Benton Harbor City Commissioners continue to talk about renovating the shuttered Bobo Brazil Community Center.

The building at 472 Cass Street, also known as the Armory, has been closed since 2009. However, Benton Harbor this year was awarded a $1 million grant from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to begin fixing it up.

Speaking at a meeting of the city’s Legislative Committee this week, Interim City Manager Alex Little said the grant ought to cover the most basic initial work to make the building useable.

“I had specifically requested that the initial steps out of the first million that we had should minimally stop infiltration into the building by repairing the roof where it’s leaking, replacing the windows that have been broken and windows period with insulated glass so it could hold down on the heating bill and so forth,” Little said. 

The city has to lock in a contract by December 30 to meet the grant’s terms. To that end, the plan is to hire Abonmarche to provide design and construction services. The full city commission could consider doing so at its next meeting.

Commissioners last year voted to apply for $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fix up the center to begin offering senior programs and basketball for young people.