The Fort Scott City Commission approved a resolution to support an application by a Desoto, KS  property developer to turn the former Fort Scott Manor Nursing Home into apartments.

Following that approval, Shane Lamb, Rural ReDevelopment Group LLC, sent a Housing Investors Tax Credit application in for the property located on Fort Scott’s west side at 736 S. Heylman.

Lamb and Susan Galemore, who is with Southeast Kansas Economic Development Coalition, appeared together before the commission on Feb. 7. Galemore helped Lamb prepare the application.

Lamb has applied for tax credits from the Kansas Housing Resource Corporation to develop the property into 19 rental units.

“Fifteen will be one-bedroom units, four will be two-bedroom units,” Lamb said. “It is on less than two acres and the building is approximately 20,000 square feet.”

Lamb purchased the Fort Scott Manor property in January of 2022, he said. “It was closed down by the state several years ago, then went through bankruptcy proceedings. I believe it has been closed for three years.”

The Fort Scott property will not be low-income apartment rentals, Galemore said. “They will be standard market, not income based.”

“We focus on rural towns and rural housing,” he said.   “Typically, we purchase nursing homes, schools, hospitals…single-use vacant properties we convert to housing.”

“We have 13 projects completed across different states, the closest to Fort Scott is one in Yates Center,” Lamb said. “We have 18 projects in the works.”

The grants are very competitive, Lamb said. “If I don’t get it the first time, we can apply again. I think it is every three months.”

The grants awarded are based on the communities need, he said. “Which community needs housing more than others.”

“I am on their timeline,” he said. “Once I get the green light, I can start and have 18 months to finish.”

Lamb said he always tries to use qualified local contractors and buy materials locally.

“I always try to keep the money local,” he said. “It doesn’t work 100 percent of the time. Sometimes you can’t find local partners to meet those deadlines…because they are so busy.”

Lamb said he should know by the end of March 2023 if he was awarded the grant.

The City of Fort Scott approved two resolutions  for an apartment project at 19 and 23 S. Main.

Currently Spoiled Brat Beauty Salon and Main Street Vintage and Co. are housed on the main floor of the two buildings.

The Project

Justin Pregont, with Pomeroy Development LLC, of Atchinson, appeared before the Fort Scott City Commission this month to ask for and did receive approval for the submission of a moderate income housing grant application to the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation.

In addition he sought and was approved for submission of a Rural Housing Incentive District and an Industrial Revenue Bond issue in support of the project.

The entire process of a project like this can take several years, Pregont said in an interview, and all plans are contingent on the receiving of the funds from the grants. In late March 2023, he will be notified from the state if he is a winner of the first of the grants, which he said is very competitive.

The Van Fossen Apartments is the name of the project. It is a sixteen  unit adaptive reuse and historic preservation project approximately 16,000 square feet of the second and third floors of the Van Fossen building at 23 S. Main as well as a comprehensive renovation of the second floor of 19 S. Main, which has approximately 3,000 square feet.

Pregont sought the city’s approval to apply for $1,375,000 in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) category, a federal stimulus bill to aid public health and economic recovery.

It is in  the Moderate-Income Housing (MIH) category of the grant. He stated that the city’s responsibility is administrative, because the checks must flow through a local government sponsor.

Pregont told the commission he has similar projects he has done in the past. He stated that he is the sponsor, he is responsible for carrying it through to completion and he is responsible for the compliance, but the funds flow through the city.

To see prior projects of Pregont:

https://www.pomeroydevelopment.com/

“A friend of mine notified me of the real estate listing,” Pregont said. “We like historic buildings, they are superior in architecture to  modern.

The historic tax credits are a big piece of the funding of such projects.

The Apartments

The apartments will be “top of the market”, Pregont said, and the rents will reflect that. “It will provide quality housing for people who want something better.”

He said he knows people are concerned about the increased shortage of parking spaces in the historic downtown area.

“Anytime there is a booming downtown, there is parking distress,” he said. “It’s an indication of success.”

The primary entrance will not be on Main Street, but on First Street near the alley, which should help with the parking issue currently on Main Street, he said.

Whether pets will be allowed in the apartments, Pregont said it is uncertain at this time, although therapy dogs will be, according to laws that are in place.

Many business owners and downtown residents have expressed concern over animal feces in the downtown area.

About the Name

The buildings were built in the 1880s by Van Fossen and Wilcox, Pregont said.  It was originally a dry goods store, but through the years saw many transformations.

“Van Fossen is a unique name, so we went with that,” Pregont said.