Two large connected buildings anchor Albion’s most active downtown block on north Superior Street. The center building, marked “IOOF 1910” near its roofline, contains Dickerson Music Company and two neighboring storefronts currently being stabilized by the Calhoun County Land Bank Authority. The detailed brickwork on both buildings reflects the craftsmanship of their era. The taller building at right contains three storefronts — the vacant building at 203 N. Superior St., known informally as the BBQ building, Lopez Taco House, and Trackside Eatery and Pub. The BBQ building is the focus of the Land Bank’s current investment round because of its structural role within the interconnected block. Business Loop I-94 and M-99 signs mark the corner at right.
By Maggie LaNoue
Contributing Writer
Between Lopez Taco House and Dickerson Music in downtown Albion, sits an empty storefront with a fading BBQ sign in the window. Many people pass it without realizing the narrow building at 203 N. Superior St. has quietly become one of the most important structures in Albion’s downtown redevelopment plans. The Calhoun County Land Bank Authority refers to it as the BBQ building.
Travelers entering downtown Albion along Business Loop I-94 pass the Molder sculpture and the Superior Street Commercial Historic District marker before crossing the railroad tracks. Just over the tracks begins one of the busiest stretches of downtown Albion, with historic storefronts, restaurants, shops, and organizations extending north toward Cass Street.
For years, while little public attention was focused on the property, the Land Bank has been investing in stabilization work there as part of a larger downtown redevelopment strategy. The reason is structural.
Land Bank Executive Director Krista Trout-Edwards told Albion City Council during a May 4 study session that 203 N. Superior St. is not a standalone building at all.
“203 is one-third of the building that holds Lopez’s and Trackside,” she said. “So that’s actually one building.”
The three storefronts share interior walls. When the upper floors of the BBQ building collapsed after years of neglect, the Land Bank moved quickly — installing a new roof and tying the structure together at the top to protect the businesses on either side.
“They’re in the middle of the block,” Trout-Edwards said. “That’s why we prioritize those. You can’t really demolish them.”
The Land Bank has designated approximately $700,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for interior demolition and reconstruction work at the property, including the floors and stairway. The investment reflects the building’s hidden importance. Officials said deterioration of the property could eventually affect neighboring businesses because the structures are physically interconnected.
Just south of Dickerson Music Co., another connected storefront still displays a faded “TATTOO” sign in the window. Above it, brickwork marked “IOOF 1910” remains visible from the street, a reference to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which once owned the building. The fraternal organization was built around the idea of members supporting one another through hardship.
The work surrounding the BBQ building is part of a broader stabilization effort on the block. At 129 and 131 N. Superior, both part of the building that also contains Dickerson Music Co., the Land Bank has completed roof repairs. There was also an environmental cleanup project in the basement of 131, where soil vapor concerns had made the space unfit for occupancy. Trout-Edwards described the remediation cost as approximately $500,000. “We had to dig out the whole basement,” she said. “We had to engineer it.”
Once 203 is stabilized, the Land Bank plans to release the full cluster: 129, 131, and 203 N. Superior — for redevelopment. The properties are part of the Land Bank’s “Transform This Commercial Property” program.
A brownfield plan is also being considered. The properties will need to be offered at fair market value because of state grant requirements, but Trout-Edwards said the groundwork is being laid. Architectural drawings for the connected buildings are already complete.
The north Superior block drew little public attention until the debate over 100 S. Superior Street pulled the Land Bank’s downtown portfolio into view at the May 4 council meeting. That discussion focused on a fire-damaged building just south of Cass Street, on a quieter block with far fewer active businesses than the north Superior corridor.
At the far end of the north Superior Street block, the Ludington Center at 100 N. Superior, owned by Albion College, has recently been repaired following roof damage from a March 2025 windstorm and is being updated for future use.
The connected storefronts on North Superior have stood for more than a century. The work now underway is intended to make sure they stand for another.
