Dexter's MedHub to invest $1.7M in historic Old Grain Mill building

Healthcare software company MedHub has received a boost from the village of Dexter that will help the firm move toward its goal of renovating and relocating in the historic Old Grain Mill. The recently awarded industrial facilities tax exemption is expected to save the firm $24,000 per year as a 50-percent tax abatement for six years on real property and two years on personal property.

 

"Dexter is a vibrant and dynamic community that understands economic growth and vitality," says MedHub President Peter Orr. "We considered Ann Arbor, but with just nine miles separating the two, we felt the flexible opportunities available for expansion in Dexter coupled with the close proximity to Ann Arbor was a very easy decision." 

 

MedHub intends to invest $1.7 million into the 1899 structure. Though Orr says the cost to renovate the building will be triple what it might have been to demolish it and rebuild, both his firm and the village of Dexter recognized the importance of saving a community landmark and made a collaborative effort to preserve it. 

 

While the tax abatement incentivized MedHub's investment, it will also benefit the village, as it will increase the taxable value of the long-abandoned, 22,000 sq. ft. facility, as well as bring new employees to the downtown. Now employing a staff of seven, Orr expects to double MedHub's staff in the new space. 

 

"We not only have the space we are currently in the process of redeveloping," say Orr, "but we also have room to develop a training facility in a large non-contiguous out building on the property. Our clients from across the country could eventually congregate in this facility for intensified training. This will add to the economic vitality of Dexter because our new location will be a true campus in every sense of the word." 

 

MedHub purchased the historic mill in 2011, and expects to renovate and move into the facility in this spring.