Blighted to Brand New: Land Bank Authority Celebrates Completed Rehabilitation Project
One Community Update
November 18, 2025
Source: wwmt.com
The Calhoun County Land Bank Authority is celebrating the completion of its first rehabilitation project funded through the State Land Bank’s Blight Elimination Grant.
The grant consists of $5.5 million over two rounds and will cover eight rehabilitation projects in total, including the completed project along with seven additional ones.
The completed property, located at 56 Lathrop Ave. in Battle Creek’s Post Franklin Neighborhood, has been fully restored over the past five months, now standing updated and unrecognizable.
“It’s been fully renovated from top to bottom,” Krista Trout-Edwards, executive director of the Calhoun County Land Bank Authority, said.
Blight elimination projects focus on rehabilitating, stabilizing, and in some cases demolishing run-down properties that pose potential issues to surrounding communities, such as 56 Lathrop used to.
Before renovations took place, Trout-Edwards said the property was home to thefts and dumpings, causing concern for nearby neighbors.
“This house had a lot of trauma,” Trout-Edwards said. “My field team was out here quite a bit in 2024 to make sure that when the dumping happened, we were here, we were filing the police report and trying to really get at the root cause of it.”
The space now offers three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, an open floor plan, and updated appliances.
Outside, the property showcases a shed, parking pad, and room for future owners to add a garage, if desired.
“It’s a new homeownership opportunity for someone to put down roots in the neighborhood,” Trout-Edwards said. “This house is part of a much bigger initiative to make communities cleaner, safer, and more valuable.”
The Calhoun County Land Bank Authority owns about 700 vacant parcels across the county, including 100 in the Post Franklin Neighborhood.
Over the past year, the authority has worked with the Neighborhood Planning Council on a strategy for how to best revamp and renew parcels for future use.
“A lot of times when people think of blight elimination, they think demo,” Trout-Edwards said. “But we have expanded that vernacular to include stabilization of buildings, rehabilitation of buildings, environmental remediation, all those things that prevent eventual demolition.”
Projects like this one create a snowball effect, with one investment made on a block inspiring other investments to follow, said Trout-Edwards.
Two lots across from 56 Lathrop have been sold to a neighbor to update, a new house has been built on property down the street, and Trout-Edwards hopes redevelopment will continue to spur.
“There’s just a lot of momentum here,” Trout-Edwards said. “And this house is just one piece.”
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