By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Keller Real Estate & Insurance Agency was approved to purchase the remaining three lots of the Amber Meadows RHID District in Great Bend.
The city developed the Rural Housing Incentive District in 2014 for the southwest corner of 24th and McKinley, just north of Veterans Memorial Park, to help developers build new housing. Private investors or real estate agencies were allowed to purchase the lots in hopes of new construction.
Great Bend City
Attorney Allen Glendenning said the buyer gives the city a $10,000 escrow
payment for each lot. If houses are built on the property, then the $10,000 is
given back and the owner essentially gets the lot for free.
"If there is a breach in the agreement, then the owner has to pay about $36,000 for a couple of the lots and $37,000 for the other one," said Glendenning. "That is based on what we paid for it when we first bought the lot, plus all the infrastructure. That has already been determined when the other lots were sold."
Although there have been issues with flooding in the past in the Amber Meadows
housing district, City Administrator Kendal Francis anticipated minimal impact
on the potential new development of the three lots.
"As far as previous flooding issues, there were no issues with basements flooding that far north in the development," said Francis. "What water would come off roofs, driveways and hard surfaces would be minimal and not have a negative of the rest of the development."
Two of the purchased lots by Keller Real Estate are at the entrance to Prairie Rose Dr. from 24th Street. The other lot is four houses down on Prairie Rose on the west side.
All houses built in the district must have a minimum of 1,200 square feet and
be no bigger than 1,800 square feet. The lowest price for a 1,200-square-foot
house is $150,000 and the highest price for the 1,800-square-foot house is
$350,000.