Issue 4: MHK Business News - Q4/2019

2019 • Quarter four

REGION

Pet Food U Kansas State University digs its claws into researching the food we feed our best friends with its innovative pet food program.

REGION

The Opportunity in Our “Old” New Urbanism

REGION

Incite MHK Invests in Downtown Public Art

EDUCATION

Gen Z is Ready to Work

www.mhk.business

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A Note From the Publisher

It’s Time to be Courageous Editor-in-Chief Josh Brewer Managing Editor Ashley Phillips Copy Editor Topanga McBride Photo Director Josh Hicks Art Director Jordan Seirer Graphic Designer Darcie Riordan Authors Josh Brewer Greg Doering Dené K. Dryden Daniel Phillips Megan Saunders Brandon Savage Sarah Siders Jason Teal Sheridan Wimmer Photographers Josh Hicks David Mayes Killian Millner Publisher Blade Mages 502 Media Group For subscriptions, advertising information or a current media kit, please contact: editor@mhk.business MHK Business News 103 N. 3rd Street Manhattan, KS 66502 (785) 320-6621

MHK Business News is published quarterly (February, May, August, November) by 502 Media Group, LLC., 103 N. 3rd Street, Manhattan, KS 66502. MHK Business News considers its sources reliable and verifies as much data as possible, although reporting inaccuracies can occur; consequently, readers using this information do so at their own risk. Although persons and companies mentioned herein are believed to be reputable, neither 502 Media Group, LLC, nor any of its employees or agents accept any responsibility whatsoever for their activities. MHK Business News is printed in the USA and all rights are reserved. © 2019 by 502 Media Group, LLC. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher. Views and opinions expressed by contributing writers do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.

Finishing the fourth issue of MHK Business News, I’m more aware than ever before of the many people in Manhattan investing endless hours and so much energy into our community. Nonprofits. For-profits. Activators and planners.

Thinkers and doers. Everywhere I look, I see passionate individuals coming together to accomplish more than they ever could have accomplished alone.

But I’m also left with many questions: Why do people in Manhattan go above and beyond what is required? Why do we get involved, volunteer and organize?

Why do we join boards and take on projects we know we don’t have time for?

Why do we passionately advocate for change, growth and innovation? What drives this expenditure of discretionary effort?

This magazine is a great example of that work. It’s been a year since we aimed to create new and deeper dialogue around business, entrepreneurship, economic development and placemaking in Manhattan. We knew it would be difficult and expensive. We knew it would require going above and beyond. A new print magazine in 2019? Odd. So, one year, four issues, 50 stories and $100,000 later, why did we do it? Sure, we’re giving back, but it’s more than that. I believe that the thing that unites all of us who tackle the work that is above and beyond is not simply “giving back” or succession planning or altruism. I believe it is something deeper. I believe it is fear. I believe we’re quietly afraid of what our community might become and what we might personally lose as a result of that transformation. Some, perhaps, fear that we may become a big city that is vastly different from the charming small town of yesterday. Others, perhaps, fear that we could face the fate of other rural communities and slowly fade away, losing our young people to more vibrant cities.

If it is fear that we share, how should we, as the hard-working, producing people of the Midwest, respond? We dig in. We build coalitions of people and ideas. We get to work. To the stars through difficulty, right? Recognize fear and be courageous.

Instead of emphasizing differences, deepening polarization, and becoming lost in divergent dialogue, we must focus on what will bring us together so that we can move forward. This is not a zero-sum game and there is no right and wrong.

There is only growth or stagnation.

In this issue, we explore fresh perspectives. Perspectives that are simple and innovative.

Perspectives that are bold and courageous. Perspectives that create opportunities to change our community for the better. Perspectives that recognize that running a business anywhere is hard work and it’s especially tough in Manhattan right now.

Perspectives that recognize fear and are courageous nevertheless.

Blade Mages Publisher

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In This Issue 28

Pet Food U Kansas State University digs its claws into researching the food we feed our best friends with its innovative pet food program.

20 The Opportunity in Our “Old” New Urbanism Everything old is new again, which is why Manhattan’s pedestrianfriendly sustainably-designed downtown core has a bright future once more.

42 Local Developers See Bright Future for the Community House An innovative partnership seeks to restore a historic building and add to the diversity of spaces downtown through forward-thinking design and development.

Don’t Miss

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Finn’s: The Aggieville Alternative

Gen Z is Ready to Work

All Buttoned Up

Celebrating One Year in Print!

4 issues • 50 stories • 40,000 copies distributed

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Article by Brandon Savage Photography by David Mayes

PEOPLE

Woof’s Play and Stay: Dreiling Sees Big Business in Doggy Daycare Dave Dreiling’s latest business venture diversifies the HCI portfolio by catering to an entirely new breed of clients.

“This is the most fun of any business I’ve had. I get to hang out with dogs and make the world a better place,” says Dave Dreiling, founder and CEO of HCI Hospitality.

As he explains the genesis of his latest business enterprise, a wide smile spreads across the face of this hometown serial entrepreneur. If you haven’t heard Dreiling’s name before, you have most likely heard of one of his businesses. As a young entrepreneur, he sold T-shirts out of the back of his car to Kansas State University fraternities and sororities in Manhattan. The busi4

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ness, originally named Greek To Me, later abbreviated to GTM, expanded to team uniforms and apparel and grew to be one of the largest companies in the area. In 2016, the company was bought

by Hanesbrands Inc. and renamed to Champion Teamwear.

In 2002, as GTM was growing, Dreiling began to diversify his business portfolio into the restaurant industry, and started Hungry Cats Incorporated, now known as HCI Hospitality. The multi-brand hospitality management company operates Cox Bros. BBQ, Powercat Sports Grill, Coco Bolos and

JC’s BBQ & Grill. In addition to these local favorites, the company also operates over 30 Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburger franchises across North Carolina, Texas, Nebraska and four other states.

After selling GTM, Dreiling spent 18 months exploring ways to diversify his remaining restaurant portfolio. He researched various franchise models and eventually realized the best answer had literally been in the backyard of his office building for over 12 years. As the GTM manufacturing facility (located on McCall Road across from Menards)

“This is the most fun of any business I’ve had. I get to hang out with dogs and make the world a better place”

DAVE DREILING, OWNER OF WOOF’S PLAY AND STAY, CHASES OPPORTUNITY IN A FAST-GROWING MARKET.

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was growing and expanding, Dreiling purchased adjacent properties in order to add more parking for his employees.

In 2007, shortly after purchasing one of the neighboring buildings, Dreiling was approached by local business owner Kelly Neel to convert a mechanic’s shop in the building into a pet care facility center. She named the new business the Howl-a-Dayz Inn. After 10 years of being Dreiling’s tenant, Neel was searching for a business partner. As Dreiling researched “doggy daycare” franchises, he quickly concluded that the industry was ripe for growth and was the diversification he had been seeking.

Dreiling learned that to start a franchise in one of the largest pet daycare companies required $100,000 up-front and 10% royalties on all future sales.

In comparison, one Freddy’s location only required $25,000 up-front and 5% royalties. However, Dreiling recognized a desirable trend. The pet care company was adding locations quickly, with many franchisees expanding to a second and third location, indicating that they were clearly profitable, despite the steep franchising costs.

Dreiling decided that he and Neel would be able to figure it out on their own. Shortly thereafter, Dreiling was introduced to Andy Wiltz, a former strategy consultant living in Kansas City. Wiltz had recently opened up his own pet care company called Woof ’s Play & Stay in Merriam, Kan., and wanted to grow his brand. Wiltz and 6

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Dreiling decided to team up, with Wiltz contributing the brand and operating system and Dreiling contributing capital and administrative support through HCI’s capabilities. While HCI was growing to over 1,600 employees, it had developed significant infrastructure including real estate, finance, HR, operations and IT staff. By introducing Woof ’s as a diversified offering within HCI’s portfolio, the ingredients were primed for growth.

After teaming with Dreiling, Wiltz’s second Woof ’s, the Howl-a-Dayz Inn, was converted to the Woof ’s brand in late 2017. Then, an additional acquisition was made in Leawood, Kan., and two new stores were started from scratch in Topeka, Kan., and Lawrence, Kan. Currently, five more locations are in the works: two in Wichita, one in Columbia, Mo., and an additional acquisition in south Kansas City.

The Importance of Differentiation in a Competitive Market The American Pet Products Association reports that the overall pet industry will be worth $75.4 billion in 2019. The pet retail sector has generally consolidated with big-box brands like PetSmart and Petco while the pet services sector has continued to be dominated by mom-and-pop stores throughout the country. These stores are generally run by passionate “dog people” who have a love for the busi-

ness but generally haven’t approached it from a business-disciplined growth perspective. With a highly fragmented and competitive landscape, Dreiling knew that product differentiation would be key to success.

“It’s a race to the top in this industry,” says Dreiling. “There are three kinds of dog owners. First are those that feel that nothing is too good for their pet. Second are those that feel that their pet is part of the family and will spend money on reasonable expenses. Lastly are those that feel that it’s just a dog and it can be easily replaced. We cater to the first and the second groups. The old days of board and kennel are gone.”

It’s evident that those two groups of dog lovers are Woof ’s priority because of the unique spaces and services they provide for dogs. When entering the Manhattan Woof ’s location (which shares a building with HCI), the “day play” area consists of multiple indoor-outdoor areas with about 50 dogs in each area. Dogs are dropped off each morning and spend the day socializing with other dogs while their owners are at work. The outdoor area has specialized grass-like turf with 6-8 inches of rock underneath. The turf is sanitized and hosed down nightly. An outdoor pool is filled once a week for pool day.

During this particular visit, the dogs are enjoying bubble day as they chase bubbles throughout the room, jaws snapping at the bubbles being blown about by the afternoon breeze.

The dogs are separated into packs based on size and temperment, including the high-energy group, bigger dogs and older dogs. First-time dogs go through a meet and greet process where they are brought into a separate room and given time to adjust to the smells of the other dogs in the facility. They are first introduced to a smaller dog and given time to adjust. Then they are introduced to a high-energy dog, and finally the most dominant dog in the pack. According to Dreiling, 95% of dogs quickly adjust and become part of the pack.

“The pack mentality is hard-wired into their brain,” says Dreiling, “Dogs learn more from each other than from humans. They read social cues from each other and get adopted in the pack hierarchy. Socialization can be very important to a puppy. Ideally, a puppy is introduced to 100 other dogs and 100 humans before they are four months old. By experiencing different types of dogs and humans, they learn to understand normal behavior.”

For long-term boarding, Woof ’s offers various sizes of accommodations, including adjoining and connected kennels for families. Deluxe suites offer flat-screen TVs for dogs to watch movies or television (Animal Planet is a favorite channel) and webcams for owners to check on their pets.

Here for you.

Commerce Bank welcomes Alan Disbrow to the business banking team as Vice President and Relationship Manager.

Alan has the experience to help solve the unique challenges facing companies in Manhattan, Wamego, Junction City and the surrounding region. Contact Alan today to discuss business banking solutions for your company.

“If we focus on pet health, pet care and pet well-being, we’ve found we can retain our customers and gain new ones through word-of-mouth advertising.”

Providing an amazing customer and canine experience has helped Woof ’s stand out in a crowded and competitive market and has provided an opportunity to charge a premium. “When a family finds a babysitter they trust, they want to keep them for as long as possible,” says Dreiling.

“It’s the same for us. If we focus on pet health, pet care and pet well-being, we’ve found we can retain our customers and gain new ones through word-of-mouth advertising.”

