MDOT Abandoned House!?!?

[michiganguy123]

A year or two ago, MDOT cul-de-sac'd a road on US-127 south of Ithaca, but this house remains with no driveway! Is this MDOT property and they just didn't bother to demolish it?


Link to streetview: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jCQ7Sx45BfX79YuK9

[kphoger]

I don't know the answer, but here's the job info, in case it helps anyone else find the answer.

Letting Call: 191101 053
Letting Date: November 1, 2019
Contract ID: 29011-201962
Project Number: 201962A
Federal Project Number: 1901191

[KelleyCook]

https://app.fetchgis.com/?currentMap=gratiot&switchingMaps=false&centerLng=-84.56195402081336&centerLat=43.26803982195126&mapZoom=18&pageSize=letter&pageOrientation=landscape&pageTitle=Gratiot%20GIS%20Authority&subTitle=&northArrow=1&rptPIN=0&rptLayer=&rptMap=1&rptPic=1&rptTax=1&activeControl=layerControls&activeLayers=undefined&partialLayerGroups=undefined&opacity64=&printLegendLayers=

Bought by MDOT in 2019.

[SEWIGuy]

For $145,000

Providing access may have been less expensive, but I am wondering with the curve right there than they didn't want a house that close to the highway.

[kphoger]

Figures.  I attempted to determine the address by trial and error (informing Google that I'm not a robot four times along the way).  Google Maps had the next building to the south labeled as 1765 S Bagley Rd, so I only searched address that were less than 1765.  It didn't occur to me that they might be the same property.

[Max Rockatansky]

I see no issues leaving a vacant farm property to crumble over time. 

[Big John]

I see no issues leaving a vacant farm property to crumble over time. 

insurance may say elsewhise since they could be liable if something happens to anyone entering the property,  even if it is unauthorized entry.

[Max Rockatansky]

I see no issues leaving a vacant farm property to crumble over time. 

insurance may say elsewhise since they could be liable if something happens to anyone entering the property,  even if it is unauthorized entry.

Around rural Ithaca?  I'm assuming the property is fenced and probably has "no trespassing" signs erected?  Considering how many abandoned buildings sit for decades amid rampant vandalism in Detroit I'd say the liability risk is extremely low.

[kphoger]

I'm assuming the property is fenced and probably has "no trespassing" signs erected?

Going by GSV:  fence, yes;  signs, no.

[SEWIGuy]

It's also not very pretty having a crumbling house by the highway. Way better to take it down and fill in the foundation.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm sensing there is a general dislike of old abandoned buildings in this thread.  I see it the opposite, an abandoned farm house adds character of an otherwise boring segment of highway.  Considering there are couple cider mills nearby as tourist attractions it fits in.

[kphoger]

Destroy feral cat habitat?   

[SEWIGuy]

This isn't some quaint abandoned farmhouse or barn.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.267773,-84.5632719,3a,15y,62.34h,88.9t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s9bZ1XXcWSZpq7TiWFweFIw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D9bZ1XXcWSZpq7TiWFweFIw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D37.45852%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

[The Ghostbuster]

Maybe, eventually, the house will be demolished.

[Max Rockatansky]

This isn't some quaint abandoned farmhouse or barn.

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.267773,-84.5632719,3a,15y,62.34h,88.9t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s9bZ1XXcWSZpq7TiWFweFIw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D9bZ1XXcWSZpq7TiWFweFIw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D37.45852%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

Give it time, that style will come into vogue eventually playing the long game.  Bad enough that current FHWA guidance proscribes pulling up the old relic surface on unused stubs in realignment projects.  A derelict rail crossing once part of US 27 would be neat to see potentially some day.

[mgk920]

The least expensive course was likely just MDOT buying it out and letting it sit, having nature then take its course on its schedule.  I've seen WisDOT do this (sort of) WRT properties that were progressively cut off from (then) US 41 direct access between Appleton and Milwaukee, too.

Mike

[mgk920]

A year or two ago, MDOT cul-de-sac'd a road on US-127 south of Ithaca, but this house remains with no driveway! Is this MDOT property and they just didn't bother to demolish it?


Link to streetview: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jCQ7Sx45BfX79YuK9

I will say though, the previous owner DID install a nice metal roof on it, so if nothing else, the roof's manufacturer might have some good marketing potential there WRT its lifetime durability.  I do see metal roofs becoming increasingly popular for many applications, both residential and commercial.   

Mike

[JREwing78]

I'm going to hazard a guess that not immediately tearing down the house (or the barn on the same property) is the result of MDOT's pay-as-you-go property acquisition along that stretch of US-127. It would cost them more to build an access road to the property from Pierce Rd than they could make back reselling the property. Ideally, they'd level the buildings and resell that corner to the adjacent property owner to return to farming. But with limited funding there's not a rush to spend money on that demolition.

I"m also going to guess that 1854 S Bagley will be acquired and torn down v.s. running up an access road from Pierce. That would move the next property access need south about a half-mile south to 2541 S Bagley, on the corner of Bagley and Roggy Rds. That one, however, is far enough away from US-127 and close enough to Roggy that a driveway relocation will be fine. It looks like 2587 is abandoned and requires no special access.

[JREwing78]

Probably the most expensive acquisition or mitigation MDOT will have to do north of M-57 is the North Star Golf Course. If they do an interchange at Buchanan Rd, they're unlikely to put one in at Hayes Rd. It's small enough that it likely the cheapest option is to buy out the owners (if and when they want to close access), though a frontage road build may also be possible.

[KelleyCook]

A year or two ago, MDOT cul-de-sac'd a road on US-127 south of Ithaca, but this house remains with no driveway! Is this MDOT property and they just didn't bother to demolish it?


Link to streetview: https://maps.app.goo.gl/jCQ7Sx45BfX79YuK9

So a much, more important point.  I just realized this house purchase is the reason for this video I saw a few years ago.

Behold! the train X-ing without a Road!

[Lyon Wonder]

Historicaerials.com confirms the house was built in the 1980s well after US 127 was expanded to four lanes. Whoever built that house must had purchased the land cheap since that was not a good location even 40 years ago.

The 1986 aerial view is the first one to show the house since the older 1983 aerial shows the land as vacant.