EDITORIAL | Sarah Kessinger Oct 30, 2024 Updated Dec 30, 2024
Marysville’s downtown was the focus of a significant step forward Monday as Marysville City Council signed a 50-year contract with Frontier Development Group, Manhattan, to renovate ground-floor business spaces and create housing in the upper stories of the commercial buildings in the historic Koester Block on Broadway.
Frontier owner Tyler Holloman expressed excitement at the prospect of getting started on two major grant applications for housing and renovation needs in the buildings.
“We’re very, very excited. We’ve been big believers in this project ever since the council started working with us,” Holloman said after the council approved the agreements at Monday’s meeting. “This is a great step forward in the redevelopment of the Koester Block and ultimately the preservation of those buildings.”
Holloman said that with the city’s approval of the lease agreement and a blight declaration, he and his staff will be ready to start the grant applications with plans to complete them within 60 days.
The blight declaration is necessary for the Community Development Block Grant application. The condition of the buildings was at a point that the city needed to take action. It was clear the city didn’t have the resources to do the work or hire it done. The developer path was the best option to bring those buildings back into full use after the upper stories sat empty and deteriorated for decades.
Holloman says he’s up for the challenge.
“We’re really excited to be working in a great community like Marysville,” he said. “I’m very excited to be preserving the buildings for generations to come.”
That approach and Frontier’s track record of historic preservation elsewhere bode well for this downtown’s future.
