The former Cassopolis Village Hall could have new residents by the end of the year. The Cass County Land Bank Authority is converting the second floor of 117 South Broadway into seven residential apartments, for households making 80 percent of the area median income.
Treasurer Hope Anderson is chair of the Land Bank Authority. “This is true workforce housing that meets a real need in Cass County,” Anderson told the county commissioners Thursday.
She said construction is expected to wrap up by the end of July.
The village sold the building in 2020, when it opened its Cassopolis Municipal Complex. But development failed to materialize, and the Land Bank Authority purchased it for $600,000 a few years ago.
Anderson said the project is being funded with about $2.7 million in blight elimination grants allocated by the state, plus a $500,000 Cassopolis Main Street facade grant. "This project is doing exactly what the program was designed to do," Anderson said. "It is taking a long-vacant building, addressing serious health and safety concerns and converting it into seven housing units."
She said officials are still considering what to do with the first floor and basement, which formerly housed a medical office and a bank.
But resident Melissa McKay questioned whether buying back a former government building was the best use of blight elimination funds. “Residents are trying to understand how a property that was previously sold ends up being repurchased, reportedly at a significantly higher cost, and how that aligns with the land bank’s mission,” McKay told the commissioners.
She said she wants to see public records related to the purchase.
Still, Anderson noted that the Land Bank purchased the building for less than the real estate agent’s $725,000 asking price.