Through the window from the play area, a German shepherd gazes intently at Dreiling, cocking its head to the side as though listening to his explanation. As Dreiling looks down at the dog, it barks twice, spins around and sprints to the outside play area. There are more bubbles to chase. Dave laughs and continues the tour. Can success strike three times? It sure looks likely, and even if it doesn’t, it’s clear that Dreiling is having fun. ■ Brandon W. Savage provides fractional COO and management strategy consulting to companies throughout the Flint Hills area. He is also an instructor of strategy, ethics and operations at the Kansas State University College of Business Administration and received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Cheryl, live in Manhattan, Kansas, with their eight children and cat, Louie. Find him at www.thecxpro.com

785.587.1553 commercebank.com/business © 2019 Commerce Bancshares, Inc.

mhk business news WF486719 MH Alan Disbrow Ad MHK Mag 3.28x9.88.indd 1

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SPOTLIGHT

Finn’s: The Aggieville Alternative

Article by Jason Teal Photography by David Mayes

A downtown staple for nearly three decades, the new owners of Finn’s Neighborhood Pub are finding ways to invigorate the bar’s atmosphere while maintaining its classic charm.

To succeed on Poyntz Avenue, it takes more than good deals and bold neon lighting, and at Finn’s Neighborhood Pub, there are no frills or gimmicks and no fancy dress codes or high prices to confuse patrons, owners Tanya and Satish Ram say. Walking through the door, photographs tell stories of dart leagues and pool legends, friends and strangers, who found a community in the 28-year-old downtown fixture.

“Before anything, I was a customer here, when Greg and Marcia Finn bought the place way back in ’95,” says Satish.

Satish used to play competitive darts with the Lounge Lizards, a team that regularly made appearances in the dart league at the pub back when it was known as the Gin Mill. He later became a bartender in 2003 and Tanya followed suit shortly thereafter in 2004.

“We figured there was potential here,” Satish continues, “and that’s pretty much the reason we said, ‘Let’s buy the place when it does go up for sale.’”

Finn’s has a history of patrons becoming owners. Like the Rams, Greg and Marcia Finn were frequent patrons to the Gin Mill in the 1990s, and it was only natural for the Finns to seek ownership once they heard the Gin Mill was seeking a buyer. In a 2016 profile for The Manhattan Mercury, Greg said it was a simple decision to purchase the bar, only spending a few minutes thinking about the deal before entering discussions with the owner.

The Finns faithfully ran the establishment, garnering business from regulars and newcomers, for 23 years in the downtown district. This is an area of town with over 149 years of history running underneath its streets, and the tenure of Finn’s bar in this span was no insignificant feat.

Maintaining a Familiar Atmosphere The Rams aim to further develop the community-oriented culture within the bar that began with the Finns, building on an atmosphere in which everyone knows each other, like a “home away from home.” It’s this community mindset that draws repeat business to the downtown bar and retains staff in Manhattan’s otherwise fast-paced, college-centric bar culture.

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In addition to the comforting atmosphere, the Rams believe consistency and efficiency are key to success for Finn’s. Wherever you’re from, you should be able to visit the bar and expect the same quality service.

Today, Finn’s employs five people and many of them are also happy to visit the bar or to offer a helping hand on nights off if there is an especially heavy crowd.

Several of the staff —as well as regular patrons—transferred over when the bar was purchased by the Rams, lending to a loyalty to the business often craved by new entrepreneurs.

The Rams state that this achievement is due to quality customer service employed by the establishment, from owners and bartenders getting to know customers and making visits “a personal thing.”

The Aggieville Alternative Even with a loyal, established customer base, the Rams are focused on adjusting to industry changes and developing a wide array of activities and events to attract new customers.

Because of this, the pub is able to transform from a Wildcat fan-filled sports bar on Saturday to a karaoke club on Tuesday with dart league and pool league nights in between.

Live music is a top priority for the Rams, creating an energized, responsive and sound-absorbing environment for local and traveling musicians such as M31, Rise Again, Evolution and Box Turtles. An eclectic spectrum of live music is being booked reliably and consciously, including rock and blues acts as well as country. By establishing a regular live music function on Thursdays at 8 p.m., and occasional Saturdays, Finn’s has acquired more and more appeal to the average Manhattanite.

For those who’d rather select their own playlist, the open jukebox environment allows anyone to be the DJ for a group of friends or the entire bar. There are seven TV screens, so patrons can view competition from multiple places within the bar alongside friends who are more prone to punch at arcade-style video games focused on bowling, with some added surprises like Skee-Ball and a claw machine. But arguably, 10

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Finn’s most expressive event is the annual Halloween party, which doubles as a celebration of the bar’s anniversary.

In addition to expanding the pub’s activities and events, the Rams have spent time brightening the walls, removing obstructive blinds from the front windows and updating floors, bar tops and tabletops to elevate the quality of the facility. There’s no kitchen onsite, but customers are allowed to bring in food and Blue Moose, a neighboring restaurant and bar, offers free delivery service to the pub. Tanya says the pub has also been focused on building a safe culture for female customers by training staff to keep a close eye on all the action inside the pub—staff members have no qualms asking someone to leave if they’re causing others to feel uncomfortable. Ultimately, the Rams’ goal is to create a safe, clean and modern establishment for all patrons.

The Rams jokingly refer to their business as the “adult Aggieville alternative,” complete with the traditional attractions spied in many of the bars and restaurants located there—bright colors, school spirit, neon signs and enticing drink specials. Yet there’s an indescribable feature of Finn’s Neighborhood Pub that contributes to its charm, making it an approachable and memorable addition to the local nightlife. At Finn’s, you can expect a little bit of everything to create an experience like nothing else. ■

THREE YEARS AFTER PURCHASING THEIR FAVORITE MANHATTAN BAR, SATISH AND TANYA RAM CONTINUE TO BUILD COMMUNITY WITH FINN’S NEIGHBORHOOD PUB.

Jason Teal is a resident of Manhattan, Kansas and teaches writing at Kansas State University and edits the literary journal Heavy Feather Review. He organizes the community reading series Driptorch at Arrow Coffee Co. His debut book of short fiction, We Were Called Specimens, will be released in July 2020 with KERNPUNKT Press.

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MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESS

Out on a Limb Three Men Tree Service is rooted in caring for their community and environment.

Article by Megan Saunders Photography by David Mayes

When Paul Sergio Tolentino first moved from his home in Brazil to the U.S. in 1985, he wanted to help make the world a greener place. Nearly 35 years later, he has done exactly that—one tree at a time.

Paul and his brother, Elias Tolentino, own Manhattan’s Three Men Tree Service alongside their business partner, Mory Mort. The path to owning a business started after Paul earned his degree in public affairs and environmental sciences from Indiana University in 1991. Then, he moved to Boston.

“My goal was to help with the city’s water and pollution problems,” Paul says. “They were such big issues at the time that I thought it’d be easy to get a job in Boston, but it turned out to be much more difficult than I thought. When I was offered a job in the tree service business, I thought, ‘Well, this is close enough.’”

Once in it, though, Paul fell in love with the science needed to care for trees and found his background to be a perfect fit for the environmental knowledge necessary for the profession. When his aging parents became ill in 1999, Paul temporarily gave up his newfound passion to move back to Brazil for the better part of a decade. However, when Elias called Paul to invite him to Kansas to

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work for the tree business he’d begun with Mort, it felt like the right move.

“I came to Kansas, and I’ve been here ever since,” says Paul.

Elias came to Manhattan Christian College from Brazil, graduating with a ministry degree and also working in the physical therapy industry. Caring for the outside world may run in the Tolentino blood though, because Elias also found himself in the tree business after partnering with Mort in 2000.

“I became interested in trees after my childhood experiences in tropical Brazil,” says Elias. “I grew up with six siblings and at least six different kinds of fruit trees in our yard. I became a self-appointed tree climber and taught my siblings.

When I came to study in the U.S., a friend noticed my climbing skills and encouraged me to look into tree work.”

After learning the business from Charlie Porttoff, a local tree service business owner, Elias started his own business with Mort. Paul entered the business in 2009, officially creating the Three Men Tree Service. Today, Mort handles the project bidding while Elias and Paul handle the physical work.

In their business, the physical work typically involves caring for existing trees or planting new ones for both commercial and residential clients. Both Elias and Paul are certified arborists—Elias with the Kansas Arborist Association and Paul with the National Society of Arborists. Paul says this certification filters out those with the knowledge to do this type of work, which can often be dangerous.

“If you have someone working around your house or commercial establishment, you want to be sure they know what they’re doing,” says Paul.

“Jobs can go bad very quickly. Our certification requires us to stay up to date with our education, industry research, equipment changes and safety updates. If there’s a new tree plague in town or any sort of invasive issue, certification means we’re up to date and will know what to do.”

Three Man Tree Services focuses on trees, meaning they rarely venture into any other aspect of landscaping. Paul says their tree services often include planting, cabling, removal and storm-related maintenance. They also work with a thirdparty for stump grinding.

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PAUL, MORY AND ELIAS, THE TEAM BEHIND THREE MEN TREE SERVICE.

“Our work environment is a well-maintained urban forest,” says Paul. “It’s hard work, but we get to be outside and control our own destinies. I always tell people that as long as I have a rope and a chainsaw, I can go anywhere in the world and make money. I love trees—they grow on you.”

Paul laughs, insisting this is not an intentional pun but a factual statement. It’s this growth, he says, that tells the story of how a tree should be maintained. According to Paul, tree maintenance is important from its start to sustain a gorgeous piece of art on your property.

“Trees can be trendy; people see something in other parts of the country or in a magazine and think it can grow here, but that can become a problem,” says Paul.

Some trees, he adds, have branches that are too heavy, or a root system that isn’t compatible. Instead, Kansas is a great home to plants like cedar trees.

“I know many people hate cedar trees, but they provide a good service, taking heat and abuse,” says Paul. “It’s a 16

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good tree in that it is always there and provides what it is supposed to.”

Hackberry trees also are popular in Kansas. In fact, Paul says that most Kansas homes have either a cedar or hackberry tree. The problem comes when these trees grow to a certain height and then break because of Kansas winds and a root system that can’t take such a heavy amount of weight.

This is where a business like Three Men Tree Services comes in. Elias says his favorite aspects of the industry are the planning that goes into every job, as well as the diversity of worksites.

“I love being able to climb the trees and feel the fresh air and wind blowing,” he says. “The view from the tree tops is beautiful.”

While Paul and Elias love planting new trees, Paul says prevention is the most important service they offer.

When trees get too full, he says, they act like a flag moving back and forth, often causing breakage.

“In a forest, trees prune themselves because there are so many of them close together,” he says. “In a more

urban setting, we open up the tree by pruning it from the inside. Then, the wind can go through. It keeps the heavy limbs in check so the tree stays firm during the wind.”

In a sense, this amounts to paying for tree services before or after, Paul says. While one can certainly wait until there’s a problem to hire a professional, he warns that it is much cheaper to pay for preventative services.

“Just like any other part of your home, you have to maintain the trees,” Paul says.

Three Men Tree Service operates much the same as similar businesses did 100 years ago. Paul says they do every job by hand, using a rope and chainsaw to climb and bring a tree into submission when needed, rarely using a crane or other large piece of equipment. Working with his brother can be tense at times, Paul says, but that, in part, may be due to the type of work. They’re always on edge, Paul says, because even when you know what you’re doing, tree maintenance can still be dangerous work.

“I always joke that a bird will land on the end of the limb I’m cutting and change the direction it will fall,” says Paul. “If you have a house or powerline nearby, you’re always aware of avoiding risk wherever possible. There’s a lot of mathematical computation you do in your head as far as weight and direction.

It’s important to stay alert.”

Elias says he also enjoys working alongside his brother, adding they have a relationship of mutual respect.

