Shiawassee County Land Bank Begins Demolition of Former Welcome Inn in Caledonia Charter Township

June 6, 2024

Pictured left to right: Randy Woodworth, Woodworth Commercial; Cameron Horvath, City of Durand and Shiawassee County Land Bank Authority; Gary Holzhausen, Shiawassee County Board of Commissioners; Julie Sorenson, Shiawassee County and Shiawassee County Land Bank Authority; Greg Brodeur, Shiawassee County Board of Commissioners and Shiawassee County Land Bank Authority; Eric Morris, Shiawassee County; Brian Boggs, Shiawassee County; Justin Horvath, SEDP

A celebration was held on Thursday, June 6^th to mark the beginning of the demolition process of the former Welcome Inn motel located at 1513 E M-21 in Caledonia Charter Township. This project is the next in a series of projects funded by the State Land Bank Authority’s Blight Elimination Program. Previous projects conducted by the Shiawassee County Land Bank Authority with BEP funding have removed fire damaged structures on Lennon Rd in the Village of Lennon, as well as a vacant house in the village. The City of Durand also partnered with the SCLBA to tear down the long vacant factory at 209 S Oak St.

“This program has been a real blessing for Shiawassee County,” said Greg Brodeur, Chair of the Shiawassee County Board of Commissioners and a member of the SCLBA board. “By creating the land bank, we created a path to secure substantial grant funding to allow us to finally deal with long troubled properties like this.”

The demolition of the motel will be conducted by Bolle Contracting with support from AKT Peerless Environmental Services and Triterra.

Following completion of the demolition, a new multi-tenant commercial development lead by Woodworth Commercial is slated to replace the dilapidated motel.

“This project highlights what an incredible asset the Shiawassee County Land Bank Authority is to our local economic development efforts. With this grant, we are able to serve as a catalyst to turn a vacant, blighted property into a thriving new commercial development,” said Justin Horvath, President/CEO of the Shiawassee Economic Development Partnership (SEDP) who provides staffing to the county land bank.