Ribbon cutting, open house for 1917 Lofts

After many years and some stops and starts, a major construction project has finally been brought to fruition in downtown Red Oak.
On Dec. 13, a ribbon cutting was held at the 1917 lofts, formerly the Red Oak Junior High School building at 308 E. Corning St. Numerous dignitaries were in attendance, including Debi Durham, Director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Iowa Finance Authority, who said she was excited to be in Red Oak to mark the occasion.
“This is a great day for Mayor Shawnna Silvius. She and I had many conversations about this. What we know at IFA, due to our research, is by the year 2030, our state will still need an additional 25,000 homes to meet the demands of our growing economy. While this is a significant challenge, it is one we can address through projects just like this. Rehabilitation projects are close to my heart and so important to community development. And truth be known, I actually am a building hugger, because I can’t imagine an iconic building like this being torn down. And I do a tour,” Durham said. “I love the uniqueness of every single home. But I also love going on the tour with a lot of locals. I got to hear about different teachers and different things that occurred in the different classrooms. So the sense of history here is so alive.”
Durham added that the former junior high school wasn’t just a school, it was a cornerstone of the community.
“It’s where friendships blossomed, knowledge flourished, and futures were forged. Transforming it into a place where families can thrive ensures that it remains an integral part of the Red Oak story. But let’s be very, very clear, these projects are not easy to do. I think anyone who is involved in that can attest to that story. A lot of stops and starts. Projects like these are intricate and demand a variety of funding sources, as it is. Then when you throw in a global pandemic, supply chain issues, and so many other challenges, they certainly are not for the faint of heart,” advised Durham. “This project has not only given new life to the historic school, but will provide opportunities for residents to live in this beautiful community for generations to come. I congratulate the city of Red Oak, the building and development team and corporation, and the entire development group in getting this project to the finish line. You certainly, from a state’s perspective, exceeded all of our expectations.”
Red Oak Mayor Shawnna Silvius also spoke during the event, expressing her appreciation to Durham and her organization for not giving up on the city when the project ran into snags.
“This is a day many of us didn’t think was going to happen for a long time. This project started back in 2017 while I was working as the Montgomery County-Development Corporation executive director. I had a really hard time finding a place to live. I reached out to a gentleman that I had worked with and an organization I had worked with from Kansas City called Prairie Fire Development Group, and Kelly Hrabe. I brought them here to take a tour of the community and figure out where we could look at a low-income housing tax credit project, because I was familiar with how those projects work and that we really need that type of project here,” advised Silvius.
Silvius said they initially started looking at the redemption center before the old middle school ended up being the perfect project for the community.
“We brought a lot of people together. Montgomery County Development Corporation, the board, Daric O’Neal with Alley Poyner, the school administration, then-superintendent Tom Messenger and then school board president Mark Johnson, the City of Red Oak, as well as the rest of the school board. It took a lot of conversations, a lot of planning. We moved forward with things. Daric and his design team showed us how this facility could be maximized for use of space. Prairie Fire put together the application. They had to go through training here in Iowa in order to have this type of a project to administrate it. When they applied for the financing with low-income housing tax credit and historic tax credit, they did receive the competitive funding for that. And with that then, the school was then vacated in the summer of 2019,” said Silvius.
The project proceeded into the winter months of 2020. Of course, then spring came, but then shortly after that came the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When the pandemic hit, the supply chain was a major issue, especially with some of the historic nature of the switchgear and some of the things. The windows alone, they were looking at over a year waiting list on some of those items. After they ended up having to slow down the process and at that point, Chele Thornton got involved on behalf of the Builders Development Corporation, which is a nonprofit. She was the executive director doing accounting. And shortly after I was elected as the mayor of the city, I then learned that the project actually had stopped around February of 2022,” Silvius explained.
With the project stalled, Silvius said they had to put out pleas to state senators and national leaders to see about getting some ARPA funding to fill in where there was a gap. And that did not happen. A re-application also failed. Project coordinators reached out to the Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 from Kansas City, and applied for a technical assistance grant, which was received.
“They brought out their team and they took an assessment of the building to come up with other ideas for the gymnasium and the auditorium, and to help us identify other financing options available. I will say that this project would not have happened without a number of folks like Kelly Edmonds with Merritt Construction, and Chele and Kelly Hrabe. They cared about this project, even though they’re not from here,” Silvius said.
