Habitat for Humanity benefits from repurposing of Saginaw buildi - ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MI

(03/22/13) - You know the saying - one man's trash is another's treasure.

Habitat for Humanity is benefiting from the repurposing of two downtown Saginaw buildings.

Inside and out, the Bancroft and the Eddy are undergoing major transformations. Once home to low-income community members, in a matter of months, these historic buildings in Saginaw will be home to upscale apartments.

"As we're cleaning out the building, there are a lot of things that could be used by other people. And we figured instead of throwing it away, we would try to donate it to an organization in need," said LuAnn Stockfleth, project manager of Bancroft Square Luxury Apartments.

Stockfleth says while the cupboards and stoves don't fit with the upscale re-birth, they weren't trash yet either.

"We're very happy to have the opportunity to go in to places like this and rescue items that still have a lot of life and a lot of use to keep them from heading to the landfill," said Ben Emmons, ReStore Manager.

Instead, they ended up at Habitat for Humanity's 'ReStore' shop on West Holland.

"The ReStore sells for about what half of retail would cost," Emmons said.

Volunteers spent about two weeks tearing out the cupboards and stoves.

A little bit of sweat equity now, that could lead to $20,000 in sales down the road.

"It is a win-win situation for both of us," Stockfleth said.

"They don't have to pay anybody to take them out, they're not paying disposal fees, and we're getting the items here for resale, and it's providing income for us to help with our mission to end poverty housing," Emmons said.

Emmons says since 'ReStore' opened about six-years ago, they've saved more than 1. 5 million pounds of material from ending up in the landfill.

The developers at the Bancroft hope to have model units to show off to the public in the next month or two.