Progress 2019 | Business & Community

Progress

2019

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February 2 AND 3, 2019

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GROWTH JESSIE WAGONER/GAZETTE

By Lydia Kautz

lydia@emporia.com

There is room to grow in northwest Emporia.

Spencer Thomson, developer of the Emporia Pavilions, which houses Hobby Lobby, said there are several businesses interested in being a part of the development. None that have been able to move in yet, however.

“We’ve got several (letters of intent) with some prospective tenants that I can’t disclose because we’re under confidentiality,” he said. “But they’re contingent upon additional users.”

These businesses, Thomson said, have co-tenancy requirements which demands that there be other business-

“I think that area’s going to see upgrades.

I think it will follow that way.”

BOBBI MLYNAR, Emporia City Commissioner

es occupying adjacent lots before they’ll agree to open.

“Certain users won’t come until there’s a certain critical mass or amount of other users that are committed,” he said. “As of right now, we haven’t been able to meet those tenancy requirements for the folks that we do have. But we’re working on it and kind of regrouping.”

One of these potential users who has expressed in-

terest in the site is a depart- Hobby Lobby is located in the Emporia Pavilions Development. ment-store-esque business, he said. The business has told Thomson that it would need “another 20,000, 30,000 square feet of users” before they’d be willing to open their doors.

“You have to assemble multiple users that are willing to go at the same time,” he said. “That’s the challenge.

So we’ll get there eventually.

It’s just been a real competitive environment — difficult.”

According to Thomson, the retail climate is rough right now, with Amazon and other large, online retailers scooping up vast amounts of Please see Pavilions, Page 3 (Progress)

GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

Aldi held the grand opening for its new building on the corner of Industrial Road and 24th Avenue in Aug. 2018.

• c o m m u n i t y •

SCHALLENKAMP HALL TAKES SHAPE

By Jessie Wagoner jessie@emporia.com

Progress at Emporia State University comes in many forms.

To those passing by the southeast entrance of campus, the most obvious would be the addition of Schallenkamp Hall, a new residence hall for first-year and upper-class students.

Student input Schallenkamp Hall places learning front and center. In addition to providing housing for 324 students, the hall also features a learning commons, two music practice rooms, an art studio, a team study room, a mid-sized classroom, a recreational space and two-story lounges that feature community kitchens. Many of the design elements were suggested Please see Hall, Page 4 (Progress)

JESSIE WAGONER/GAZETTE

Schallenkamp Hall, located on Emporia State University campus, is nearing completion. Students will begin residing in the hall in Aug. 2019.

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THE GAZETTE, EMPORIA, KANSAS

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February 2 and 3, 2019

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ADDING TO THE SPIRITS OF EMPORIA Locallyproduced beverages bring tourism, economic growth

By Melissa Lowery

Special to The Gazette

Locally-produced beer, wine and liquor have become big business in the past 20 years.

Craft breweries are now so common, it’s difficult to remember that just a short time ago they were considered pretentious, hipster affectations.

Now, brew pubs are part of a tourism boom bringing in much-needed revenue to small towns across the country.

“Fans of craft beer and wine are typically willing to travel for unique experiences,” Emporia Main Street Executive Director Casey Woods said. “People who may be on the fence about coming to town to see a show at the Arts Center, Granada Theatre or ESU view wineries, breweries and distilleries as an added incentive to travel.”

The Brewers Association reports that small and independent craft brewers contributed $76.2 billion to the U.S. economy in 2017, including more than 500,000 direct and indirect jobs. In Kansas, craft brewing generated more than $509 million and more than 3,000 jobs in 2017.

Wineries and local vintners are also generating significant economic impact. The local wine industry contributes more than $220 billion to the

FILE PHOTO

Then democratic gubernatorial candidate Laura Kelly brought a large crowd to Twin Rivers Winery and Gourmet Shoppe during a meet and greet event.

U.S. economy, reports Wine America. This includes more than $17.6 billion in tourist revenue, which directly benefits local communities.

And now craft distilleries are poised to make the same leap in growth. According to Beverage Daily, the number of craft distilleries rose 26 percent and the number of jobs at craft distilleries rose 50 percent in 2017. And those numbers are only expected to increase as industry watchers predict a boom in craft distilleries along a similar trajectory as the craft brewing industry.