“I respect him for his well-rounded knowledge of tree work and care, as well as his progressive approach to tree work and all aspects of the business,” says Elias. “I feel privileged to have him as my colleague and partner because I know he won’t cut corners when it comes to the well-being and safety of myself and our clients.”

Elias attributes part of Three Men Tree Service’s success to the Manhattan community, saying the good working relationships with other local tree businesses and local forestry department have benefited their work. Paul agrees, adding that Manhattan is a trusting community that has given them many repeat clients for whom they enjoy returning favors.

“Working in Manhattan is amazing because of the trust we have in our community. It’s a great place to work and live.”

“You have to trust the person you’re working for as much as they have to trust you to get the job done,” Paul says. We don’t work on contracts or a signature, but a handshake. Regardless of their ability to pay, we get done what needs to get done. Working in Manhattan is amazing because of the trust we have in our community. It’s a great place to work and live.” ■ Megan Saunders recently moved to Riley, Kansas, but still calls Manhattan home.

Along with her husband, she lives with her 4-year-old and 8-month old human babies, two dog babies and a really old cat.

She loves K-State, freelancing, all the food and most of the beer.

INTRODUCING OUR NEXT GENERATION OF LENDERS We’d like to introduce M.L. Latimore and Cody Blake as our newest Commercial Lenders.

M.L. and Cody have been an important part of the commercial banking team at KS StateBank for several years and will now be serving commercial clients in the Manhattan region working to build new relationships and helping businesses grow and succeed.

M.L. Latimore

AVP, Commercial Lending mlatimore@ksstate.bank

Cody Blake

AVP, Commercial Lending cblake@ksstate.bank

MEMBER FDIC | EQUAL HOUSING LENDER

ksstate.bank | 785-587-4000

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SPONSORED CONTENT

Frontier Property Management Looks for Common Ground A better rental experience is possible for renters and property owners, but it must start with collaboration.

We like to say that property management companies are the umpires and referees of the rental market. A good property manager is not biased toward property owners, who have made significant investments in Manhattan’s rental market, or renters who have a right to safe housing and who are paying for a quality home. Instead, a good property manager makes sure that both parties, renters and property owners, are protected in their agreement. As a business, we are most successful when property owners and renters find common ground. For that reason, we believe that the only way to build the rental market of tomorrow in Manhattan is to collaborate with renters and rental advocacy groups. We believe that everyone should have access to safe and affordable housing and Frontier Property Management is ready to partner with renters to make Manhattan’s shared future a reality.

This isn’t solely a business decision. 64% of Frontier’s employees rent locally. Our team has rented from responsible landlords and irresponsible landlords. Our team has lived in safe housing and unsafe housing. Our team has struggled to pay rent as single-income households. Our team understands renters because many of us are renters.

As a company, we believe that understanding has given us a customer-service edge and an ability to better communicate with property owners and renters. As property managers, we’re proud to represent a wide variety of Manhattan residents including professionals of all ages, military service members, students and long-time Manhattan residents, and we support Manhattan’s renters as they organize and learn more about their rights as tenants.

As a property management company, we play an important role in representing two very different customer bases—property owners and renters—to ensure that Manhattan’s housing market meets the standard of safe and affordable. It is possible to treat each and every resident with dignity and respect while serving the best interest of property owners, our clients, who have a vested interest in the happiness of residents and their neighbors.

Affordable Housing Much of the conversation around housing has centered on affordability. As a firm that negotiates pricing on behalf of renters and property owners, we believe that we have a unique perspective on this topic. First, we understand the importance of affordable housing to a community. That is why we offer safe, quality homes and apartments that start at $450 per month. We’ve seen how many families must choose between affordability and safety, but we hold ourselves to a different standard. While there are landlords

Content sponsored by Frontier Property Management

and property management companies that will take advantage of people, sadly even a few in Manhattan, and others who will only do the bare minimum to stay code compliant or Band-Aid their property along, at Frontier we genuinely care about people’s safety, well-being and happiness. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s good business.

As representatives of property owners, we work diligently to create value for our clients who have made an investment in Manhattan’s real estate market. While many believe that affordability must come at the expense of a property owner’s profit, that sentiment reflects a common misunderstanding of rental prices. As a commodity, housing costs are directly tied to the laws of supply and demand. In this market, a large percentage of vacancies in the rental market means that there is more available housing than there is demand, so rental prices will typically fall. On the other hand, when there is not enough housing available for rent, prices tend to rise. While the relationship between supply and demand determines rental rates at large, high-demand for properties in a specific range can exhaust supply and drive prices higher in that price range.

There is, of course, a maximum that renters can pay for housing and when renters pay that maximum they are, by definition, rent-burdened, which begins at 30% of household income. First some numbers: Manhattan’s average per capita income is $27,515 and average household income is $50,698; meanwhile, the average rent in Manhattan is $558 per month for a one-bedroom and $739 per month for a two-bedroom rental. For comparison, Manhattan is offering one- and two-bedroom housing at a cheaper rate than our neighbors in Wichita ($560/$744), Topeka ($599/$790), Lawrence ($706/$925) and Kansas City ($736/$903), and at cheaper rates than renters find in comparable college towns, such as Fayetteville

($583/$753), Lincoln ($654/$861), Ames ($826/$1,006) and Fort Collins ($971/$1,188).

We recognize that affordability is more than the cost of housing, affordability is affected by household income and other expenses, such as food, utilities and healthcare costs.

While Manhattan is one of the cheapest major cities to rent in in Kansas, we have one of the highest rent-burdened rates in the state: 58.2%, or close to 10,000 Manhattan households. Single income households and households with students spend a significantly higher percentage of their income on housing than dual-income households and households with established professionals. When looking at these numbers, it’s hard to ignore that what is called an affordability problem is really two problems: low supply of high-quality single-income properties and a lower average per capita and household income than comparable communities.

Let’s Talk This is a call to action: if you’re a rental advocacy group, we want to hear from you. Divisive rhetoric doesn’t work for either side. Instead, let’s work together to make Manhattan’s future brighter for renters and owners. As a company that works for both renters and property owners, we want to find common ground. It’s what we do best and how we’re successful as a business. As an employer of many single-income renters, we understand that there’s high demand in that market, and as a property management firm are doing our part to solve it. But change won’t happen if we don’t work together. To the Manhattan community, our promise is simple: we will do our part to promote solid communication and a two-way dialogue between renters and property owners to assure the best rental experience possible, in safe and affordable housing, even if it’s not with Frontier.

Content sponsored by Frontier Property Management

Article by Sarah Siders Photography by David Mayes

REGION

The Opportunity in Our “Old” New Urbanism Everything old is new again, which is why Manhattan’s pedestrian-friendly sustainably-designed downtown core has a bright future once more.

It’s a brisk fall evening after a Kansas State University football game when Jeff Sackrider decides to grab pizza at The Hi Lo, and it takes him less than 60 seconds to arrive there from his Aggieville apartment. The restaurant buzzes with post-game chatter as the smell of comfort food fills the air. An employee props the door open to let in the cool air. In a booth along the wall, Sackrider, Wamego, Kansas native, recalls what led him to live in Aggieville: his discovery of urban living while in the East Coast. “When I moved to the D.C.-area a few years ago, I didn’t need a car to do anything. It was great. In the apartment I lived in, there was a sense of community. I had a Starbucks downstairs, and there was also a pizza shop in our building. I could get it delivered whenever I wanted,” he says. “I loved not having to drive places and having everything right there.”

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When he decided to return to Manhattan three years later, Sackrider’s experience on the East Coast fundamentally altered his values; he just didn’t realize it right away.

“When I moved back to Manhattan, I bought a big house on the west side of town. But if I wanted to meet a friend for pizza, I would have to drive quite a ways, find a place to park and walk in, and it was a whole ordeal.” He remembered the ease of access to great food, shopping and public transportation from his experience in Washington DC, and he decided to move back to a more urban environment. “I realized I don’t need 3,000 square feet.” That’s when he found his current Aggieville apartment.

“I like the sense of community down here,” Sackrider says, waving a hand toward Moro outside the open restaurant door. “I visit the same two coffee shops and my friends

are there. I walk down the street and people know me. This morning I wanted something sweet, so I walked down to Varsity Donuts.” He smiles, leaning back in his seat. “The bus stop and the park are right there. I like everything that’s available down here.”

Sackrider represents a growing number of millennials and Generation Zers who are opting for life in a place where they can live, work and play. Although he had never heard of the concept, Sackrider references the values of New Urbanism with stunning accuracy. According to NewUrbanism. org, “New Urbanism promotes the creation and restoration of diverse, walkable, compact, vibrant, mixed-use communities composed of the same components as conventional development, but assembled in a more integrated fashion, in the form of complete communities. These contain housing, work places, shops, entertainment, schools, parks and civic facilities essential to the daily lives of the residents, all within easy walking distance of each other.”

New Urbanism could be viewed as reactionary, a young people’s solution to the purported blight of suburban sprawl millennials love to hate. But for Generation Z, a young and pragmatic population concerned with connection and caring for the environment, New Urbanism and its values are a solution to social disconnection and the historic misuse of ecological resources they desire to preserve.

While the language of urbanism may appear as an assortment of trending buzzwords, the purpose and aesthetic feel familiar, taking a not-so-subtle page from time-worn, European city layouts in which people live, work and play, moving freely without vehicles by walking, biking or taking public transit. While the original design of these city compositions may have been nothing more than utilitarian, the fact that most of them stand the test of centuries reveals the sustainable quality of their design and function.

New Urbanism appears to look back and learn from these city planning success stories, observing the ways in which the design serves to assure social connection and facilitate ease of use and movement while minimizing overuse of ecological and energy resources.

New Urbanism isn’t New in Manhattan In 2005, when the term New Urbanism was still in its infancy and nowhere near the Midwest, Manhattan implemented a forward-thinking city planning ordinance addressing new development east of the Kansas State University campus and City Park, titled the Traditional Neighborhood Overlay (TNO). Nearly 10 years later, city planner Ben Chmiel graduated from Kansas State University and took a job with the City of Manhattan and set to work understanding the ordinance and ensuring its implementation. However, with various developers and design proposals for building in the east campus area at the time, the initial language and orientation of the overlay appeared to focus on preservation rather than new development.

“The Traditional Neighborhood Overlay addresses design compatibility issues, as well as form-based regulations for development in those areas, ensuring materials, windows,

JEFF SACKRIDER, AGGIEVILLE RESIDENT, EMBODIES THE VALUES OF NEW URBANISM.

arch features and roof pitches are compatible with historic fabric of those neighborhoods,” Chmiel notes.

With the help of Chmiel and other city planners, the East Campus and East Park neighborhood aesthetics and design intentions are being preserved. Yet Chmiel knows the TNO offers more than simple guidelines for building and maintenance. New Urbanism promotes a multi-layered approach to design and planning, taking into consideration human needs and ecological conservation, utilizing existing infrastructure and encouraging cohesive aesthetics. Viewed through the lens of New Urbanism principles, the TNO provides one of several important tools for returning to human-centered design while utilizing much of what is already in place. “We implemented new design regulations for the possibility of modern buildings in traditional neighborhoods to create a cohesive aesthetic and preserve the pedestrian realm of the street by reducing pavement,” Chmiel says.

As Sackrider notes in his booth at The Hi Lo, his apartment and other living spaces near City Park and K-State’s campus are only a short walk to shopping and nightlife in Downtown and Aggieville, as well as grocery stores in the Manhattan Marketplace. In many ways, the design and function of these neighborhoods closely mirrors the New Urbanist goals of pedestrian-centric, multi-use design.

