After three attempts over as many years, Iola has received word that two of its three abandoned elementary schools will be able to be converted into living facilities.
The $20 million project will provide 49 units of various sizes at Jefferson and McKinley elementaries, including 10 duplexes at McKinley. Lincoln Elementary will be the target for a future application.
BNIM, a design and architecture firm of Kansas City, secured the funds necessary from two tax credit programs through the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation to make the project a go.
The $850,000 in Low Income Housing Tax Credits and $850,000 in Historic Tax Credits, which private equity firms have already agreed to purchase, are expected to generate about $19 million. Sterling Bank, which has offices in Kansas City, Mo., will provide a $12 million bridge loan for construction, according to BNIM.
The Health Forward Foundation also stepped up with $500,000 — necessary buy-in to secure KHRC approval — half of which is a loan and the other a grant.
The expectation is that construction will commence in one year and be completed by fall 2027.
Thirty-three of the units will qualify for low-income status; the other 19 will be at market value.
BNIM’s two previous applications in 2023 and 2024 for the KHRC funding failed.
Knowing that the appetite for public financing for housing-related programs is waning not only in Congress but also the Kansas Legislature, advocates were anxious this may have been the school district’s last chance for success, at least for anything this size.
Iola’s was one of 14 applications to be awarded in the most recent round.
BNIM partnered with Thrive Allen County and the Iola school district to draw up the proposal.
Its ultimate success hinged on a number of factors, including Iola being a rural town with a high rate of poverty. BNIM also got the three schools for a steal — $1 apiece — making land acquisition a breeze.
Once the proposal was secured between BNIM and the school district in early 2022, architectural plans quickly followed.
For some voters, turning the historic schools into living spaces was essential to their support in voting for the $35 million school bond issue in 2019, which passed by a 2-to-1 margin. Now they can rest assured the school district is living up to its word.
In discussions Monday with Lisse Regehr, CEO of Thrive Allen County, the school district didn’t have a moment to lose.
“We just got under the fence,” she said, alluding to proposals in both the Kansas Legislature and Congress to eliminate funding for housing-related programs.
