Flushing Tore Down Its Smiley Face to Escape a 99-Year Lease.

By Carrie Thompson, Strategic Marketing Real Estate Agent, eXp Realty | Grand Blanc & Genesee County, MI

The Smiley Face water tower on Sunnyside Drive came down on May 26, 2026. (Genesee County View, June 4, 2026)

The tower went up in Flushing in 1955. The smile was added around 1976. It had been out of service since 2010 and it was still standing there, still smiling, for sixteen years after it stopped holding water.

Mayor Ed Sullivan, who defended the council's decision publicly, did not pretend to be happy about it.

"Like many of you, I have fond memories of playing baseball and fishing in the shadow of the Smiley tower. I too am sad to see it removed," Sullivan said. "However, in light of the associated costs, the course of action chosen by council is the most fiscally responsible one." (Genesee County View, May 21, 2026)

The costs he is talking about start with a contract signed in 2018

In 2018 the Flushing City Council approved a 99-year lease with AT&T to put a cell phone mast on top of the water tower. The city was to be paid $1,000 a month.

Then the tower was inspected. According to Sullivan's public statement, the cost to upgrade it, repaint it and make it safe to carry a cellphone mast came in at more than $850,000.

A 99-year contract had already been signed.

"Since the contract had already been signed, those of us who remained on council after March of 2020 began searching for a solution to prevent the expenditure of such a large unbudgeted amount of money," Sullivan said.

That search took more than three years. City attorney John Ryan eventually got Flushing out of the 2018 contract and negotiated a new agreement with AT&T. Under the new deal, AT&T installs a freestanding cell tower in Waterworks Park instead. Sullivan said that installation has begun.

There was a second problem with the tower itself

Sullivan's statement also said the tower contains high levels of chromium and lead, both hazardous to people and to the environment.

So the structure Flushing was being asked to spend more than $850,000 on was a decommissioned tank with high levels of chromium and lead in it, holding up a cell mast under a lease signed in 2018 and running 99 years.

At the October 13, 2025 council meeting where the demolition was approved, Sullivan put it plainly. "This brings to conclusion a lot of work from both the administration and our city attorney to extricate us from a really bad lease agreement and get us out of some serious financial obligations." (Genesee County View, October 16, 2025)

The motion to demolish was made by Dane Miller and seconded by councilperson Danielle Smith.

The city timed the teardown to save money

This is the part that shows a small city counting carefully.

City manager Michelle King brought in Dixon Engineering to write specifications and solicit bids. When the bids came back, the contractor offered Flushing a $10,000 credit if the demolition were pushed into 2026 rather than done right away. The city took it, and the contractor committed in writing to do the work between May 1 and June 30, 2026.

The city awarded a demolition bid of $120,000. AT&T agreed to pay $90,000 up front, representing the first six-year term of the new lease, and the city said that payment would be used to offset the demolition cost.

King told council the demolition itself would take two days.

Council also worked through the small details that come with removing something that tall. Councilman Eric Johnson asked whether the Federal Aviation Administration needed to be notified, since the tower was a reporting site. Sullivan agreed it likely did. "It's pretty easy to see," he said. King asked whether letters should go to Flushing Airport and Bishop International Airport, and council agreed to send one to Bishop.

What a water tower has to do with real estate

More than you would think, and not in the way you would expect.

Nobody buys a house because of a water tower. But ask anyone who grew up in Flushing what the town looks like in their head and a lot of them will describe that smile. Sullivan named it exactly: playing baseball and fishing in its shadow. That is what people actually mean when they say they love where they live. Not comparable sales. A shape on the skyline they have known since they were eight.

Towns lose those things sometimes, and usually for reasons that are entirely defensible on a spreadsheet and still feel like a loss. Both of those can be true.

The practical footnote is worth keeping too. A council in 2018 signed a 99-year lease that turned into an $850,000 problem, and it took three years of legal work to undo. Decisions like that get made in half-empty meeting rooms, and they shape what a place looks like and what it costs to live there for decades. Flushing posts its council information publicly, and Genesee County View covers those meetings, which is where every fact in this post came from.

If you are thinking about buying or selling in Flushing, Grand Blanc, Davison, Fenton, Linden, Swartz Creek, Burton, Goodrich or Holly, and you want someone who actually pays attention to what is happening in these towns, call or text me at (810) 893-3269.

About Carrie Thompson

Carrie Thompson is a licensed Michigan Realtor (#6501338662) with eXp Realty, serving Grand Blanc, Fenton, Davison, Linden, Flushing, Swartz Creek, Burton, Goodrich, Holly, and Genesee County. Known as "Your Favorite Property Girl," she brings a strategic marketing approach to every listing and every buyer search. Call or text (810) 893-3269.