These traits are highly desirable to potential renters, according to a 2015 study on renter preferences by the National Multifamily Housing Council. The study notes, “Apartment renters have strong opinions about whether regular neighborhood destinations need to be within walking or driving distance. Residents prefer that grocery stores, restaurants, bars and public transit be within walking range.

Conversely, renters place less importance on immediate proximity to work and office destinations, but these locations must be within a short drive from the apartment.”

Chmiel, a resident of West Park, connects with the values voiced by today’s young workforce, including the preference for walkability. He bikes to work daily and designed his life based on these transportation preferences.

“We have one car,” Chmiel says, “And one of us will always have to live close to work. As a whole, younger generations don’t want to own cars as much as previous generations.” mhk business news

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Making the Shift While the bones of the time-tested, New Urbanist principles stand firmly in place in Manhattan’s Downtown Core neighborhood, key elements are missing to achieve the true function of urbanism. City planners like Chmiel see this potential and are collaborating with community partners to preserve and restore proven, sustainable community design, starting with these neighborhoods.

“How do we capitalize on the existing infrastructure and reduce sprawl, which is not ecological or sustainable?”

Chimel muses, “We’ve been able to capitalize on initiatives like the Aggieville Community Vision and the Urban Core Residential District while updating our downtown plan, which will hopefully happen next year, all which incorporate multi-use development and utilize existing infrastructure. There is a niche development community here who sees where the market is going and what is going to be financially sustainable for them.” He adds, “When an apartment goes in Aggieville, one significant benefit is that we don’t have to do specials on any of those projects.”

Chmiel reflects on one aspect of the original design of the downtown neighborhoods: the simple grid system of home lots and streets. “The grid system is extremely pedestrian-friendly because when it was designed that 22

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was the mode of transportation. After World War II, the car allowed people to travel, but it also pulled things apart and, in some ways, created more disconnection. Since then, there’s been some backlash against the car-centric culture that took off and we’ve begun to realize the benefits of a small-scale, urban environment where you can easily walk and bike, with older historic structures that create a sense of place and spark imagination.”

“Cities around the United States are hitting a tipping point where they cannot keep up with the infrastructure maintenance.”

For Chmiel, developing a New Urbanism environment has significantly less to do with design and trends and more to do with long-range planning, his professional role and sustainability. “It took 100 years to fill up that original grid of homes and streets downtown, but we built out the rest of the town in the last 60 years. The amount of infrastructure we’ve created for fewer and fewer people is unsustainable to maintain.” Chmiel warns, “Cities around the United States are hitting a tipping point where they cannot keep up with

the infrastructure maintenance. We are relatively dense so we may stave off that pinch, but the lifecycle for concrete and asphalt is 20-30 years, and it would be financially devastating to have to replace large amounts of it all at once.”

The solution of addressing the self-made hardship of infrastructure maintenance is multi-faceted for city planners like Chmiel. “City planning for the last couple decades has been about pulling our cities back to a more sustainable practice, but we’re having to adapt to poor planning for the few decades prior. Cities are trying to create incentives for density to curb sprawl and be more efficient with our land use.”

Building development in the form of density on existing infrastructure is not the only piece of the puzzle. Improving ease of use for alternative forms of transportation that lighten the burden on current roads and bridges, such as bicycles and pedestrian traffic, also contributes to improvements to the current system. The city’s 20-year Bicycle-Pedestrian Systems Plan addresses this by outlining completed bicycle routes and identifies key potential connections around the city to improve flow for those traveling without a vehicle. The value of developing roadways friendly to active transportation is catching on in Manhattan, but with the mass focus of funding for road maintenance, the cost for these adjustments to infrastructure is a barrier.

Chmiel explains the multiple sources of funding the Bicycle-Pedestrian Systems Plan will utilize to become reality. These include the Sidewalk Gap Fund, which is responsible for funding gaps to existing sidewalks and creating connections between them, discretionary state funding for bicycle and pedestrian systems, and marginal dollars from the Community Development Block Grant. The city has also applied for additional grant dollars through the Kansas Department of Transportation, but the grant has not yet been awarded.

The expansion into suburbia with bedroom neighborhoods and minimal access to food, entertainment, services and gathering spaces may be reaching the end of its era. Nevertheless, the task of maintaining what has been created is left to a new generation more interested in connection, sustainability and pragmatism. As New Urbanism seeks to right the wrongs of unsustainable design and return neighborhoods and cities to a more humanistic and connected way of life, the place to start in these downtown neighborhoods may be where the streets and neighbors already seem to know the way. ■ Sarah Siders is a freelance writer, author and coach who specializes in leadership and healthy relationships. mhk business news

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Article by Josh Brewer Photography by Killian Millner

REGION

Incite MHK Invests in Downtown Public Art For its first installation, the privately funded initiative brought world-class artists to Manhattan. What comes next?

With projects in London, Berlin, Hong Kong, Miami, Las Vegas, Montreal, Los Angeles, and other metropolises around the world, Douglas de Castro and Renato Perreira’s large mural overlooking the patio of A.J.’s New York Pizzeria on Poyntz might seem out of place in Manhattan, Kansas. But sense of place is exactly why Incite MHK, a local group of six individuals focused on moving Manhattan forward through community art installations, chose the Brazilian team called Bicicleta Sem Freio, or Bicycle Without Brakes, for its first project. Funded by a $30,000 grant from the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation’s Deihl Community Grants Program, Incite MHK hopes that high-impact art installations will change the way locals and visitors see Manhattan.

“Our ultimate goal is to make Manhattan an even more vibrant, creative, magnetic, fun town to live in,” said Jeff Sackrider, one of the members behind Incite MHK. “We want people to get out of their cars. Slow down.

Enjoy this town. Our hope is that we can incite others to want the same things and go out and do them when they see what we have done.”

While the mural over AJ’s is Incite MHK’s first project, the group hopes to create an annual event around a high-profile installation while embarking on other community art projects year-round. The driving force behind this endeavor is to increase Manhattan’s overall quality of place—and the quality of life for its residents—by rehabilitating undesirable uses of space, such as the unused wall at AJ’s, and by creating spectacular environments.

Incite MHK’s installation came about via a partnership with Charlotte Dutoit, the founder of Justkids global creative house. Justkids works with cities, architects, developers and community organizations to develop quality of place with public art experiences. The shared vision of quality placemaking between Incite MHK and Justkids provided a strategic focus for the work, which the group hopes will affect community perspectives on place in Manhattan.

Dutoit explains, “Creating public and community art add uniqueness to a place, people start to look at their neighborhood in a different way, they rediscover buildings and places.

It attracts investment, tourism, increases the property value and revenue, but also the cultural and social capital.”

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...with a tight labor market and high competition for a competitive workforce, investments in quality of place, such as art installations, are economic development activities.

The idea of using public art to drive placemaking is not new, as anyone who’s taken a selfie by Chicago’s Cloud Gate, often called the “Bean,” or the Urban Light assemblage outside of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, but the opportunities to change the quality of place in smaller communities is particularly attractive to Dutoit: “Small-scale communities are much more welcoming in general as they mostly don’t have large scale art so their community and residents are more receptive to it. In big cities, art in the public realm is more common but in a smaller town, it can really make a difference. And whether some people like the artworks and others don’t, it usually starts a conversation about the place they want to live in.”

These conversations about quality of place and the opportunities available to community members aren’t only for community benefit; with a tight labor market and high competition for a competitive workforce, investments in quality of place, such as art installations, are economic development activities. Dutoit agrees: “I have worked and curated public art for long term planning programs in different cities where art plays a prominent role. Downtown Las Vegas, Shoreditch in East London, or, on a smaller scale and not too far from here, Downtown Fort Smith in Arkansas are perfect examples of communities who embraced art as a catalyst for their economic development and have generated significant results and major changes.”

Dutoit’s work in Fort Smith, Arkansas is perhaps the most encouraging for a community like Manhattan.

Lacking in the economic resources of communities like Las Vegas, London or Chicago, in 2015 a group in Fort Smith called 64.6 Downtown hired Justkids to curate six installations around their historic but economically depressed downtown area and Bicicleta Sem Freio was one of the first artists in what has grown into a year-round show called The Unexpected. Today, 64.6 Downtown describes itself as “a catalyst for economic development in downtown Fort Smith through property development, creative place-making, arts, and events,” and has successfully brought life back to Fort Smith’s historic downtown.

Reflecting on this model, Dutoit says that “commissioning a large scale artwork for the community is a good investment for everyone to enjoy. It’s beneficial for the community, making it safer, healthier and more fun to live. However, it should be accompanied and supported by other initiatives of community development, and ideally planned over a few years.” With one world-class installation complete, Manhattan must now consider what other placemaking activities must occur for community-wide economic development and when community leadership will fully appreciate and prioritize this important work. ■ Josh Brewer is the agency marketing director at 502, a strategic marketing agency in Manhattan, Kansas. For more information on Incite MHK visit www.InciteMHK.org.

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Article by Sheridan Wimmer

Photography by David Mayes

Kansas State University digs its claws into researching the food we feed our best friends with its innovative pet food program.

At first glance, Dr. Greg Aldrich’s office on the Kansas State University campus is fairly typical. You’ll find rows of books on animal nutrition, a computer and filing cabinets filled with class materials. However, what grabs your attention is Lucre, Aldrich’s 2-year-old silver Labrador retriever. After pleasantries and a few treats, Lucre falls asleep under Aldrich’s legs.

Aldrich is a research associate professor in the department of grain science and industry and serves as the pet food program coordinator at K-State, making Lucre an appropriate addition to his office. He grew up in Larned, Kan. surrounded by cattle. He earned his bachelor’s degree in animal sciences and industry at K-State then continued his education with a master’s degree in animal nutrition from the University of Missouri and a doctorate degree from the University of Illinois in animal nutrition.

“My background was focused on cattle, and that’s really all I knew,” Aldrich says. “When I completed my doctoral degree in Illinois, I had done a lot of work in ingredients and digestive physiology.”

Aldrich’s focus shifted from cattle to smaller animals when he connected with a friend he met at K-State during a conference.

“He said, ‘We’re looking for a nutritionist,’ so I went to work for the IAMS Company,” Aldrich says. “I was a research nutritionist there, and I fell in love with the pet food industry. It’s dynamic, it’s exciting. Taking products to consumers who have pets means there’s a lot of emotions involved in that purchasing decision. That made it fascinating.”

After building his resume at places like Kemin Industries, a global ingredient supplier, as its director of research and development and Menu Foods Midwest Corp as its vice president of product development, Aldrich started his own consulting company in 2003.

“My wife, Susan, and I started a pet food nutrition services company in Topeka,” Aldrich says. “We were providing formulations, new product development and technical services to a wide swath of pet food companies.”

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The (Wild)Cat’s Meow One of the services Aldrich provided as an independent contractor was developing prototypes of the company’s formulations. In order to offer that prototype, Aldrich needed a kitchen.

“I didn’t need a full-scale manufacturing facility,” Aldrich clarifies. “I just needed a pilot plant. And that’s what brought me to K-State.”

At the Bioprocessing and Industrial Value-Added Product Innovation Center, also part of the department of grain science and industry at K-State, Aldrich could rent the extrusion lab to create test batches for clients.

“I was doing these prototypes on a regular basis,” Aldrich says. “In 2010 and 2011, as part of these projects, I’d started a dialogue with some of the faculty in grain science. They said they had a feed science and management program within the grain science department where they were teaching students how to manufacture feed for livestock. They presented an opportunity to also teach these kids how

DR. GREG ALDRICH IS LEADING THE ADVANCEMENT OF KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY’S PET FOOD PROGRAM.

to manufacture food for companion animals and asked me to teach a class.

That sounded like a lot of fun.”

