ADRIAN, Mich. — After reviewing the legal description of the acquisition of its facility, Sam Beauford Woodshop (SBW) director Luke Barnett realized that his shop should have more land than it does.

 

“It has come to our attention that there is an empty lot included in the legal description that the commission may not have been aware of,” Barnett wrote in a letter to the Adrian, Michigan City Commission, requesting the city review the description.

 

Upon review, the Commission unanimously approved the city administrator’s recommendation to transfer and sell the empty lot, which is adjacent to SBW’s existing facility, to the woodshop for $1.

 

“In the course of due diligence activities on the transaction with the Sam Beauford Woodshop, it was discovered that the original legal description for the facility included a vacant city parcel,” said city administrator Shane Horn in his memo to the commission.

 

Horn recommended selling the triangle-shaped lot to SBW for $1 to expedite the transaction and save further surveying costs.

 

The Sam Beauford Woodshop is a non-profit organization providing woodworking classes for professionals, hobbyists, and students of all ages. The shop offers credentialed and accredited job training and workforce development for the woodworking manufacturing and construction industries in Michigan.

 

Barnett says the shop will use the new land to build dormitories for incoming students completing the woodshop’s one-year certification program.

 

“Although the current lot is not large enough to build on,” he said, “the SBW could eventually purchase the blighted properties that lay south of that land, which would then give plenty of room for expansion.”

 

In his letter, Barnett persuaded the city by saying it would no longer be responsible for maintaining the land, and that is shop would work to beautify it.

 

“We believe our efforts have already made a tremendous impact on the blight in that area,” said Barnett.

 

Find out more about the Sam Beauford Woodshop here.