What does all this mean for Emporia? Currently, our city boasts two of these three economic engines — Radius Brewing Company and Twin Rivers Winery and Gourmet Shoppe — produce their own brews and wines, respectively, and both draw a fair amount of tourists to the city.

“People are looking for entertainment as well as unique items,” said Becky Smith, owner of Twin Rivers. “When you visit our winery, we want

you to have a fun and unique experience tasting the wines, talking about them, coming to one of our unique wine events as well as purchasing our locally-made products. People are willing to drive to have that experience, so we see a lot of out-of-town wine enthusiasts year-round.”

These types of businesses can also be a deciding factor in bringing other industries to town or enticing people to relocate, Woods said.

“I can tell you locally that we just held a tech site visit that was looking for the ‘three B’s’ — Broadband, Business-Education and Brewpubs — as part of their site selection process,” he said.

“You can see both Twin Rivers Winery and Radius used as places to ‘close’ visits with local industries and local institutions, particularly ESU, as they solidify staff hires.”

Josh Williams is hoping to complete the trifecta when he opens Trolley House Distillery later this year.

It was while touring Ozark

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Visitors view tanks at the Radius Brewing Company during a How It’s made Tour.

Distillery in Missouri with owner, and former Emporian, Dave Huffman, that Williams began to seriously consider opening a distillery. After listening to reports from city officials, discussions at Leadership Emporia and other city planning and tourism events, he decided to take the leap.

“Eventually, someone was going to need to open one in Emporia because we have the brewery, we have the winery, so we knew there was a need,” Williams said. “The start-up cost is high, but overhead is low. We find the industry really interesting, so we decided to jump in.”

Trolley House Distillery will be located at 502 S. Commercial St., former home of Dalton Gang Antiques and originally the storage building for Emporia’s mule-drawn trolley cars. Major reconstruction is needed to fit the building for its new purpose, but

Williams plans to preserve as much history as possible.

“You can still see a couple of rails in the concrete, the stable areas, even the pit where the mechanics had to go under the cars to do repairs,” he said. “We plan to preserve as much of that as we can so we can show people when we give tours.”

Opening day is still about 8 — 10 months away, if everything goes according to plan.

In addition to designing and remodeling the building, Williams is in the early stages of planning what to produce.

“We’ll definitely have bourbon whiskey and we’re thinking about flavored moonshine, flavored vodkas, just some unique liquors,” he says. “We want to build around American classics like bourbon and whiskey, but if anybody comes to us with a great idea, we’d be willing to try it.”

Williams hopes Trolley

House Distillery will add to Emporia’s growing reputation as a destination for unique, locally-produced craft alcohol in addition to the activities available in the area. With a brew pub and winery already established, he sees the distillery as a natural but still uncommon addition.

“Not a lot of places can boast all three, especially in a city our size, so this should be helpful from a tourism perspective,” he said.

Woods agreed.

“Comparatively speaking, there aren’t a lot of distilleries in Kansas,” he said. “If a quality product is produced, the relative uniqueness of the facility may produce a stronger draw.

Because all three groups in Emporia have friendly familiarity with one another, the cross promotional marketing potential for the city is significant.”

Cheers to that!

• c o m m u n i t y •

Lofty living

Haag ready to repurpose Citizens National Bank building

By Lydia Kautz

lydia@emporia.com

Haag Development Owner Cory Haag announced in July a plan which could help breathe new life into downtown Emporia.

On July 25, he addressed the Emporia City Commission about his plans to turn the Citizens National Bank building at 527 Commercial St. into Citizens National Plaza and Lofts. The five-story former bank building will be filled with commercial suites located on the ground floor with loft-style apartments on the upper floors, according to information released Wednesday by Emporia Main Street.

There will also be a

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three-story, mixed-use building constructed at the corner of Sixth Avenue and Merchant Street, on the southeast corner. The structure, called Preston Plaza and Lofts, will also contain commercial suites on the bottom floor and loft-style apartments on the upper floors.

“The redevelopment of the bank building will preserve one of the most histor-

ically-significant buildings in Emporia,” Haag said. “It has been a pillar of the community for close to 100 years.”

He said the building, which is about 95 years old, needs to be renovated and preserved.

