By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Many people that grew up in Great Bend years ago have their stories or memories of the Zarah Hotel building at the corner of Lakin Avenue and Main Street. Built in 1925, the ground floor of the building has consistently been used by a number of retail businesses but the second, third and fourth floors have been unoccupied for decades. A group of individuals are striving to turn around the long-time vacant upper floors into 24 apartments.
Earlier this
month, Pomeroy Development announced the Zarah Apartments project was awarded
$1.425 million in Moderate Income Housing funds from the Kansas Housing
Resources Corporation. Pomeroy Developer Justin Pregont said the funds are a
good step for the nearly $6 million project.
"We have submitted information to the City of Great Bend to pursue a Rural Housing Incentive District and something called an Industrial Revenue Bond Issue that has to do with both property tax abatement and abatement on sales tax for construction materials," said Pregont. "We do not have the final approval of those. That's an ongoing conversation. I think we'll get there, but those are a couple of examples of things that are outstanding."
The City of Great Bend’s application was one of 16 chosen to receive funding from roughly 60 applications submitted across Kansas. Plenty of planning and design work is still needed for the rental space that will include studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments ranging from $800 to $1,200 in monthly rent.
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J.R. Robl,
with GLMV Architecture, referred to the downtown structure as a time capsule
that has a story to tell and is worthy of adaptive reuse.
"We've done the assessments and the analysis on some of the challenges and features that we could see in an older building," said Robl. "For example, a lot of these rooms have Jack-and-Jill bathrooms with old bathtubs. We have to figure out some of the plumbing, electrical and mechanical features. That was all done in an assessment over a year ago. We have this thought out."
Robl noted the building is
structurally sound, including the roof. With no elevator access currently to
the fourth floor, the project renovation will only include the second and third
levels at the time.
Pregont said their aggressive timeline is to finish the rehabilitation of the Zarah Apartments upper floors by the end of 2024.
"I've lived in downtown districts before," said Pregont. "I've lived down the block from a coffee shop. I'm much more likely to patronize that coffee shop if I live upstairs. Historically, downtown districts were vibrant, mixed-used places. Over the last 80 years or so that has gone by the wayside but there's a real resurgence of that philosophy. Adding residential to the mix is a really big piece of the puzzle."
The Zarah Mall falls under the MyTown LP initiative, with the majority owned by Sheryl Cheely. Local businessman Mark Bitter is also getting involved with the renovation project. MyTown was created several years ago and given a loan by the city to foster more downtown businesses with incentives.
"MyTown has been leading the way in investing, saving properties and making sure they are at their best use," said Pregont. "This project is another example of that. I think MyTown's hope is that this investment is just the beginning of what can be really great things in downtown Great Bend."