The Decay of Benton Harbor Area Schools Vacant Buildings; An Image Gallery

Benton Harbor schools currently owns 10+ buildings that are vacant and being allowed to fall into substantial disrepair.  The majority of these buildings have been vacant for over a decade.  Benton Harbor has not had a strong history of selling school buildings it no longer occupies. It has been a decade since the last school building sale.

I understand being hesitant to sell buildings directly after they close, because IF enrollment did pick back up it is way less expensive to utilize an existing school for these students, however there needs to be a limit to how long these facilities are kept for that usage.  Currently the district has roughly 400,000 square feet of space for 1,228 students, which is over twice the norm. There is tons of space in the districts current buildings. Perhaps having 1 or 2 backups just in case could make sense, not 10. Having excess unused space adds significant cost for maintenance, utilities, and security.

I find it extremely disappointing how these schools have been taken care of.  When I examined the properties this week the vast majority were not secure from entry by people, and virtually all of them had easy entry points for creatures.  It is evident the district has the properties mowed regularly, but illegal dumping is not cleaned up and trees have been allowed to grow through parking lots and right next to the buildings.

In an April 2025 Herald Palladium article then BHAS Superintendent Kelvin Butts while talking about what the district should do with its 12 unused buildings stated “The ultimate goal would be a bond issue”.  The Herald Palladium wrote ” School board trustees are considering asking voters to approve a bond to either renovate existing buildings or to build new ones.” Given that the 6 buildings BHAS uses are at less than 50% occupancy, in what world would the right move be for the taxpayers to pay to renovate these vacant buildings that BHAS has allowed to fall into disrepair while most have been vacant for over a decade?  Especially when BHAS only educates 26% of the children in the district?  The district is also currently running a deficit equal to 99% of its current property tax revenue of $7.5 million.

Selling these buildings will not put a substantial dent in the deficit. Historically these types of vacant school buildings have sold for around $100,000, putting a rough ceiling of around $1 million from all of the properties.  The best way to look at it is to get something for them before they become worth -$250,000 which is the rough cost to demo one of these buildings.

I am surprised that the city of Benton Harbor, Benton Township, and St. Joseph Township have allowed these buildings to get in this condition.  I’m pretty sure if one of my properties was in this condition I would be getting violations in the mail.

History of Building Sales:

• Millburg: Unknown amount Sold 2/27/2002 Listed Dec 12 2001 for $90,000.
• Old Layfayette School to Church in Benton Harbor for $114,000 6/9/2003
• Spinks Corner Sold for $66,500 to Peter Yancich 6/10/2004
• Sodus School: Sold for $136,000 to Telamon Corp 9/2/2004
• Steele-Brunson: Sold for $87,630 to Marshall Homes Limited Dividend Housing 6/26/2007
• Stump School: Sold for $75,000 to Logan Community Resources 1/8/2016
• Calvin Britain: Sold for $100,000 to Blue Star 200 LLC 2/24/2016

It has now been a full decade since BHAS has sold a school building, despite enrolment dropping 45% and almost 1,000 total students since the last two buildings were sold. With the exception of Calvin Britain, all of these buildings have been put to positive economic use and are still being utilized today.

Upon listing the Millburg school for sale Stephen Mitchell then director of operations and facilities stated “The district will have to spend a minimum of $12,000 annually to maintain the building. With student enrollment down significantly over the past two decades, the building is not necessary for future student use”

In 2014 BHAS discussed selling 10 unused buildings, which included most of these.  The idea of the buildings depreciating and being uninsurable was brought up.

Feb 6 2014 Herald Palladium

“If we don’t get busy and start selling some of them, they might not be worth anything eventually.” -Then school board President Martha Momany

Three years later on June 7 2017 a plan was being discussed to sell:

Bard, Boynton, Chemical bank, Fair Plain Northeast, Martindale, Morton, Northshore, and the Tech Center were discussed as vacant buildings for the school district to sell.  Bard, Boynton, and Martindale were listed as being in such poor condition that if they didn’t sell by July 18, 2018  they would need to be demolished.

In May of 2021 City of Benton Harbor Commissioner Mary Alice Adams spoke at the BHAS school board meeting and stated that the city was preparing to undergo the Master Plan process. She requested that the school board not sell any properties until that process is completed.

This week (The week of February 16th 2025) I drove around and took these pictures of all the vacant schools that BHAS owns. I did not enter any structures, even though some of them were not secure from entry.

