Location: Marysville, KS

Role: Lead Developer, GP Team, General Contractor, Property Manager

Capital Stack: KHITC equity, MIH, CDBG, RHID, State and Federal Historic Tax Credits, Long term land lease, SHOVL, and construction LOC

Challenges: The Koester buildings, located on the prominent historic Koester block in downtown Marysville were city owned buildings for many years. Due to aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance, the city began looking for qualified developers to work with the city to repurpose the buildings. It was important to the city that the process was open to the public and that a qualified firm was selected that would honor the historic nature of the buildings and understand the prominence of the block for the downtown district. Frontier was selected as the preferred development partner through a competitive RFP process. Our team worked through a myriad of design and review hearings including multiple public listening sessions, and worked extensively with city legal counsel to advance a long term land lease option that satisfied investor requirements for historic tax credits, while maintaining the public interest in preserving the properties and retaining public oversight. The funding stack included a CDBG allocation for commercial facade and utility improvements, a SHOVL loan from the Department of Commerce, the creation and approval of an RHID for the buildings, approval of both the State Historic Preservation Office and National Park Service for historic tax credit plans, and a Moderate Income Housing Grant and Kansas Housing Investor Tax Credit Allocation from Kansas Housing Resources Corporation. The result is a true public private partnership that will transform an entire city block for downtown Marysville, add much needed affordable housing, and contribute to the economic vibrancy of the downtown district by improving commercial spaces on the ground level.