Oskaloosa Downtown Continues To Redefine Itself
Representation of Trolley Place after work is completed (contributed image)
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Oskaloosa residents have become familiar with clear plastic covering their buildings during the winter months. The last time, it was even wrapped to appear like a giant present as the ‘Iowa Building’ was presented to the community.
This time, the familiar sound of saws, hammers and power equipment have taken over the set of buildings collectively known as ‘Trolley Place’.
Six apartments are planned for the second floor over what was the McGregors location and the smaller building that is just to the east of it, known as the Fitch and Fitch building and was named after a harness shop that occupied the building in the past.
The apartments are going to be roughly 900 square feet in size and will cost approximately $500 monthly in rent.
Elevator access is being installed in the alley to make urban life easier over having to climb flights of stairs.
“Phase one of the project is the restoration of the exterior of the building; new windows and further stabilization of the three buildings”, explained Jim Hansen, spokesman for the project. Along with the 6 apartments, ‘White Boxing’ of the retail space on the ground floor of the two buildings will also take place to facilitate ease of any potential new business that would choose to move into the location.
Removal of old walls is currently under way on the second floor of the Malcolm Building
Additional housing is a possibility in the Malcolm Building, above the space that is currently occupied by Pizza Ranch.
“There’s unique space on the third floor of the Malcom Building”, Hansen said eluding to the days when the Knights of Pythias had the space built for them. In the back of that space is an auditorium or ball room size space with a stage.
Plans on how to use that space are currently undecided.
The second floor of the Malcom Building used to house many different little offices and at one point was home to a private detective.
I-jobs money, to the tune of $900,000, is being spent on the project, along with a 1 million dollar grant from HUD, and Historic Tax credits making up another portion of the project.
Historic Tax credits are handed out for restoring historic buildings. “There’s a market for those[tax credits]. Turn around and sell [to] those [buyers] that can use the tax credits. It generates cash for that.” Hansen said.
Demolition continues in the former location of McGregors, next to the current Pizza Ranch
“We’re going to have a very limited amount of borrowing at the end of this, that will be taken care of through rent.
A $50,000 grant from the Oskaloosa Housing Trust Fund along with contributions from both the county and city to go along with the i-Jobs money will have the project coming in around 3.4 million dollars.
“Because of the HUD grants, the rent in the apartments needs to be ‘low to moderate income housing'”, Hansen explained on why the rent would make it more accessible to more people.
Oskaloosa Downtown Development is a non-profit organization. It was formed around 2002 “to basically redevelop properties downtown” Hansen said of the group’s purpose.
The plan is to have the buildings ready to go by September of this year.
