ is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.southsidebiz.com\/roadmap\">expected to begin <\/a>in October, and without the closure of any roads. Santer said the effect on local businesses will be minimal and believes it will be worth it for the project\u2019s benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of construction occurring in the area already,\u201d Santer said. \u201cThe median construction might have a much smaller impact than the larger developments on traffic flow, but ultimately it is for the betterment and improvement of that area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Summer News Editor Reese Kizy can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/ann-arbor\/oxford-companies-and-the-city-of-ann-arbor-launch-southside-business-improvement-zone-plan-to-beautify-state-street-medians-as-first-project\/mailto:reesekiz@umich.edu\"><em>reesekiz@umich.edu<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In collaboration with the city of Ann Arbor, Oxford Companies recently launched the Southside Business Improvement Zone, which aims to improve the city\u2019s south side. Southside BIZ\u2019s first project plans to redesign and beautify three medians on South State Street between Eisenhower Parkway and Interstate 94. Business owners located within the Southside BIZ will have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[242,243,5244,3760,5243,5242,251,641,3625],"class_list":["post-5988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ann","tag-arbor","tag-beautify","tag-citys","tag-companies","tag-oxford","tag-plan","tag-side","tag-south"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5988"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5990,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5988\/revisions\/5990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}