Last year, the City of Dowagiac transformed the landscape at the corner between Main and Front streets downtown, with the construction of the James E. Snow Professional Building.

On Monday, the city took the first steps toward yet another possible radical redevelopment to its historic business district.

The Dowagiac City Council approved the acquisition of property located at 214 Commercial Street during its meeting Monday evening. Under the terms of the agreement, the city will pay current owners Daniel and Bonnie Weaver $75,000 to purchase the land, which is located at the corner of Commercial and New York Avenue.

“This is one of those projects we’ve been working on for a good period of time now,” said City Manager Kevin Anderson. “The city has done this on a number of occasions, where we look at various areas of downtown and, as people appear ready to transition some of their business needs, we step in to see if there’s an appropriate spot for public investment for future redevelopment.”

The Weavers currently own and operate Weaver Insurance from the building currently located on the property. The owners are seeking to relocate their business, allowing the city to work out a deal for the land, Anderson said.

The agreement allows the Weavers to continue to operate from their existing facility for the next six months.

“If that six months turned where he needed eight, I imagine we could work with him on that,” Anderson said. “He seemed to think six works along the way.”

This type of purchase falls in line with the deals made over 20 years ago between the city and private property owners on Front Street, which paved the way for the eventual building of the new downtown office complex, where the county dental clinic is currently located. During that same period, the city was involved in various other public-private partnerships, including the purchase, restoration and eventual sale of the building where the Wood Fire restaurant is currently located.

“This particular piece of property is in that same vein,” Anderson said. “It gives us the opportunity to deal with rehabilitation and continued growth and expansion into the downtown area.”

Monday’s acquisition will play a major role in the planning process for development within the district, the city manager said. Last year, the city hired Smith Group JJR to assist with research for the creation of a new downtown master plan, which is still underway.

“While we don’t have a final report from them, we’ve seen some of their preliminary information that suggests that this would be a spot for future growth and development,” Anderson said.