Hull School: 1716 Territorial Rd:

This school is the most recently vacated with it closing sometime after 2020. The most striking evidence of restricted maintenance is the tree growth around the building.  These trees grow fast. This is the most likely vacant school building to be able to be turned back to economical use. The portable classrooms were installed in 2000. Hull Middle School was closed in January of 2010 as part of a plan to reduce the 2010-11 budget deficit by $3.37 Million. In the summer of 2012 a major renovation took place to reopen Hull as “the International Academy At Hull”. In 2020 it was renamed “Hull Elementary school”. This is a common theme with Benton Harbor School buildings where the names get changed several times.

I can understand why the windows were not boarded up on this one, since it is located across the street from the police station, however it would make sense to cut these trees and bushes back so the building does not appear abandoned.

(for comparison here is a 2012 street view image of the front of the school)

Martindale Elementary: 2199 Laurel Ave:

(Demo Scheduled)

This school was last used in 2007.  That’s 19 years ago! Children were born and graduated high school and their whole life this building has been vacant.  The district has sat on this building so long that it now has a negative value. The district is paying $228,000 to have the building demolished, yet is keeping the land. When the closure was discussed in June of 2007 it was stated that it cost $740,000 a year to run the school which was built in 1949. The school was looking at total enrollment of 111 students when the building had a capacity for 200. Stephen Mitchell the director of operations and facilities stated that the district would not sell the building if it were closed.  “Instead, officials want to keep it in the district’s inventory in hopes that enrollment will increase and the school could be reopened.”

I fully agree with BHAS’s decision to demo this building. I however question the decision to keep it that was made in 2007 to hold on to it, and the ongoing decisions to keep it through the last almost 20 years. There was a time where it could have been sold and put to good economic use. Instead it has been blight in this community for 19 years.

Bard School: 1200 E. Main St:

(Demo Scheduled)

This school has ben empty since 2012, with the last several years being the home of the Boys and Girls Club. This school has been subject to multiple fires over the 14 years it has been vacant.  Bard is scheduled to be demolished shortly and the district is paying $298,000 for it to be torn down.

I fully agree with BHAS’s decision to demo this building. Given the extent of damage from the fire even I can not fathom a way to save this building, and in general I want to save every building. The primary reason to sell the other buildings is precisely to avoid this happening to them.

Morton School: 267 North Hull Ave:

This school was last used in 2016, a full decade ago.  The northwest portion of the school was condemned in 2024 after an arsonist set fire to the school.  This tends to happen with vacant structures. The building was discussed being closed in 2008. In 2009 many volunteers worked to helps save the school. Morton was one of three schools in 2009 to get selected for a new heating system.  The school was shutdown in the summer of 2016 as part of the consent agreement with the state of Michigan while getting several million dollars in emergency loans and racking up a $15 million debt.

While the Northwest section likely needs to be demolished, I hold hope that the rest of the building could be saved.

Northshore school:1690 M63:

This one has been empty since 2011 and from the aerial views the roof has substantial damage. This property is fully fenced in so there is a lack of camera shots available. This substantial fencing and isolated location likely have helped preserve the building from vandalism. It appears that the doors were replaced in the not too distant past. BHAS leased the school from 1985 to 2011 to Tri-County Head Start. In 2007 BHAS evaluated canceling their lease to use the building for its own students. Due to its proximity to the Whirlpool Ad Center the property has a higher monetary value in its land than most of the other school buildings.

There had been a purchase deal that drug out for two years and the board cancelled it in 2021. The property adjoins multiple homes on Lake Michigan that would probably like to not have an abandoned school there and would love to be able to add 3.5 acres to their yards. This property should be relatively easy to sell.

Sorter School: 1421 Pipestone Ave:

Sorter is the only school that is properly boarded up, which occurred recently. This school was last used in 2015. From the aerial view we can see that the roof drains are becoming plugged. Flat roofs have roof drains that are surrounded by screens. They get clogged up with gunk overtime and can lead to the roofs holding water, which then leaks into the structure.  The district saved around $150,000 per year by closing the school.

From the limited interior views I could get this building does not look terrible. I am hopeful this could be turned into good economic use. Given it’s location on Pipestone this could be turned into a great commercial property. This is one I would be interested in for a business I would like to start if it ever comes up for sale.

Fair Plain Northwest: 1452 Learning Lane:

Last used in 2010. This one appears to have had substantial vandalism and water intrusion. The building was closed in February of 2002. In February of 2004 the school was scheduled to be sold along with the former Sodus school, Spinks corner school, and the land that held Johnson school on Territorial road.