Not Just a Pet Project An instructor position was secured, the class was established, and after a successful first semester, Aldrich was invited to be part of K-State’s faculty. In 2012, the pet food program at K-State was born. The program is housed within the grain science and industry department under feed science, an interesting departure from the place one might assume it would fall.

“Most folks involved with research and teaching for companion animals would be in animal science because they’re looking at the animal’s nutrition, physiology, reproduction and management,” Aldrich says. “But our program, because it focuses on the food and how the food is processed, is housed under feed science.”

That placement gives the program a unique position. The grain science department at K-State is the only

one in the world, giving students an advantage in education, resources and job opportunities.

One of the graduate students reaping the benefits of the pet food program, Amanda Dainton, is in her second year of her doctoral program. She received her bachelor’s degree in feed science and management with an emphasis in pet food processing from K-State, then went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for her master’s degree before returning to K-State.

“When I was looking for schools out of high school, I wanted to go somewhere that had a really strong vet school and applied nutrition program,” Dainton says. “I met Dr. Aldrich day one of undergrad, and he recruited me into the pet food program, which is the path I’ve followed ever since. The feed science program in the grain science department is really hands-on and looks at how the food is made, which really interested me.”

At one point, Dainton did want to go into veterinary school, but another opportunity within the pet food indus-

try changed her mind. Dainton got an internship at Blue Buffalo, a pet food company headquartered in Connecticut, doing quality assurance.

“I absolutely fell in love,” Dainton says.

Currently, the undergraduate program has fewer than 15 students. The program is growing, but Aldrich says it’s difficult for students to find the program.

“If you’re in high school looking at career options, many of them choose things like engineering, pre-health professional or pre-vet,” Aldrich says. “The pet food industry probably isn’t something they studied in their science or agriculture classes.” That’s why Aldrich is focused more on graduate students.

“Where I’ve seen the greater impact is in the graduate training,” Aldrich says. “They are looking at the job market a little more seriously than they would be at 17, or what an undergraduate would be considering. They realize the need for additional training that goes along with the demands of the pet food industry.”

Fur-Midable Minds Preparing students for employment in the pet food industry is the number one goal of the pet food program.

Coursework is focused on pet food processing as well as animal nutrition, behavior, sensory analysis and safety.

“Our coursework and lab spaces focus on exploring the utility of ingredients in pet food,” Aldrich says. “We have the unique space and equipment at K-State to provide a service to ingredient companies to communicate the science of their ingredients to major pet food companies. We’re the perfect conduit for that.”

In addition to preparing students for work in the pet food industry, Aldrich’s work directly benefits those working in the value-added products industry. In one example, an ingredient company came to the pet food program to determine the effectiveness and nutritional value of introducing Miscanthus grass into pet food products. The ornamental grass grows to be up to 10 feet tall, and the company had explored converting its cellulosic biomass into ethanol. The market never took off, and the technology didn’t prove to be cost effective.

The owner of the company who was

growing the Miscanthus grass hoped to find a different use.

“We use a lot of cellulose in pet food,” Aldrich says. “It helps us dilute the energy density of the diet, which is important if we’re feeding a dog who is obese. We also use it in feline diets for cats who suffer from frequent hairballs. Cellulose can help push hairballs through. This Miscanthus grass contains a lot of that cellulose. We did several studies in our lab to prove it’s safe and nutritionally effective in both cats and dogs. Now that ingredient is being introduced into a lot of new products.”

Projects like these keep Aldrich coming back to work and keep students like Dainton interested in the possibilities. “We don’t have quite as much information about the nutrition of dogs and cats as we do for cows, horses, pigs, sheep. There’s a lot of room for exploration. There’s so much we don’t yet know,” Aldrich says.

“The thing I love the most about this program is the diversity of research,” Dainton says. “In the lab’s research, we look at things like the nutrition of the food, food safety and shelf-life. Since my interest is more in how the food is made, specifically canned food, I’m able to look at all the little changes you can make during the process and how different ingredients affect the nutrition of the product.”

Nutrition is key in pet food because, unlike humans who rarely experience nutritional deficiencies because they eat a variety of foods, pets “get their diet in every bite,” Aldrich says. Therefore, pet food nutritionists must consider the unique chemical reactions that arise when combining ingredients using certain processes so that each kibble of food contains the nutrients pets need.

“I have to make sure the minerals I add don’t start the oxidation process, which causes food to go rancid in a very short amount of time,” Aldrich says. “I have to make sure the vitamins are fortified to a level that when they go through the process of extrusion, baking or canning, they aren’t lost to the point of a deficiency, thus causing deficiency diseases.”

Aldrich gives the example of vitamin B1, or thiamine. When you put this vitamin in canned food, it’s destroyed during the thermal process. “It’s a

wimpy vitamin,” Aldrich says. “When it gets hot, it just melts.” Cats require a high amount of vitamin B1, approximately five times the amount dogs need. “If I feed my cat canned food alone and the thiamine is destroyed because of the processing of the canned food, the cat is now deficient,” Aldrich says. “If I feed this diet to my cat for two weeks, my cat will become paralyzed. Within a month of feeding my cat this diet, it will die. This is something we’ve been working on—to come up with an answer to make sure that diet is nutritionally complete for the animal.”

Safety is a top priority for any pet owner. It’s also a research element used in the pet food program. In 2007, the pet food industry was pulled into the Food and Drug Administration Amendment Act, which turned into the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2011. According to the FDA’s website, FSMA aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus of responding to contamination of the food supply to preventing it.

“Today, pet food is more stringently inspected for safety from pathogens like salmonella than human food,” Aldrich says. “The pet food you buy is probably safer than the produce you purchase from the grocery store and bring into your home. We are doing work in our labs to process and treat products with ingredients in order to make them pathogen free. It’s all about making safe, nutritious pet food.”

Making A Pawprint on the Economy The pet food program is not only impacting the health of our pets, it’s also impacting the lives of students and the economic viability of the state of Kansas. One of those students is Spencer Smith, a young professional from Kansas City, Kan. who wanted to be a veterinarian. During her education at K-State, she worked at a “doggy daycare” where she would see people bring in interesting things for their dogs to eat.

“I’m talking people bringing in a bag of McDonald’s hamburgers,” Smith says. While delicious for human consumption, Smith knew feeding a dog mhk business news

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hamburgers wasn’t right. Seeing that and discovering the pet food program changed her trajectory to where she is now—an associate scientist in product development at Hill’s Pet Nutrition in Topeka, Kan. “Most of my job focuses around our wet foods,” Smith says. “I do a lot of product formulation and looking at new ingredients and how changes in formulations might affect the processing side of things. If I change something, is it going to become thicker and not run through the system the way we want? This type of issue can cause production challenges when we bring a new formula to market. I look at everything from start to finish.”

The pet food program prepares students for a career in the industry with numerous courses and hands-on opportunities, and the jobs are as diverse as breeds of dogs. From the marketing department, tracking market trends and what buyers are looking for, to nutritionists and scientists, formulating products and testing safety, there’s an

opportunity in the pet food industry for a variety of people. As for Kansas, the pet food industry has a total direct output of approximately $5.4 billion and employs nearly 4,000 people according to the Kansas Department of Agriculture.

“The pet food program is helping with two things: jobs and value-added agriculture.” Aldrich says. “We’re supporting or providing a floor to agricultural commodities and revenues for the state.”

In the U.S. alone, the pet food industry is worth approximately $32 billion, according to the American Pet Products Association. Pet owners are spending more than ever before on pets, and pet food continues to make up most of the dollars spent within the industry.

“The economic impact of the pet food industry is huge,” Smith says.

“We’ve consistently seen that pet food sales either continue to stay the same or rise no matter how the economy is doing. I think a lot of pet owners out

there would feed their pets before they feed themselves.”

The pet food program has support from Knowledge Based Economic Development and the Kansas State University Institute for Commercialization. KBED is a partnership of civic, academic and private sector entities collaborating to support and attract new and growing companies in Manhattan by leveraging unique capabilities and infrastructure available at K-State.

KSU-IC is dedicated to the start up and expansion of technology-based enterprises, developing economic-based strategic partnerships for K-State, as well as enabling the commercialization of university and under-utilized corporate intellectual property.

“I also work with the Chamber of Commerce when I get approached by people I’ve worked with in the industry,” Aldrich says. “I’ve worked with a lot of pet food clients over the years, and when they’re looking to relocate or places to do their work, they’ll call me. I’m hoping to get some addi-

tional pet food companies to move into the area.”

Aldrich says there’s a good base of pet food manufacturers in Kansas, including pockets in Emporia, Topeka, the Burns and Sabetha area, Great Bend, and the animal health corridor in Kansas City.

“Not only do we have major pet food manufacturers located in our state, we also have the equipment manufacturers and ingredient suppliers,” says Suzanne Ryan-Numrich, Kansas Department of Agriculture’s international trade director. “There continues to be more educational opportunities, not only for professionals already working in the industry, but also for students who want to work in the pet food industry after graduation.

Kansas is the complete package when it comes to the pet food sector.”

The pet food industry is a major part of the Kansas economy, and there’s a lot of opportunity for growth.

KDA developed an agricultural growth strategy project to focus on

developing a statewide strategic growth plan for 19 agricultural industry sectors.

Ryan-Numrich leads the pet food sector of the project and says they’ve worked on several initiatives to grow the pet food industry in Kansas.

“Two years ago, KDA partnered with Food Export Midwest and WATT Global Media to start a new market development activity,” Ryan-Numrich says. “We helped lead a foreign buyer’s mission at the Petfood Forum in Kansas City. The buyers participating in the event represented some of the fastest growing global pet food markets. This year, KDA will also help lead a buyer’s mission at the Global Pet Expo. I see tremendous value in developing relationships in markets that frequently see growth in the double digits.”

With a pet in nearly two-thirds of homes in the U.S., the pet food program at K-State is set to not only ensure the quality and safety of what we feed our favorite furry friends, but also develop the economy in Manhattan and Kansas.

With Aldrich at the helm, the program

“We’ll continue to amplify our role in value-added agriculture and establishing Kansas as the global hub for pet food science.” is up for the challenge. “We’ll continue to amplify our role in value-added agriculture and establishing Kansas as the global hub for pet food science.”

Luckily for Aldrich, Lucre is up for the job of taste-tester, that is after he wakes up from his afternoon nap. ■ Sheridan Wimmer is the assistant director of communications at Kansas Farm Bureau. Serving the farmer and rancher members of the organization is Sheridan’s jam (or jelly, no discrimination). Away from work, she loves spoiling her dog, Brizzie, and admittedly enjoys a good Netflix binge. mhk business news

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Determined and growth-oriented, Gen Z will change the workplace in fundamental ways and the future is bright for those firms that can recruit and retain this valuable talent force.

Article by Josh Brewer

Photography by Josh Hicks

Until a few months ago, I worked at a hip, millennial marketing agency. Located downtown in a refurbished historic property, we had the requisite bar with beer on tap, an open floor plan with collaborative areas and a speaker system that serenaded the space with age-appropriate genres like contemporary country and 90’s pop. Today, we still have the bar with the taps, the open layout and, yes, even the jams, but we’ve quickly become a multi-generational agency with the hiring of four members of Generation Z. These young people have already made a large impact on the quality of our creative work and the value we provide to clients, and by 2020, they’ll make up 40% of the workforce, so employers should prepare now. / / / / / / / / / / / / / / The oldest members of Gen Z, sometimes called post-millenials, iGen and the Deltas for their embrace of change, were born in 1997, and the key distinction between their generation and previous generations is that members of Gen Z have never lived in a world without the modern, interactive internet. Most have had access to home computers with high-speed connections, social media networks and smartphones since they were children, which is why they’re often called “digital natives.” These individuals are often described as driven, pragmatic and strong influences on the purchase decisions of their Gen X parents. And for employers who need to recruit and retain the workforce of tomorrow, it’s time to start thinking about how to cater to this competitive group. / / / / / ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Employer Branding on Gen Z’s Terms

One of the first challenges that employers face with Gen Z is in recruiting the best possible talent. Employer branding, as compared to broad corporate branding, focuses on an employer’s reputation as a place to work, and the value proposition that it offers to employees. For companies that finally feel confident in the employer branding changes that were made to appeal to millennials, a newer and larger employee group can feel daunting. But, Guillermo Echarte, a senior solutions manager at LinkedIn and a frequent speaker on employer branding, warns employers to ignore the valuable Gen Z recruitment market at their own peril.

