The 4-acre abandoned tannery property was on the real estate market, but unable to be sold because the owner did not desire to complete any environmental investigation and wanted to sell the property “as is”. Caleb therefore negotiated with the seller and secured an option to purchase, which facilitated the completion of an environmental investigation and estimating potential remediation costs.

An investigation conducted by Drake concluded that no active remediation was necessary. A closure request was submitted to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), but closure was delayed due to a request for additional information.

Due to time constraints, Caleb chose to exercise the option and purchase the property in 2003 by land contract (because banks were unwilling to lend on the property prior to receiving a closure letter from the DNR). After gathering the additional environmental data requested by the DNR, Drake submitted a final report and closure was secured.

Following receipt of the closure letter from the DNR, financing was secured from a bank, which also allowed for demolition and renovation actions to be completed. Of the approximately 78,000 square feet of building on the property, approximately 14,000 square feet were donated to Community Warehouse (an upstart ministry that offers building materials to low income and inner-city non-profit organizations).

Caleb renovated the remaining 64,000 square feet into a multi-tenant industrial complex and has developed plans to convert the property into a self storage facility. Once completed, the property is expected to increase in value from $300,000 to $4 million.