THE LENNON window factory, located at 11705 E. Lennon Rd., has been demolished. The condemned building previously housed JT’s Continental Window Systems and had been vacant since 2010. The Michigan Land Bank contracted E.T. McKenzie for the demolition project, which began on Monday, Dec. 3, and local officials, residents and members of the Village of Lennon Volunteers gathered on Wednesday, Dec. 5 to celebrate the building’s demolition.
Lennon officials and members of the Village of Lennon Volunteers worked for years to repurpose the building and preserve local jobs. After that failed, village officials pursued demolition, raising money, settling land ownership issues, working with the Michigan Land Bank to coordinate the demolition and consulting with the Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership to put together post-demolition redevelopment plans.
“Village President Barbara BakerOmerod and village attorney Ken Tucker did a great job getting us to this point, while keeping the village’s liabilities to a minimum,” shared Lennon Treasurer Larry Widigan. “The planning commission and council worked closely with the Michigan Land Bank, which did a phenomenal job of taking the steps needed to ensure the future of this project is compatible with the expectations of the village residents. And of course, none of this would have been possible without the Village of Lennon Volunteers’ generous donation of the funds needed for the land bank to complete their acquisition of the property needed to go forward with the project.”
(Courtesy Photo)
