The vacant Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital is driving some of its neighbors crazy. Nearby Western Michigan University took control of the structure from the state ten years ago. But since 1990, the four-story, 45,000 square foot building has been abandoned, surrounded by a chain-linked fence topped with barbed wire. Neighbors complain that the old structure is an eyesore—garbage-strewn with an unkempt lawn. Although WMU wanted to use the site for research offices or library storage, the University estimates that it would cost at least $2 million to remove the asbestos inside the structure just to tear it down. To renovate might be more than $20 million. The neighbors near the old hospital have fought off efforts to use the facility as a probation center, jail or low-income housing. Instead, they would like to see a real estate developer turn the former mental institution into privately owned condominiums.
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