Treeline Spotlight: Joe O’Neal

Our founder, Joe O’Neal, is the primary reason there is, and will be, a Treeline. Though he wouldn’t want us to talk about that — or about him at all, actually — we can’t tell the story of the Treeline without telling you a little about Joe. 

Born in Marietta, Ohio, educated at The Ohio State University (engineering) and the University of Michigan (law), married to Karen, dad to three and grandfather to seven, Joe started O’Neal Construction in 1961. The firm’s portfolio includes office buildings, banks, condominiums, churches, factories, libraries, dams, and hotels. Joe and his firm have built or renovated some of Ann Arbor’s most iconic structures: Burton Tower, Kerrytown, the Michigan Theatre, the Power Center, and more.

So who better than Joe to tackle the toughest Ann Arbor construction project ever (or so it seems to us, some days)? Around 2000, Joe and a group of neighbors were concerned about a proposed parking structure at First and William Streets. They began to imagine a better plan for that low spot and the rest of the Allen Creek valley — the most visible sign of the historic creek, relegated to an underground pipe in 1926. The group formed the Allen Creek Greenway Conservancy and achieved 501(c)(3) status in 2007. The Conservancy and a growing number of enthusiastic downtown neighbors, Friends of the Allen Creek Greenway, won the support of many Ann Arborites for their vision to replace the creek valley’s urban blight with a beautiful, useful trail connecting the UM Stadium area to the Huron River. 

It took another ten years, but the Conservancy enlisted the wholehearted participation of the City of Ann Arbor, with the newly-renamed Treeline becoming a component of the overall City Master Plan. 

Now, seven years after that milestone, it is clear just how much “building” goes before the actual building, allowing the shovel to finally meet the dirt. Standing up a nonprofit, tackling the complications of an active floodplain, two railroads, two state trunk lines, an institution of higher learning…all while measuring, drawing, researching, planning, negotiating, engineering — that’s Joe. 

All good things take time. This trail through 200 years’ worth of urban density certainly has. But for more than 25 years of quiet dedication, Joe’s vision of a better Ann Arbor has been his north star. We Treeliners have caught sight of it, but we always know whence it came. Thank you, Joe!