By Staff
LANSING – A Buchanan man has been named to receive a Citizen Award from the Michigan Historic Preservation Network (MHPN).
Ten award winners from across Michigan were selected in five categories, including: Buildings, Citizens, Government/Institutional, Tax Credit, and Lifetime Achievements.
An opening reception and the award presentation is to be held Friday evening, May 9, at Fair Lane, the Henry Ford Estate, Dearborn.
A Citizen Award will be presented to Alan Robandt of Buchanan for his outstanding achievement in championing historic preservation in Buchanan. In the two short years since he moved his antiques business from Chicago to Buchanan, Berrien County native Alan Robandt has lit a fire under preservation efforts in this small southwest Michigan community.
Leading by example, he purchased the Civil-War Era Union block, the largest building in a downtown that, like so many other small towns, was in need of reinvestment. The building, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is nearing the completion of Phase One of its rehabilitation.
Robandt's work in Buchanan, however, has not been limited to his own project. He also recognized that the downtown could only thrive through the combined efforts of the entire community. To that end, he has worked with and inspired other downtown groups and other property owners. Amazingly, he has done it all while making friends, not enemies, recognizing that, as his neighbor said, "more is accomplished by friendly engagement than by lobbing mortar shells and hunkering down to trench warfare."
In only two years, Alan Robandt has achieved what many other preservationists take a lifetime to do. In the process, he has inspired one small community with his vision for the downtown of Buchanan – a vision of hope.