NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Laura Meyer Dick talked to Hutch Post about the Landmark project. She explained that there are Moderate Income Housing tax credits on a part of it.
"Twenty-four of our 36 apartments will have an income range on it," Meyer-Dick said. "In Hutchinson, it's middle class, moderate income. Young professionals, they want to live in the cool, redeveloped, old buildings. I have three daughters in their 20s, and that's where they like to live. So that is one piece of the capital stack. So then we have 12 market rate apartments, but the rent will pretty much be, the guidelines for moderate income rent are pretty much market rate in Hutchinson. So there won't be a lot of difference in the rent. You won't be able to tell which apartments are which."
Work will actually start really soon.
"The northwest corner, we got a heritage trust fund grant for that," Meyer-Dick said. "That is the only part of the building that has got some stabilization issues. I had that checked out before we bought it, so we're gonna try it. Ward Davis is starting that project hopefully in the next couple weeks to shore up that corner. We may not be able to finish that project till spring because of the masonry and the temperatures. Kind of depends on what our temperatures are. I say the project's getting ready to start because there is a porta potty on the property now. As far as the major demo and construction, that will start late winter, early spring."
The bottom floor is part of the new STAR Bond district and it will have retail.
"I'm hoping to get a restaurant," Meyer-Dick said. "If anybody is interested in opening a restaurant in Hutchinson, Kansas that's listening to us, reach out and contact me. In the front, I'd like to have a restaurant. That's what we're white boxing it out to be, just setting it up as a restaurant so there's space for the kitchen. We'll have the utilities already there with the building construction to build out a kitchen on the northeast side of the main floor. We could divide that. If we can't get a restaurant, we could divide that into two retail spaces for something else. Or if we have a small coffee shop that wants to go in there, we could do a coffee shop and a retail. And then on Fifth Street, past the lobby, the door on Fifth Street will be the lobby to the apartments. There will be two retail spaces behind that, and then we hope to have a speakeasy. There's actually a door off the alley and there's a pretty cool space back there. It's filled with junk right now and we can't see exactly what it is back there. We'll have to get that out during demo, but we hope to have a speakeasy in the alley."
The hope is to finish the renovation and be able to use the building by the fall of 2026.