Old Medical Arts Building in Flint, Michigan, To Finally Be Demolished

Flint Township residents will be happy to know that the Medical Arts Building sitting vacant will soon be knocked to the ground due to a demolition permit approval passed Friday, November 16th.

In a unanimous vote by officials, spending to demolish the building has been approved and will cost around $70,000. The building has been sitting vacant for over 15 years. However, Flint Township won't be the only one spending to remove the building. Only 48% of the building is inside the township.

The 34,000 sq. ft. property lies on Flushing Rd, half in Flint Township and the other half in the city of Flint. Spending $70,000 to demolish the old structure will be part of the property owners taxes to help the township recover funding.

Although, township supervisor, Doug Carlton, knows that the money may not be paid.

"Just because the cost is applied to a tax bill doesn't mean they are going to pay it. A lot of money is not recovered quickly," he states.

This property is owned by Dr. Venulapali. Her husband also owns property within Flint Township. He owns a downtown Flint landmark. The Genesee Towers is the tallest building in the county and has had some locals concerned about the condition in which it remains as well.

"It's just unfortunate we have a couple that won't comply with keeping their buildings up to code and we have to charge them the cost. We may never see that kind of money," he said.

However, when the medical building actually comes down won't be the township's decision. The bill has been passed over to the city hands. The building has been said as a nuisance to efforts made to fix to the neighborhood which once had two very popular restaurants.

The township had sought legal action to take down the Medical Arts building but ceased to follow through when they found out the city had previously made an attempt to knock it down. The city now has not been reached to get details on the date of demolition.

The court order issued in November of 2006 to not take out the building for 200 days. The order also instructed Venulapali to board up the area and have the interior repaired. It was to done within seven months. She, however, did not board up the site and did not seek permits to construct. She also failed to provide any drawings for improvements that were planned.