City Building Commissioner update Board of Public Works & Safety on unsafe building issues at 310 N Michigan

Thursday, March 27, 2025 at 12:00 AM

By Kathy Bottorff

Plymouth Building Commission Dennis Manuwal updated members of the Board of Public Works and Safety on the unsafe building issues at 310 North Michigan Street in downtown Plymouth. On January 29^, Manuwal issued an order against the owners to take action and make repairs.

Monday night, the building commissioner told the Board of Public Works that the property owners have made some progress on the items to be fixed, but haven’t completed all the work that was ordered to be completed by March 14.

The issues with the roof couldn’t be determined. The city’s building commission couldn’t access the roof because the tenant wasn’t home to let them in. Some of the electrical issues have been addressed, but not all of them. The items that were stored under the stairs have been removed, the lights in the stairways have been replaced, and working fire extinguishers are in place.

Heat was the initial complaint by some business tenants, and Manuwal said some portions of the building still don’t have heat. It appears those areas are used for storage, but they still need to have heat.

The final item on the list of repairs was to restore the exterior masonry on the building's west (front) side to prevent it from collapsing. This is on the third and fourth floors of the original building. One of the owners who attended the meeting said he had contacted several masonry companies but hadn’t found one willing to quote the job. He said it will be a complicated and expensive repair. He said they may remove the bricks and replace them with a commercial-grade metal siding. The owner told the board they purchased the property for $425,000 and have already put $490,000 into it.

The Building Commissioner asked the board what action they wanted him to take next. After some discussion, the board gave the owners another 30 days to complete the listed repairs and hire a contractor to address the exterior brick issue. They also ordered them to cover the bricks with some netting to protect the flat roof and any pedestrians, and to communicate with the city’s building inspector on their progress.