Owner Refuses To Sell Old Witmark Eyesore [Video]
The old Witmark building at Plainfield and Jupiter continues to slowly decay, despite efforts to buy it and clean up the area.
The businesses surrounding the former Witmark department store in Plainflield Township have been on an uptick recently, with a new car wash and adventure sport store opening up in the past year, yet the old crumbling building continues to stand as an eyesore of past failure.
A WOOD-TV 8 report this week says that several offers have been made to buy the land the old building is on, but the owner won't budge, even though at least one of those offers were for more than the building is worth.
Witmark was a catalog showroom and jewelry/electronics chain that operated in West Michigan from 1969 to 1997.
According to WOOD-TV, the building is currently owned by Regency Equities out of New York.
“There’s been serious interest in this building, proposals for outright purchase, for lease, for sinking money into the building to make it a usable structure again, and all have fallen on deaf ears,” Plainfield Township Superintendent Cameron Van Wyngarden told 8 News.
“It’s unfortunately a bit of a running joke in the community about what’s going on in this building and unfortunately right now, there’s nothing going on,” Van Wyngarden added.