“The oldest of the Gen Z army are currently 22. That means this generation is spilling into the workforce and, surprise, they’re different from millennials. Companies who are branding and expressing themselves in the same ways in the same places to this cohort are going to have an uphill battle. Specifically, where most of us grew up reading books, Gen Zers grew up on feeds (online social that is), so you better have a social strategy that speaks to what they care about, such as purpose and impact, technology, redefining work-life balance, and do so in a couple of seconds.” / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / While Gen Z is more comfortable moving between communication channels, most of its members are just as focused on an employer’s authenticity as the millennials that preceded them. For this reason, and because Gen Zers use several sources to acquire information about a prospective employer, it’s vital to be authentic and consistent in the way that your employer brand looks and feels. Finally, it’s important to seal the deal with highvalue engagements, such as internships, lunch and learns or pints with prospects. / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Connect the Dots Raised by parents who suffered the brunt of the Great Recession, Gen Z is, on average, much more pragmatic than their passionate and idealistic millennial elders. They carry a higher student loan burden and recognize the need to start saving in their 20s for retirement. When shopping for jobs, security is high on Gen Z’s list of employer qualifications. To better communicate that sense of security in job offers, be ready to clearly identify how your company’s position connects to the growth of your organization and the opportunities for advancement that exist within your organization. Salary remains important, but don’t be afraid to use your location as an advantage. Show how an area’s cost of living can stretch a lower starting salary as compared to more expensive locations. Finally, nontraditional benefits, such as contributions toward gym memberships or student loans, can help contextualize salary offers by connecting an offer to its practical use.

For Killian Miller, a graphic designer and videographer, a local employer with high-quality production was the most attractive option because it was the most pragmatic.

“The reason I wanted to work at 502 was the quality of work and the type of work that is produced in-house, mainly video, and that it was already a relatively young company. Most importantly, I did not have to move to work with a high-quality agency, and the office and workplace culture have been fantastic!”

Anticipate Facetime Gen Z consumes, on average, 10 hours of digital content per day on phones and laptops, and because YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok are the norm, many members of Gen Z prefer face-to-face conversations for 36

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performance check-ins and feedback. Prepare to move beyond the annual or biannual performance review because this generation prefers weekly, if not daily, feedback on performance and opportunities for development. Gen Z is not only pragmatic when it comes to finances, either.

When preparing feedback, specific, tangible and measurable indicators, preferably tracked over time, are the best way to illustrate points related to performance.

Facilitate Failure Maybe because many millennials were raised to believe that they could accomplish anything, many—32% in a study by London-based educational charity Teach First— feel that their careers are burdened by a fear of failure. Gen Z seems a bit more courageous. In a poll at EY’s 22nd annual International Intern Leadership Conference, 80% of Gen Z attendees believe that embracing failure at work can increase their innovation and 17% believe that it will help them be more comfortable with future risks. Looking at the poll, Natasha Stough, EY Americas campus recruiting leader says, “With the next generation of our workforce not afraid to fail in order to grow and innovate, organizations should create an environment that allows them to bring their ideas forward, fail fast and then learn from that failure.”

With this view of failure, it’s not surprising that Gen Z values an open and curious mindset in the workplace over expertise in a specific skill set, according to EY. Collaborative, team-oriented environments that clearly define opportunities to share ideas and receive feedback will keep Gen Z employees engaged and growing in their professional capacities.

On the topic of culture, Regan Mousley, a production designer, says, “I look for a company that is going

to encourage collaboration and real relationships within the workplace. I want a place that will foster new growth opportunities as technology and communication continue to shift.” Growth is also vital for Topanga McBride, an account manager with an agricultural focus and a growth-oriented litmus test. “Does the culture cultivate growth at both an individual level and company-wide level?” says McBride.

Beyond Work-Life Balance For baby boomers, Gen X and some of the oldest millennials, there was a time when leaving the office meant leaving work. Today, work and workplace communications are always accessible, thanks to messaging apps such as Slack and Snapchat, both of which our agency uses to communicate work and play, and work-specific apps for project management, client management and collaboration, not to mention text messages and emails. Even though we know that this always-on workplace leads to high burnout rates, it’s hard to resist notifications regardless of the time of day. Who better to help guide organizations as they strive to offer balance than Gen Z, a generation that has never known a less connected world?

When compared to millennials, whom are known for challenging the 9-to-5 traditional work engagement, the importance of a flexible work schedule nearly doubled to close to 80 percent of Gen Z respondents in one 2014 survey of 14-year-olds to 18-year-olds, indicating that work-life integration could soon become the new reality.

To engage this workforce, be prepared to schedule around exercise classes and social engagements, and don’t simply assume that showing up for work before 9 a.m. is the status quo. When onboarding Gen Z, the name of the game is overcommunication.

McBride says, “For me, it’s the workplace culture that attracts me and keeps me at a place. Do the employees feel like they have work-life balance, and that it’s a priority from leadership?” For Alec Dean, an account executive, that work-life balance equation also includes a quality of place assessment: “I think a ton of Gen Z kids are really attracted by the allure of a big city or at least a place that is very active with a lot to do in their social life.

Smaller towns just don’t have as many activities or the busy urban centers. Places that can support high-tech, modern establishments to grab a bite and drinks are rising. Thankfully, Aggieville is attempting to alleviate this issue over the next six years.”

Branding as a Gen Z Employer of Choice With over 60 million members, Gen Z has surpassed millennials to become the largest generation. Determined, resilient, diverse, tech-savvy and practical, firms that ignore this valuable talent pool today will certainly feel workplace pains tomorrow. As companies evaluate their employer branding, it will be important to tailor communications to Gen Z’s preference for video content, their increased social awareness and their need to see their own diversity represented. Gen Z is very aware of the generational workforce divide that millennials experienced when they first came on the scene, which is why there is a strong preference for millennial managers and demonstrated intergenerational cooperation. To compete for the next generation of talent, it’s vital that your employer brand communicates the ways in which Gen Z employees will thrive. ■ Josh Brewer is the agency marketing director at 502, a strategic marketing agency in downtown Manhattan, Kansas.

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Turns out the promise of Manhattan’s riverfront was hiding in plain sight all along. Linked to downtown by Blue Earth Plaza, The RiverTop is now a vibrant destination for residents and visitors year round for everything from holiday shopping and lunch hour strolls. Building on years of growth downtown and the success of the Blue Earth Plaza development, The RiverTop incorporates innovative design that’s responsive to flooding and transforms an overlooked area of town into a regional catalyst project.

Approaching from 3rd and Fort Riley, it’s impossible to ignore the energy of the courtyard. Most days, artists

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gather, displaying work and performing. A jazz group plays on Thursday nights and a local improv crew likes to involve tourists and convention attendees in their productions. An enormous lighted tree is placed here during the holiday season and the friendly rivalry with Blue Earth Plaza’s trees leads to more grandiose displays every year.

Like the famed Spanish Steps of Rome, Manhattan’s Spanish Steps are a selfie hot spot. You’ll often find students reading there on warm days and couples canoodling on chilly evenings. The spot seems so natural, it’s easy to forget the train tracks that run beneath—except when the engine rumbles through, of course.

For residents in the riverfront apartments and condominiums, the energy of the space was the selling point. Many retirees have relocated here from larger metros and they’re regulars at the sunrise yoga session that overlooks the river.

With regular ATA bus pickups, autonomous ride shares, and close proximity to bike boulevards, many have forgone car ownership. For those that still own cars, there’s a convenient parking garage within the development and across Fort Riley Boulevard. There’s even talk of a sky bridge between the second floor of the apartments and a floor in the garage because of the crowds that cross Fort Riley at the main intersections coming and going from this vibrant development.

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Whether you’ve climbed the Spanish Stairs or arrived via bike or kayak, when you arrive on The RiverTop, there’s nothing to say but “wow.” Market days are the busiest, of course, and you’ll find stalls selling fresh-baked bread, artisanal cheese, seasonal produce and meat. Market days are on Saturdays and Wednesdays, but there’s talk of a Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday schedule, due to demand.

The old levee trail has become a part of the bike highway linking Wamego, Manhattan and Junction City, which has

made the riverfront a convenient overnight location for regional bikepackers. Likewise, paddle tours that put in upriver in Junction City in the morning will usually stop for a coffee or a sandwich at the Riverfront Cafe. Some of the more ambitious paddlers are heading far downriver, to Kansas City, and will use the riverfront landing as a good place to launch thanks to the outdoor outfitters and tour services that have located here.

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Native planters around the area describe the flora and fauna of Kansas riparian zones. School children often stop here for lunch between educational sessions at the Flint Hills Discovery Center and the Konza Prairie Biological Station to better understand the complex ecology of this prairie river region.

The birders are out in force during migration season, binoculars pressed to their faces scanning the treeline, the water and the sky. What was once seen as a throwaway environment, a dirty river, has become a cherished centerpiece for the community.

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GAVIN SCHMIDT, TYLER HOLLOMAN & BEN BURTON THE TRIO BEHIND THE REHABILITATION OF THE COMMUNITY HOUSE.

Article by Greg Doering Photography by David Mayes

REGION

Local Developers See Bright Future for the Community House An innovative partnership seeks to restore a historic building and add to the diversity of spaces downtown through forward-thinking design and development.

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If you didn’t grow up in Manhattan, there’s a good chance you don’t know about the Community House. Even among townies, it’s sometimes mistaken for the Douglass Recreation Center because it’s the host site for Manhattan Parks and Recreation. But for a significant portion of Manhattan residents, it’s just a 102-year-old brick building with some windows boarded over near the mall that they would drive right by.

As chance would have it, Ben Burton drove by the Community House in September 2018 when he was looking for a “cool” project downtown. He saw the potential of the brick building and quickly recruited fellow developer Tyler Holloman and financial whiz Gavin Schmidt to the project.

Their goal was to turn the dilapidated building into a thriving commercial and residential hub for downtown.

“I’d actually played dodgeball in that building,” Holloman says.

“Just from working downtown, I’d drive past it and think, ‘This is such a unique building.’ Obviously, it’s underutilized. Aside from a few dodgeball games and a few classes, there just isn’t much going on in that building.”

The first big obstacle to doing anything with the Community House was figuring out how to buy it from the City of Manhattan. “We reached out to Jason Hilgers and asked what the possibilities might be,” Burton says. “We started to work with him to understand the process for purchasing a city-owned property. From there we had some conversations, and he really pushed for the request for proposal scenario as the best option to open up the process for everyone.”

While there are still some hurdles to clear, Burton, Holloman and Schmidt are on track to buy the Community House for $1. The Manhattan City Commission has also agreed to kick in a $500,000 grant, provided the three spend at least $2 million renovating and rehabilitating the century-old building at the corner of Fourth and Humboldt streets, while keeping it on the Register of Historic Kansas Places and the National Register of Historic Places.

