By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


A long-vacant firehouse in Northfield Township has been sold to an award winning developer for redevelopment.

The Old Fire Station at 75 Barker Road in Whitmore Lake has been vacant for many years as multiple township boards have considered what the property’s fate should be. At their latest meeting, the current Northfield Township Board of Trustees authorized the Township Manager and Attorney to move forward with a purchase agreement and a Development Agreement for the sale of the property to Munger Ventures, for $112,500.

Supervisor Marlene Chockley said that Munger Ventures is known for really high quality development. She and Downtown Development Authority Chair Barbara Griffith-Walters met its president and namesake, Robert Munger at a Michigan Downtown Association meeting last year, and invited him to come out and look at the property. Munger is the recipient of the 2019 Michigan Historic Preservation Governor’s Award for his work on a building in Cadillac.

Munger plans to rehabilitate the building into a development that features apartments on the top floor, and commercial retail business on the main floor. Parking in downtown Whitmore Lake has long been of concern, as new businesses are not required to provide it on-site. Chockley said this agreement guarantees that they won’t lose any spaces. She told WHMI that the Board of Trustees negotiated for a permanent easement for parking on the site. She said the building will be a nice amenity to the downtown that will attract businesses and residents. Chockley said they are excited on the Board-level to get some funds for the budget and not have to maintain that parking lot downtown, anymore.

A closing date has not been set, but Chockley said that Munger plans to begin work within 30 days of it. The project is estimated to take a year and a half to complete.