BCU to Fix Two More Downtown Roofs

Battle Creek Unlimited (BCU) is spending $800,000 to fix up two more downtown buildings on West Michigan Avenue.   New roofs and facades will go on the old Anson Hotel, at the corner of Michigan and Carlyle, and the former Lighthouse Full Live Center Church, next to the former Arcadia Brewing Company.

BCU President and CEO Joe Sobieralski says not much will be done to the insides of the buildings, but hopes that the roof and facade work will make them much more attractive to developers.

The former church, at 99 W. Michigan, is between the former Arcadia Brewing Company and the Rafaynee soul food restaurant.

The old Anson hotel at 119 W. Michigan has been empty for several years.   A faulty drain pipe from the roof was dumping thousands of gallons of rainwater inside the building for some time, damaging the floors on every level.  Here's what it looked like in 1940.

Sobieralski says by eliminating the blight, potential developers might see possibilities for the properties.

That’s similar to work being done on the former Arcadia Brewing Company building, where the roof is being repaired, and the inside being “white boxed”.