A Historical Landmark The Community House was built via a joint effort between Manhattan citizens and the Rotarians of Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma to serve soldiers coming and going from World War I. After the war, it was intended to become the “first permanently mhk business news

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constructed community house in the United States,” according to a June 18, 1918, article in The Manhattan Mercury. A plaque on the building is inscribed, “1917 Manhattan Camp Funston—Community Building—A Tribute from the Citizens of Manhat-

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tan and the Rotarians of Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma—To Our Soldiers.

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After the war, the city owned the building until the federal government bought it for a USO building during World War II. At the war’s conclusion,

ownership reverted to the city, and it’s been used by a variety of clubs and organizations ever since.

H. B. Winter, a well-known Manhattan architect who was the 12th graduate of the Kansas State Agricultural College’s architecture program,

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designed the Community House.

Other blueprints to his credit include First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, most of the buildings for Long Oil Company and Varney Bookstore, which is now Rally House.

Winter’s two-and-a-half story Community House features a limestone foundation with red brick facade, according to a Kansas Historic Resources inventory. It further describes the building features: “Cut stone frames brick panels as a cornice band or frieze beneath a projecting cornice near the top of the building. A brick parapet with simple stone cap extends above the cornice and is crenulated on the front (west) facade and features diamond-shaped stone panels on the north and west facades. The front facade is comprised of three bays; the center bay is recessed with stone pilasters and an entablature inscribed, ‘Community House’ framing the entrance.”

From Liability to Asset Without Burton, Schmidt and Holloman’s proposal, the city would have to pour millions of tax dollars into the Community House to bring it up to code so everyone could access the building. That’s before considering preserving the historic elements that qualified the building for the state and national registers. Under the purchase plan, the city’s liability is capped at $500,000 for the grant, and it will have a new multi-million dollar building on the tax roll.

The building hosts some practices for city recreation sports, as well as public and private meetings, and it generated $2,630 in rental fees in 2018. While they need to invest a minimum of $2 million to receive the city grant, Burton says the final investment will likely be closer to $3 million. Once renovated, the Community House could generate an estimated $40,000 to $50,000 in

property taxes each year for the city.

“We’re taking that off their books and putting a tax-producing asset back,” Burton says. “I think that resonates with a lot of people. Not only are we creating tax revenue, we’re renovating a piece of downtown in an area where a lot of renovation and investment has occurred. We’re really trying to continue that momentum.”

Burton says the commission was clear that whatever happens with the Community House, it needs to remain a historic building. Preserving key elements like the exterior design, front stairway, fireplace, chamfered columns and the doors, windows, trim, plaster and wainscot where possible is the number one goal.

“During this process, we were able to put some worries to rest by negotiating with the city an actual covenant in the deed that this building will remain on the registry,” Holloman says. “With that, there are certain restrictions we’re

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bound by. I think overall the community has been supportive of this fact knowing this building will be historically maintained. In fact, more so than it is now.”

The city can enforce the terms through legal action if necessary, and any future owners will be bound by the same covenant. The covenant and Burton’s thorough presentation earned commissioners’ praises.

“I’m really excited to see where this is going to go,” Commissioner Usha Reddi says. “I think it’s definitely the right proposal for this building. I think it would be a great asset to the community.”

Commissioner Jerred McKee lauded the public-private partnership not only for its potential to preserve a piece of Manhattan’s history, but also to boost economic development. “If you look at other communities that are having success, this is what they’re doing,” he says.

“They’re finding ways to attract remote workers and those workers who have an entrepreneurial spirit. Those workers tend to want to live in an urban environment and spaces much like this one.”

A Community Effort Burton, Holloman and Schmidt all have backgrounds in developing and managing properties. Burton is a licensed general contractor with experience building and managing multi-family projects as well as commercial real estate. Holloman is the founder of Frontier Property Management where he oversees more than 600 residential and commercial rentals in Manhattan. In addition to being vice president of commercial lending at ESB Financial, Schmidt also has commercial and residential real estate management experience.

While all three have a passion for the Community House project, they’re also seeking help from others.

“For a project like this, we’ve engaged Brenda Spencer who’s a historic consultant,” Burton says. “We really wanted to use those local resources for a project like this. While we have experience on the construction side, we wanted to bring in some more experts in the field.”

Spencer, who holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in architecture from Kansas State University, got her start 46

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FROM LIABILITY TO ASSET THE CITY WOULD HAVE TO POUR MILLIONS OF TAX DOLLARS INTO THE COMMUNITY HOUSE TO BRING IT UP TO CODE SO EVERYONE COULD ACCESS THE BUILDING.

as coordinator of Manhattan Design Project, a $26 million downtown revitalization campaign in the mid-1980s.

For the last 25 years, she’s run her own firm specializing in historic preservation consulting, including state and federal tax credits for the rehabilitation of historic buildings.

The group is also working with locally based companies like Anderson Knight Architects and BHS Construction, who have worked on similar projects, such as the renovation of Katie’s Way and Wamego’s Columbian Theatre.

Historic Help The historic tax credits will be key to making the project work financially.

“We have to make sure the numbers pencil out. That’s always one thing we look at any time a project gets evaluated,” Schmidt says. “This project looked like it had some challenges from the get-go. It’s pretty big. There’s been some water damage. From the first tour, we knew that we had to get pretty creative to be able to obtain this property and turn it into an asset the community will be proud of.”

Kansas and the federal government recognize projects like the Community House aren’t generally cost effective,

Schmidt says. Knowing this, they offer incentives for people to preserve and rehabilitate historic buildings.

“How that works is if you invest $100,000 into a property, and that expense is qualified within the criteria, the state gives you 25 cents on the dollar in a state tax credit,” Schmidt says. “On the federal side of things, they end up giving you 20 cents on the dollar in a tax credit.”

The credits are an incentive not to bulldoze buildings or to overlook those properties, but rather restore and preserve them.

“When you try to renovate a building that’s more than 100 years old, in the condition it’s in to the standard that the national and state historical societies are holding us to, it’s just economically not feasible,” Holloman says. “I think we tried to get creative, and I think why we feel so good about this project is how open it was.

Anybody could have submitted ideas.

Anybody had the opportunity to put their vision on this project.”

“...as an employer in the area, we look at what makes this area more attractive to attract, keep and retain talent. We believe buildings like the Community House are what’s needed for the future.”

Transformation Timeline In early fall, the group finalized its design and budget and submitted them to state and national preservation offices. Once they receive the necessary approvals, and the City Commission signs off on the plans, the trio plans to apply for building permits in February with the goal of starting construction in March and finishing by October.

“We believe in the future of Manhattan, and we believe that this building is going to improve that future in a small way.”

“I think the work will speak for itself,” Burton says. “I think the due diligence we put into this project has kind of helped lay that foundation of why [the renovation] is important.”

The work will turn the underutilized building into a live-work space with 10 private office suites that will have a shared reception and conference area, six one-bedroom lofts and a multi-functional space that will be available for a wide variety of events like receptions and community meetings.

“It’s really tailored to individuals who need an office presence but don’t necessarily need a 1,500- to 3,000-squarefoot office,” Burton says. “Maybe it’s an individual marketing firm or an attorney.

It also helps them because they don’t have to negotiate a build out of a larger space or come up with the funding to do that. They have all the amenities they need, whether it’s Wi-Fi, common reception, restroom facilities, conference room—all of those items that can be shared amongst everyone.”

Civic Investment Schmidt says larger companies could rent an office to “dip their toes” into downtown without making a big commitment.

“I think an urban feel is an objective we’re hoping to check on the residential side,” he says. “If anyone kind of shuts their eyes and pictures what a downtown city apartment looks like, I think we all

kind of have that vision in our heads.”

Holloman says those urban-style apartments will hopefully be a draw for people working downtown. They also could help businesses recruiting workers from larger cities.

“Really, at the end of the day, we believe in Manhattan,” Holloman says.

“We believe in the future of Manhattan, and we believe that this building is going to improve that future in a small way.”

“All of us really love the downtown community and are trying to figure out how we can increase the popularity of downtown and provide another amenity. Specifically, as an employer in the area, we look at what makes this area more attractive to attract, keep and retain talent. We believe buildings like the Community House are what’s needed for the future.” ■ Greg Doering is a writer and photographer at Kansas Farm Bureau. He resides in Manhattan, Kansas, with his wife, Amy. mhk business news

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POYNTZ AVENUE RETAIL MAVEN, LINDSAY HUFNAGEL, EXPANDS HER OFFERING WITH PINE & PLAID CLOTHING CO.

Article by Dené K. Dryden Photography by David Mayes

SPOTLIGHT

All Buttoned Up The Boutique’s expansion into Pine & Plaid Clothing Co. signals success for downtown Manhattan retail.

Downtown Manhattan’s newest local retail store Pine & Plaid Clothing Co., located at 320 Poyntz Ave., neighbors its sister store, The Boutique. Lindsay Hufnagel owns and operates both businesses. The Boutique, having moved twice since 2010, eventually became a fixture in Manhattan’s downtown shopping strip, specializing in women’s apparel and accessories along with children’s clothing and gifts. Hufnagel recently saw the opportunity to expand her store’s merchandise and clientele.

“We had a lot of extra space over in The Boutique, and we thought we should fill it with men’s stuff,” Hufnagel says.

She decided against expanding within The Boutique’s walls, knowing that the space next door was available and did not require much remodeling. Inside Pine & Plaid, the stripped-down, minimalistic-yet-cozy feel makes it feel like a space of its own.

Pine & Plaid’s primary focus is on men’s apparel and lifestyle items. Around the store, racks of stylishly sim48

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ple button-downs and flannels take the main stage, but patrons can also find earthy colognes, beard balms and candles. Though the merchandise is aimed broadly at professional men, the store’s wooden shelves and eponymous nod to an outdoorsy aesthetic give the place a rustic feel.

Pine & Plaid fills a need for men’s retail in the area, Hufnagel says, adding that men’s goods come up often in terms of local consumer interest.

“The reason it was even on the plate was that we’ve heard that people want some men’s retail downtown; there’s just a few places that cater to the men. So I hope that this will satisfy the craving for a new men’s store.”

The targeted audience for Pine & Plaid has a similar age range to The Boutique, but the styles and trends reflected in Pine & Plaid’s merchandise could appeal to young professionals and college-aged men, even high school students.

“I think the men’s store could probably go a little younger,” Hufnagel says. “I think the college guys would

definitely wear probably anything that’s in here, versus The Boutique, where maybe it’s a little older. We generally target 30 to 65. But the men’s shop can definitely be—it might even be a high school student, depending on what their budget is. But I would say 18 to 65; any of those guys could probably find something in here.”

Though it is a different store that attracts a different type of customer, the core values between The Boutique and Pine & Plaid remain the same. Hufnagel says her plan for operating her businesses in the era of easy online shopping and fading downtown retail strips has not changed much since 2010. To her, it’s all about the customer experience.

“It’s just always been important to me to stay in a local store and support the community locally.”

“I think that people keep coming back because they trust us,” Hufnagel says. “We’ve gotten to know them and their families and the things that they like and know how to order. So that way, we have things that they like when they come in. We just get to know them, and we can service them and get them what they want.

“It seems to work pretty well so far,” Hufnagel continues. “We have a pretty good track record with being able to have the store—The Boutique—as long as we have.”

Hufnagel emphasizes offering quality products at a good price, noting that local shoppers don’t have to travel to more metropolitan areas to find upscale, special shopping experiences.

“Sometimes when they’re looking for something special, they just tend to go look out of town,” Hufnagel says. “And they might not realize that what they’re looking for is right here in town somewhere.”

