City of Coldwater gives multicultural center a one-year lease for Putnam building
COLDWATER — A rare crowd filled the Coldwater City Council chambers Monday night.
They burst into applause with a 9-0 vote to approve a one-year lease with Coldwater Community Center Inc. to convert the former Putnam Funeral Home into a multicultural center for Coldwater.
Spearheaded by Kathie Bappert, the new nonprofit cut a deal for the historic 1856 home purchased by the city in September 2020 for a dollar to save it.
City manager Keith Baker said, so far, the city invested over $120,000 in necessary repairs.
The deal negotiated by city attorney Megan Angel has key features that include “the absence of cash rent from the group, the obligations of the city to pay the utilities for the first year.”
More:Nonprofit wants city-owned former Putnam Funeral home for civic center
The city will invest up to $20,000 “to pay for heating and air conditioning units sufficient to heat and cool the first floor of the building and for new plumbing sufficient to serve a bathroom and a kitchen on the first floor."
The city insures the building. The nonprofit will provide liability insurance.
“This is a window of opportunity to see what the committee could do,” Baker said. “It’s an advantage to have people in there for maintenance.”
Mayor Tom Kramer added “there is a lot of support to give this a try.”
Councilman Travis Machan questioned whether the upper two floors could be turned into apartments. An architect was asked to prepare a design for nine units in the building.
“There has been no interest at this point," Baker said.
Plans of Southern Michigan Bank and Trust to covert the Gillespie Funeral home across Marshall Street into seven units took four years and will cost more than $2 million. The Putnam funeral home conversion is as expensive.
The committee can only use the first floor; to use the rest of the building would require new sprinkler installation.
Attorney John Hutchinson on the center committee will negotiate a new lease in nine months if the organization is successful and the city remains interested.
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Bappert said there is great community support after she and some friends began discussions in January.
“We set up a private Facebook group, and word of mouth spread. Now we have 167 members. We have a lot of people here who think it's a good idea.”
The group includes members of Coldwater’s ethnic communities.
Bappert said of the plans for the building, “The important words here are multicultural; a multicultural celebration and preservation of our unique and shared history.” There was a large packet of letters of support.
As the group works to open, raise funds and improve the building, it wants “to provide fun and inter-generational opportunities.”
The first step is heating/air conditioning for the first floor, then plumbing for an accessible bathroom. S & K LaMontagne LLC of Coldwater bid the HVAC for $15,200, with Bill Martinson’s Mill Supply Heating & Cooling providing materials at cost. S & K can update the plumbing to the proposed bathroom and kitchen for $2,000.City Glass donated five replacement windows.
Baker said city public works crews on available time would help volunteers remove basement mold as the HVAC system is installed.
The center will open as soon as the work is completed.
Baker allowed the group to gain access to the building in July to clean up the first floor so the public might see the mansion and plans of the committee. The group gave tours during AppleFest for the public.
— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Coldwater leases former funeral home for use as multicultural center