The district received a bid for $170,000 for the school. The sale did not go through and in 2005 there were talks of re-opening the school. There were several bid requests for work on the building published between 2005 and 2007. The school briefly reopened started in the fall of 2006 as the Fair Plain Northwest Learning Academy and closed down in June of 2010 due to budget constraints.

Fair Plain West: 1901 Fair Plain Ave:

Last used in 2014. The vines have taken this one over! From what I could see from the exterior the interior rooms I could see into appeared to be in decent shape.  I am hopeful this building can be saved. It is on a beautiful 8 acre parcel of land.

Fairplain Northeast: 400 Donald Atkins Dr:

Last used in 2011. This one appears to have had substantial vandalism and water intrusion. The decision to close the school down was made in February of 2009 due to decreased elementary enrollment. A developer had offered $100,000 for this building but rescinded his offer by 2014.

Chemical Bank: 823 Riverview Dr:

This one really frustrates me, and it should frustrate every taxpayer. In 2007 Chemical Bank sold this to BHAS for office space for $1 million, while BHAS was running a $3 million deficit.  They claimed this was a cost saving move because converting old classrooms to office space would have cost more. The rest of these buildings were built for the students of the district, with the vast majority being built prior to the 1965 consolidation. This is the only example of the district buying a new building that I am aware of.  The parking lot has substantial flooding issues, likely due to sediment buildup in the manholes. I had this issue before and it generally takes about an hour of digging out muck to unclog. In March of 2012 the district voted to move central administration from the building to the 636 Pipestone building. The building was then listed for sale for $2.4 million.  I feel this was certainly the district being greedy and they way overpriced it.  It likely could have sold for $1 million to $1.5 million then.  Today I would be surprised if it could sell for $500,000. This is another property that has decent land value based on its views of the St. Joseph River.

Boynton School: 535 S. Crystal Ave:

This school was last used in the 2011-12 school year. It was closed down during the 2012 reorganization that also saw Sorter and Stump close down.  In addition to the outside pictures the aerial shots show that the roof drains are clogged which has led to evidence of long pooling water…which likely means there is interior damage inside. This school was listed as being a candidate for demolition in 2017 if it did not sell.

Valley Drive Tech Center: 653 Valley Dr:

The Tech Center, although referenced in the 2025 HP article as being a vacant property was torn down sometime around 2017. In an August 29 2019 HP article about opening a time capsule from the tech center it was stated that “The school district closed the tech center several years ago and the building fell into disrepair.” Mamie Yarbrough stated “The county’s Land Bank worked with the school district to tear down the building about three years ago because it was no longer in use and had become a dumping ground. People were dumping mattresses and all kids of things.” 

This property is located behind the active MLK elementary school on Britain Ave. It appears to have a roughly 5,000 square foot pole barn construction building surrounded by a substantial privacy fence.  The images I have are of the illegal dumping on the property and on Valley Dr. leading to it.

2017 Tech Center Aerial view

2023 Tech center aerial view: Note substantial dumping along road

Bonus:

135 acres of farm land on Napier Ave and South Blue Creek Road.  Why? Just why? This may actually be the most valuable property in this list. At a valuation of roughly $7,500 per acre that’s roughly $1 million. The farm land is leased out, so it does bring in some revenue.

Overall major concerns with these buildings are:

• Primarily the waste of resources in maintaining them without using them for economic benefit.
• Several are not secured. This includes unlocked doors, open or broken windows, or open access panels. This can lead to both people and animals getting in and causing damage. The biggest risk is kids sneaking in and getting hurt.
• Roof drains: Roof drains get clogged then water pools on the roof. This leads to leaks inside. Leaks inside lead to falling ceilings, damaged flooring, walls, and mold.
• Trees: These buildings have had lawn maintenance scheduled, but not tree work. Trees grow exponentially and many of these buildings will have issues due to large trees growing next to the foundation.
• Dumping: Several of these locations have become magnets for illegal dumping.

Some Questions We Should Be Asking:

• How much does the school district pay to insure these buildings? Or are they uninsured?
• How much money does the district spend to maintain these buildings?
• How many man hours of district employees are spent maintaining these buildings?
• What if any utility costs is the district paying for these buildings?

What do you think about the condition of these buildings?  Should school districts be able to keep taxpayer funded buildings they aren’t using?