“At the time it was built, it was considered to be one of the grandest bank buildings built in the Midwest,” Haag said.

He said the project would involve about $6.5 million in private investments and would stress the preservation of the historic integrity of the structure while making it useful and bringing new businesses to Emporia’s downtown.

The bank has been empty for two years, Haag said, turning the site into a “dead area,” something he believes

this project can fix.

“These new loft apartments will have all the modern amenities offered today along with some of the best views of Emporia,” he said.

“The lofts will have an assortment of studio, one bedroom and two bedroom apartments, and spacious layouts … these will strengthen our already vibrant downtown.

Like I said, the downtown’s the heart of the community and a lot of people take great pride in supporting and preserving it.”

Emporia Main Street Executive Director Casey Woods praised Haag’s work on past projects that restored and revitalized parts of Emporia, which include the Granada Theatre.

“We’ve seen the impact of these sorts of upper-story housing developments on their immediate areas, but we haven’t seen anything that’s south of Sixth Avenue,” he said.

Woods said the organization he heads feels this is a chance not just to improve the corner where the devel-

opment will be located, but also the general area as a whole by bringing in businesses. He said the work could bring in a new kind of tenant, as well.

“This’ll be one of the first buildings that has undergone adaptive reuse with an elevator in it,” Woods said. “We’re excited to see what that will do for the downtown area.”

This site once housed the first permanent building erected on the town site, the Emporia House, a Pioneer Hotel built in 1857, which was a recruiting place for soldiers during the Civil War. In 1924, the current five-story brick building was constructed to house the Citizens National Bank, according to Emporia Main Street. The building was considered at the time as being one of the grandest bank buildings built in the Midwest.

Construction is intended to start in 2019 and finish up in summer 2020.

— This story is being reprinted from the July 26, 2018, edition of The Emporia Gazette.

February 2 and 3, 2019

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THE GAZETTE, EMPORIA, KANSAS

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COMMUNITY — LOOKING BACK

Downtown Living Developer sees Commercial Street as prime space for retailresidential mix

By Brandy Nance

The Emporia Gazette

EDITOR’S NOTE: To help us celebrate where we’re going, it is sometimes nice to take a look back at how far we’ve come. The following story is being reprinted from the 2009 edition of Progress — one decade ago.

One of Emporia’s newest real estate projects will offer shopping and living space all under one roof in downtown Emporia.

Cory Haag, a local developer and property manager,

PAVILIONS From PAGE 1 (Progress) capital that could otherwise be spent locally.

“We’ve been trying to work with grocers and haven’t had any commit yet,” he said. “But we’re still talking to several. It’s just been a tough environment. Small market, tough retail climate generally and I think all those things combined have made it challenging.”

Thomson hopes to bring in several of what he calls junior anchors — meaning larger users — before selling off any of the smaller pad sites, but he would welcome inquiries from smaller businesses as well.

He said the ownership team and his firm, Thomson Walker, routinely reach out to potential users, among other tactics.

Thomson will continue to try to entice businesses to set up shop at the Emporia Pavilions.

“We’re going to keep working it hard and hopefully, eventually, good things will happen,” he said. “I think the Hobby Lobby’s quite successful. It’s done the kind of business they were anticipating.”

Thomson said he hopes, come spring, that new things will begin to develop at the Emporia Pavilions.

City Commissioner Rob Gilligan said the future is looking up for industry in Emporia and not just for the Emporia Pavilions.

Simmons is working on an expansion and Gilligan expects the project to be at significant completion within the next few months, with final completion projected to be reached in April or May. Commissioner Bobbi Mlynar agreed everything was moving well at Simmons.

“We’ll be looking for them to complete it as weather allows,” she said.

According to Mlynar,

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Cory Haag, right, has been involved in several developments in Emporia for well over a decade. Ten years ago, he was working to bring the Granada Plaza and Lofts to downtown Emporia. His wife, Amber, owns Haag Pharmacy.

said Granada Plaza & Lofts, 726 Commercial St., will offer three to four commercial suites that can be used for retail, commercial, offices, restaurant or other business services. The building will offer 13 loft-style

apartments that will have personal balconies overlooking the Granada Threatre.

The apartments all will be “super-sized,” with one bedroom and will come with kitchen appliances and a washer and dryer.

