Jennifer Bowman, Battle Creek Enquirer The city of Battle Creek will rehabilitate two homes this year using a state grant.
About $365,000 will be invested in the homes — 113 Wabash Ave. and 26 Fremont St. — after receiving a grant from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
It’s part of $750,000 the city and the Calhoun County Land Bank Authority received, which also will pay the demolition of 25 properties.
The city also received $250,000 this month to demolish another 15 blighted properties.
In a news release, the city called the two-story, three-bedroom Wabash home “one of the remaining nuisance properties on the block.” The city has demolished one home, built another and rehabilitated seven on the street through its Neighborhood Stabilization Grant program.
The city said the two-story, five-bedroom Fremont home is the street’s most blighted property “but the historic character, size and location at the entrance to the neighborhood give it the potential to serve as the street’s poster home.”
NSP funding, which Battle Creek has received since 2009, has paid for five other homes to be rehabilitated in the Fremont area. The program’s projects helped the average home sale value in the target area increase by 91 percent from 2011 to 2013, according to the city, outperforming every other neighborhood in Battle Creek.
Contact Jennifer Bowman at 269-966-0589 or jbowman@battlecreekenquirer.com.