Sequel Youth & Family Services/Vivant Behavioral: Lakeside Academy Buildings Demolished; Country Club Expansion Planned

September 26, 2022

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Country Club plans to expand onto the site of a now-shuttered youth home.

Six of eight buildings are being demolished after Oakland Finance Company, LLC, bought the property in May 2021, according to a demolition site plan. Demolition of the buildings is expected to end by May 2, according to demolition permits obtained by MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The parking lots will also be torn up during a second phase.

Lakeside Academy, 3921 Oakland Drive, closed in summer 2020, after Cornelius Fredericks, 16, died April 29, 2020, after he was restrained by staff for 10 minutes at the school. The Kalamazoo County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death was a homicide.

The LLC paid $6 million for 48.5 acres of land, according to records.

The country club has not filed any official documents outlining plans for the property. However, a new clubhouse, golf performance center, member activity center and dining are planned, according to minutes from the Sept. 28 meeting of the city of Kalamazoo’s Natural Features Protection Review Board.

The club already features an 18-hole golf course, swimming pool, tennis courts and multiple eateries, according to the club’s website.

The Kalamazoo Country Club, 1609 Whites Road, did not respond to requests for comment. The LLC’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment about the project.

The country club property and the former Lakeside Academy site border Whites Lake. The country club’s property touches the Lakeside Academy site, according to the city’s GIS map.

Architect Lee Hyden with The H. Chambers Company said that the country club “desires to be a good neighbor by creating a sustainable project and a conceptual experience for members of the club,” according to the minutes.

Demolition permits were issued in February and March.

A water main and adjacent sanitary sewer were severed during demolition March 29. Around 600 gallons of partially chlorinated wastewater overflowed before normal conditions were restored.

Kalamazoo County tried to buy the property for $6 million to turn it into housing for homeless residents but lost to Oakland Finance, LLC.

Lakeside Academy closed in summer 2020 following the death of a teen there.

Three people at Lakeside Academy were charged after Fredricks’ death.

Michael Mosley and Zachary Solis were both physically involved in the restraint and are charged with�involuntary manslaughter and knowingly causing Fredericks harm by laying across his abdomen. They were also charged with second-degree child abuse and another count of second-degree child abuse for a childcare organization violation causing death.

Their cases are pending in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court.

Heather McLogan, a former nurse at the academy, was sentenced to 18 months of probation for one felony count of third-degree child abuse in September.

Fredricks’ family settled a lawsuit against school owner Sequel Youth & Family Services and employees.

Source: Marie Weidmayer, “Lakeside Academy buildings demolished as Kalamazoo Country Club plans expansion,” mlive.com, Apr. 18, 2022, URL: https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2022/04/lakeside-academy-buildings-demolished-as-kalamazoo-county-club-plans-expansion.html