“The exterior has been designed to blend with the historical characteristics of downtown Emporia,” Haag said.

Kyle Trendel, owner of Devore & Associates Architects in Ottawa, helped design the building and Dustin Ochs, owner of CKEC Engineering in Emporia, is the engineer, Haag said.

Dirt work began on the project this fall. The apartments are scheduled to be finished Aug. 1.

Jimmy John’s, a franchised sandwich shop and one of the Granada Lofts’ first tenants, is slated to open by mid-August, said Tyler Clabaugh, manager of the Topeka Jimmy John’s.

Clabaugh said this will be their second franchise.

His father, Rick Clabaugh, lives in Nebraska and together they manage and own the franchises.

The Jimmy John’s name

first became known in 1983 when Jimmy John Liautaud decided to create a gourmet sandwich by keeping it simple. Liautaud operated his first shop with used equipment consisting of a refrigerator, a chest freezer, oven and meat slicer.

Today, there are more than 870 stores open around the country.

Haag has been a part of several developments in Emporia, including the Ashley II and the Ashley developments, Prairie Sage, Brentwood Court, Whittier Court and Olpe Main Street Cottages in Olpe.

“The goal is to provide the highest quality of (rentals) in Emporia,” Haag said.

“We try to have a niche in the market. We try to make every development unique and special. I enjoy watching the seasons change with the trees, flowers and shrubs that are at each develop-

ment. I have just started to add water fountains and waterfalls at developments.”

Haag said he enjoys downtown development.

Emporia has a beautiful downtown,” he said. “We also have a great university sitting at the end of our downtown. There is a lot of potential in downtown Emporia because of its size and because of the university location to Main Street.”

Haag and his father have traveled all over Kansas to look at downtown districts, Haag said. he said Emporia’s downtown district is unique and it has more potential than any Kansas downtown community.

“Once you get downtown, everybody is willing to help out,” he said. “There’s a lot of downtown community support. It’s a neat group.

The lofts will be good to bring people back downtown.”

went to all the time and expense and trouble to install the widening of 24th Avenue around their property and then the stop lights,” she said. “It’s good that we were able to add another one. I’m glad that Aldi did that. It looks like they have a very steady flow of customers. I think Emporians in the area — residents — are really responding to that new store.”

According to Mlynar, the upgraded grocery store was a needed addition.

“They’ve kind of changed their format to a more traditional store, but they still offer a lot of quality products that meet the needs at a good price and I know that, with FILE GRAPHIC our population — it really An artist rendering shows the expansion of Simmons Pet Food. doesn’t matter whether it’s lower- or high-income — I housing is going up around city actively seeks to bring in were ready to get things go- grocery store. see people of all kind out “It was really nice to have there at Aldi,” she said. “It’s ing.”

Simmons and a water tow- fresh commerce.

Mlynar said she’s excep- something like that on the nice that everyone feels free “We’re always wanting to er is being built by the city nearby the plant that will have new businesses come tionally pleased with the new corner since the Pavilions to go use it.” help with the water pressure in,” she said. “As far as retail around Simmons and in the goes, Emporia Main Street surrounding neighborhood. does a wonderful job of tryWhile the Simmons expan- ing to fill the retail slots, and sion will be completed well I think we have a better asbefore the water tower is fully sortment of retail now than operational, Mlynar feels the we’ve had for a while and it two efforts go hand-in-hand. seems like people are shop“There’s going to be great- ping more.”

The city can tell that peoer demand (for water,)” she said. “So we really needed to ple are shopping in Emporia make sure that we had that — because sales tax revenues we could meet the demand are up by about 4 or 5 peron a consistent basis. I’m cent.

“That was a wonderful hoping that that’s going to be convenient for Simmons surprise,” Mlynar said.

In terms of developments to be able to have housing for their employees that is close which were completed in the last year, the opening of the by.”

Mlynar believes the Sim- new Aldi store at 2331 Indusmons expansion will benefit trial Rd. was a big deal for the neighborhood surround- Emporia in 2018.

According to Gilligan, the ing the plant.

“I think that area’s going grocery store invested monto see upgrades,” she said. “I ey in improving the roadway think it will follow that way.” along Industrial Road in front Though Gilligan said of the shop, adding a turning there’s nothing huge and new lane which he said helped on the horizon as far as he “create a better flow of traffic knows for Emporia in 2019, in that area.”