Thornton then addressed the crowd, saying she gets emotional just thinking about all the things that they went through.
“It was a challenge. I was the accountant at Builders Development Corporation, and we had a different executive director. He chose to go on a different path, which was fine, and I was kind of just thrown in my lap. I’ve learned a lot about my tech projects and a lot of things that I never knew I was going to learn, but it was a challenge, and I was up for it, and here we are. We were never going to give up. We didn’t have a choice of giving up, Thornton stated. “I took a lot of you on tours. I spoke on your radio. I spoke to your city council. We did everything, and when the ARPA funds fell through, yes, it was devastating, but I can tell you right now, M1 Bank and Merritt Construction and Kelly Hrabe are among those who pulled this thing to the end. They did it, and they have done an amazing job. This is an amazing project. When I was single with three kids and would have qualified for one of these apartments, I would have given my right arm to be living here. It’s beautiful, so you should be proud of this building. I know a lot of you probably went to school here. You already have some pride in it, but you should be really proud of this project. Your mayor really put her neck on the line, and we put our neck on the line with everybody in Iowa. We stomped on a lot of toes, but we’re here,” Thornton advised.
Hrabe also spoke, citing that a historic project is a hard project on a good day, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, all bets were off.
“We had five projects going on throughout Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, and they all got caught up in the COVID mess. Every project got shut down. Lenders were walking away from deals. Developers were walking away from deals. Nobody wanted to mess with this, but with the team effort of the mayor, the city, Chele, and all the other people that partnered with us allowed us to get it done. I definitely have to give a shout-out to M1 Bank. We can be a great team, and we can put in the best effort possible, but if you don’t have a way to finance the project, it’s not going to happen,” Hrabe stated. “M1 Bank paid above price for the tax credits that came into this project to make it feasible, where other investors were basically walking away from these projects. Definitely, without M1 Bank this project wouldn’t have happened.”
Heather Kuczewski with M1 Bank addressed the crowd, saying the bank felt the community need, and wanted to fill the need with every effort.
“We put our heart in this and Shawnna was instrumental. Her message and her reach out really put some inspiration in me to make sure that this got done,” commented Kuczewski.
Silvius then gave additional praise to Alley Poyner Macchietto Architects for their efforts.
“They had the design of this project in their brain from the very beginning and the first conversations, they named it the 1917 Lofts, which is a perfect name for this building based on the year that it was dedicated, I believe we appreciate Daric for all of his diehard efforts and for not losing faith in this project, too. It would not have happened without him as well,” advised Silvius.
Silvius also gave praise to Iowa Senator Tom Shipley, county supervisor Mike Olson, as well as Montgomery County Development Corporation executive director Steve Adams, and Elaine Carlson and Tammy Van Meter with the Red Oak Chamber and Industry Association. Silvius also recognized the Red Oak School District for its willingness to consider this project over the demolition of the property.
“During the school bond issue, I believe it was set that this project could be demolished for a million dollars. So, by selling this property, they were able to keep those funds and invest in the Washington School property, which is now our child care center and also to purchase the Intertech Collision Center building, which is now the administration office This one project made way for four projects. That’s good economic development,” Silvius explained. “Taking a school and making it into a historic residential unit property is not an easy task, but it’s a way of repurposing a really important piece of our history. And as Debbie mentioned, every tour I’ve taken people on, everyone remembers being in certain classrooms, so that makes each room really special.”
Once the project was restarted, Silvius said crews had to work overtime to meet certain deadlines.
“It had to have at least one unit with an occupancy certificate by June 30. There was nothing really done to the building from February 2022 until August 2023. Part of that was because there were some major sabotaging and vandalism incidents that occurred in this property right after they announced the funding was available. So then it took about four months of insurance claims and arguing back and forth with the insurance company to be able to then move forward, so they technically did almost the majority of the work from January of 2024 until June 30 of 2024. And they did indeed get that occupancy certificate for the one unit. And obviously now we have the occupancy certificate for the entire building. The switchgear took a long time to get in, and I know that’s what held us up from being able to rent them until now,” Silvius said.
For more information about renting a loft, call (641) 277-4027, email info@beacon.cc, visit beacon.cc/1917lofts.html, or the Facebook page at facebook.com/1917Lofts.