Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


A local landmark in the Brighton area for nearly a century - 87 years, to be exact - will soon be no more.

According to Brighton Township officials, the former State Police post at the corner of Old US-23 and East Grand River is scheduled to be demolished to make way for a new building.

According to Jim Vichich, the president of the Brighton Area Historical Society, the historic building is scheduled to be razed to make way for a People & Pets Pharmacy. The post was built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an agency established under the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide job for people during the Great Depression.

This will be the first location for a People & Pets Pharmacy, according to company CEO Peter Lyders-Petersen. He says putting it in the Brighton area is only natural, since this is where he makes his home. According to the township, when it’s opened the business will dispense prescriptions to both people and their pets and will also stock over-the-counter items.

Vichich says it would be wonderful if the building could be saved because it was one of the first MSP structures of that design constructed. “If you travel around the state, you’ll see many buildings like it,” he says. The post was located at the intersection of busy US-23 (now Old US-23) and M-16 (Grand River Ave.). However he knows of no such efforts to save it at this time.

In the days the post was in operation, the building often served as a temporary jail, and Vichich says it had at least one holding cell to keep anyone who was arrested incarcerated overnight until they were able to appear in court.

Township Planner Kelly Mathews says although the site plan has been given the green light by the township, the purchase of the property is still pending, and the parcel is still listed under Old Post, Inc.

Lyders-Petersen adds that although they have received all the approvals they need from the township, they still have additional approvals to obtain before they can start demolition and construction.