“That project was just 100 the spring building season is about to start and he expects percent on their own,” he said to see new construction of the building of the new Aldi store. “They just came to around town.

According to Mlynar, the us on their own when they

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HALL From PAGE 1 (Progress) by students.

“We’re so excited,” President Allison Garrett said at the groundbreaking in Nov. 2017. “This day has been a long time coming. We’ve had students, faculty and staff members involved in the design phase and it’s been truly incredible to see so many people involved and deciding what this new residence hall will look like.”

Cass Coughlin, director of residential life, isn’t new to the process of designing residence halls. He has been a part of the design process before on other campuses.

But, he said this experience has been different because of the high value placed on the input of students.

“In terms of student input, it has to be one of, if not the most, dynamic projects in terms of student input,” Coughlin said. “The other projects I’ve been a part of, there were very clear obsta-

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cles to student input — they may have been financial, they might have been the university’s vision for building— but throughout this process, President Garrett, Jim Williams and other administrators never put those typical obstacles in place.

People around the table designing it didn’t always agree, but the student input was often what helped us.

The student input was often, if not always, what helped us choose between X or Y.” One of the unique design elements seen in Schallenkamp Hall is the emphasis placed on community areas.

Coughlin said a good deal of thought went into creating community spaces in the hall which would encourage learning and student interaction.

“Throughout the design process there was really a focus on creating inviting community spaces,” Coughlin said. “My comment to the supervisor as we were walking through the building was, I said, ‘I think the only thing I would do in

THE GAZETTE, EMPORIA, KANSAS my room was sleep.’ There is just a lot of difference venues where students can come out. Their wings have a few different places they can gather. Five different wings come together at a two-story lounge and they have a kitchen and nice, big windows with awesome views to the west.”

From design to reality With a design in place and the groundbreaking complete, construction began moving forward at full steam. What was once an empty lot has now been transformed into a large — almost complete — home away from home for students.

“A substantial portion of the work is completed,” Coughlin said. “I’ve walked the building top to bottom, every wing, and it is coming together. Some rooms are painted already, light fixtures are going in, ceilings are going in.”

Coughlin anticipates the

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substantial completion date to be in mid-April to May at the latest. Then they will work on punch-list items to finish things up with the contractor throughout May and June. Furniture is scheduled to arrive in July and Schallenkamp Hall will be open and ready for students in August.

Watching the residence hall take shape has been a journey for all the administrators and individuals involved. Seeing the structure and progress is rewarding.

Coughlin said the real reward will come when Schallenkamp Hall is filled with students.

“The work and the effort and the energy is one thing, it looks really good on paper, but until students are in there and animating the space, it’s not done,” Coughlin said. “That is the part I’m really looking forward to seeing. Even as I was walking through today I was envisioning the community and the individual residents and the energy and animation they bring to it. That will

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be the really exciting part to me.”

A community open house will be scheduled during the summer. Coughlin encourages community members to watch for coming information and plan to attend.

Additional Progress Schallenkamp Hall is not the only project occurring at Emporia State, there are, in fact, a number of projects in a variety of stages.

The Prophet Aquatic Research and Outreach Center will be located on the ESU campus adjacent to King Lake in order to provide a learning environment that is a hybrid between the field and the classroom. The center will provide a multitude of opportunities for high-impact learning, student and faculty research and education outreach to entities including the community, K-12 students, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.

The Kossover Family

February 2 and 3, 2019 Tennis Complex, which will be located near the existing Milton Tennis Courts on the southeast corner of Merchant Street and 18th Avenue, will more than double the current tennis court footprint on campus.

The complex will feature six new championship-quality tennis courts — two indoor and four outdoor. It will house the tennis teams’ locker rooms, coach’s office, players’ lounge, student-athlete study area and and indoor court viewing deck and outdoor patio. It will provide an on-campus, cold-weather tennis training center.

The Breidenthal University House is in the midst of construction and is expected to be completed in Oct. 2019. The new 5,708-square-foot facility will include both private living space for the ESU president and a fully separate public entertaining space.

The house is being built on the grounds of the former president’s residence at 1522 Highland St.

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