Another route for consumers is online retail, a popular shopping option. In the first quarter of 2017, e-commerce made up 23% of sales in the U.S. in the area general merchandise, furniture and apparel, and accessories, according to CBRE. The rise in online shopping has produced worry over the fate of physical stores, since 79% of adults in 2017 shopped online, but Pew Research Center found that 65% of e-commerce shoppers prefer shopping in-store and online for a product. There is still appeal in shopping in a physical store.

Of course, a physical storefront in a community doesn’t always mean the business is locally owned. However, downtown shopping districts akin to Manhattan’s downtown strip along Poyntz Avenue have long attracted a local business scene; the health of arts, entertainment and other non-retail activities in downtown areas are reliant on the state of retail in that hub and vice versa. Several factors for downtown success exist, including having a clear sense of mhk business news

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space in the area, pedestrian friendliness and a mix of businesses, according to a 2014 downtown success indicator report from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Manhattan’s downtown district has had success here; the city redefined the Manhattan Town Center as a Community Improvement District, and the subsequent extra sales tax came forward in April 2019 to fund community development projects down the line. Though actions like this can refresh the health of a whole downtown retail hub, each business has to focus on its own prosperity.

One struggle that local businesses sometimes face is training people to think “shop local” when they shop in downtown districts, which can have a mix of local and chain retailers, but Hufnagel does not feel this problem as much; she says she thinks community members want an authentic downtown shopping environment and value the local shops, and that helps drive her business.

Rachel Carpenter, manager of Pine & Plaid, echoes the value of local retail as an employee.

“I started working when I was 15; I’ve had a few different jobs, and every job I’ve had has been [at] a local business.”

Carpenter, who also studies apparel and textiles with a marketing emphasis at Kansas State University, says she wishes to open her own business someday, and her deliberate focus on being employed at local businesses is important to her.

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“It’s just always been important to me to stay in a local store and support the community locally,” Carpenter says.

“I think it’s important for the whole town to have a good downtown space.”

Before transitioning over to Pine & Plaid, Carpenter worked at The Boutique. As she and Hufnagel traversed starting the new store, Carpenter gained a behind-thescenes look at the process.

“The hands-on work that I’ve been able to do with helping to open this new store and seeing all the behind the scenes of what it takes to open a small business… it’s definitely giving me the tools for that and for any job that I’ll have in this career path,” Carpenter says.

In the microcosm of flannel and peppercorn that is Pine & Plaid, focus on the community’s interests and wants are forefront in its operators’ minds. Carpenter says even though she is still learning what all Pine & Plaid sells, she’s certain there’s something for every man in town there. ■ Dené Dryden is a Kansas State University student journalist and freelance writer. She currently broadcasts local news and weather as the morning news anchor for Wildcat 91.9 FM and is involved with many other organizations on campus. Dené graduates in May 2020, is happily engaged and can’t seem to function without coffee these days.

All about you.

Our children don’t have to worry about what to do with mom and dad.

— Bob Crawford

Home Health | Independent Living | Assisted Living | Skilled Nursing 2121 Meadowlark Rd, Manhattan, KS | 785.537.4610 |

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KONZA STRENGTH Veterans Kenney Phillips and Aaron Riekenberg have come together to empower Manhattan community members to move and live better through functional fitness.

Article by Daniel Phillips

Photography by David Mayes

Entering Konza Strength, patrons are greeted with an open, industrial space. The smell of weights, machines and sweat mingle to form the kind of olfactory backdrop associated with hard work and physical progress.

Bright, natural light floods in through the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows facing Fourth Street. Kenney Phillips and Aaron Riekenberg sit on weight benches they’ve pulled away from the workout floor and arranged for the interview where they can still monitor the movement of anyone who stops in during open gym.

“So, how do we start this?” asks Riekenberg with a smile. “Usually we just put a little bit of time on that clock in the corner and it says ‘Three, two, one, go.’”

“Yeah, and then we die!” responds a young woman in the workout area. Riekenberg and Phillips both chuckle knowingly and settle in for the interview to continue.

The two owners of Konza Strength found their way to this partnership in very different ways.

Phillips, originally from Florida, attempted to join the Army right out of high school but didn’t meet the fitness requirements at the time. He went back to school and got into fitness as a lifestyle. “At 21, though, I ran out of money at school,” Phillips muses. “And this guy in a funny looking suit said, ‘Give me four years of your life, and I’ll pay for your school,’ which sounded like a fair trade. I wasn’t doing anything else for the next four years.”

Phillips chose the Army over the other branches because they allowed him to pick the career he really wanted, which was a healthcare specialist with follow-on training to be a physical therapist assistant. However, while in basic training, he learned the Army had just changed that specific career path and he would be unable to go the physical therapy route. Instead, he became a combat medic and eventually found himself stationed at Fort Riley.

His enlistment lasted from 2013 to 2017, during which he served one year in Iraq. “I almost

made it through my whole enlistment,” Phillips says with a shrug. “My Humvee was hit, and it compressed my whole lumbar spine and kind of crushed it. I recovered, but one day, I was out on the range in full kit and went to stand up and just couldn’t move my legs. I guess the kit had put enough pressure on my spinal column that everything kind of went to sleep and wouldn’t move.

So, I got med-boarded and got out in 2017.” He continues, resiliently smiling, and adds, “That’s one of the reasons I do this, to improve the quality of people’s lives and help them maintain independence for as long as they can.”

Riekenberg, on the other hand, was born and raised in southwest Kansas and attended Fort Hays State University, where he competed in track for a year before enlisting in the Marine Corps in 2008. “I wanted to join for a long time, even started talking to recruiters as a freshman in high school, but then I got some good results on the track and really wanted to continue that because standing on top of a podium was a lot of fun,” he explains proudly. “But sitting in classrooms wasn’t really enjoyable. I guess the college

KENNEY PHILLIPS & AARON RIEKENBERG OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF KONZA STRENGTH.

thing just wasn’t right for me, so after a year I was ready to be brought back and simplified. We just need to help to go into the military. I also had a close friend pass away, people master the basics, time under tension and moving and I kind of realized that I wasn’t getting any younger and the right way. That’s how we can help people fix their issues nothing was really stopping me from doing this thing I’d and empower their performance,” Phillips explains. Riekwanted to do since I was 13 years old.” enberg, nodding in agreement, adds, “Exactly, we both saw Riekenberg spent four years and two months in the Magaps. People were writing numbers on a board saying you rines, voluntarily extending those extra two months to finhave to do this as today’s workout to everyone, but if you ish a deployment. All told, he spent seven months in Iraq, understand where those numbers come from then you can seven months in Afghanistan, and six to seven months in see that instead of writing one prescription for everyone, we the South Pacific. In 2012 when his enlistment ended, he can write one prescription for each person. You can show moved to California to go to school. It was there he met each person what’s good for them.” a man that drastically changed his career path. “He was a It was this shared interest in simplified movement being doctor of physical therapy,” Riekenberg remembers. “And he used to help people that ended up bringing them together was using adaptive kinesiology, working as partners and friends after a chance with a lot of people that had life-altermeeting in a facility where Riekening illnesses and injuries. I started realberg was working in the fall of 2017.

“We just need to help izing he had a knack for taking a very A random text message from a mutual simple approach to showing people how friend about beards was the original people master the to move. He took stroke patients and catalyst. “I had a really long beard at basics, time under had them moving around in the pool, the time, so this mutual friend of ours practicing walking with a float belt. And was asking me about it, and we struck tension, and moving as they would get better in the deep end, up a conversation about beards,” laughs the right way. That’s he would move them closer and closer Riekenberg. “But I was trying to build until they were starting to walk out my brand and my client base since I how we can help of the pool and up the ramps,” he reneeded membership to support a facilpeople fix their issues counts. “In the three months I worked ity of my own, so I asked him where he with him, I watched people that couldn’t was training and said he should come and empower their walk start being able to walk, and peoto one of my classes.” performance” ple using walkers begin using a three- or But at the time, this friend was acone-point cane, and I thought that was tually training with Phillips. “So I said, really cool. I realized I had the ability to ‘Bring him too! It’ll be fun,’” Riekentruly help people in the weight room, it may not be a pool berg recalls, ruefully. Phillips shakes his head slightly, “We or be exactly what he was doing, but I did have a skill set to ended up combining everyone’s programming that day. It which I could add adaptive kinesiology.” was a bad idea. They didn’t really all go together, so we were Riekenberg moved to Manhattan in 2015 to attend all trashed by the end of the session.” Both men let out a Kansas State University and be closer to family. This was laugh at the memory. around the same time Phillips was starting to work in the Riekenberg collects himself and continues, “But the cool fitness industry in Manhattan. Both men were working at thing about spending so much time at the gym [that day] different facilities, yet they were struggling with the same with each other was that we started these conversations, feelings. “We both saw that everyone around us was tryand we got so tired that we had lost our normal defenses ing to do these high-skill movements, very technical lifts, and were just being ourselves. And at that point, Kenney doing everything for time and always beating themselves mentioned a space he was going to see as a possible facility, into the ground every workout. We thought it just needed and that perked my ears up. Because Kenney didn’t know 54

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that I had also been looking at spaces as well, I just had age that kind of lifestyle, and I haven’t seen that a lot. There no idea how I was going to fill one with equipment. I just were a lot of fitness facilities here already, but none of them figured I’d get the people together in a space and worry were doing things the way we wanted to do them.” about equipment later. I asked him about the space he was “Six seconds of this! Are you serious? Why?” shouts the going to look at, and when we both realized we were doyoung woman from the workout area. ing the same thing, we kind of looked at each other, and “Why not?” Riekenberg retorts beaming, as both men I asked, ‘You wanna get breakfast sometime?’” This recollaugh and wordlessly agree to go help the people that have lection brings a wide grin to Phillips as well, “Yeah, it was filtered in during the talk. fun,” Phillips adds. “I was expecting some fun conversation, In the nearly two years that Konza Strength has existed, maybe some food. Then we ordered and Aaron jumps into it has exceeded the expectations of both men. Through their some questions, and I thought, ‘Oh, I’m being interviewed. use of functional fitness, they have attracted a large group of I know how this goes,’ so I put my game face on and anpeople who see the difference in training that they offer. The swered as best I could.” gym offers people a place to not only grow stronger or look Riekenberg chuckles and explains, better, but also genuinely improve their “I was asking about his methods, and lives, mobility and freedom. It has grown I was telling him about all my years of more and cultivated a large community coaching and what I bring to the table faster than either one saw coming, but “...instead of writing and asked him what he was bringing, it’s only the beginning. They already have and he said he had like 10 rowers, 10 their eyes set on bigger goals. They are one prescription for men’s bars, 10 women’s bars...and I currently considering ways to get more everyone, we can write involved with the city as a whole, with don’t know if he could see my jaw dropping, but I was thinking ‘This guy has plans to work on hosting sanctioned one prescription for a gym!’ I asked him if he was planning weightlifting events where people could each person. You can on opening a gym, and he said he was qualify for national meets, as well as posgoing to sign a lease after our breakfast. sible events geared toward helping local show each person I think it was at that point we realfirefighters and first responders. what’s good for them.” ized how perfect the situation was and “We would love to get so many started negotiating the partnership.” people in here that we need a bigger But there was more to do than just space and more coaches, but more imnegotiate. With Phillips signing the portantly, that means we would have lease later that day, the two coaches had very little time to a community that is that much larger, and we would be build the actual business. impacting that many more peoples’ lives,” Phillips says as “We opened the doors on Jan. 8, 2018. That was six weeks the two switch from interviewees to coaches and begin after signing the lease. But we were waiting most of that time correcting and encouraging. ■ for them to clear everything out of the space, paint, and get down to bare concrete floor,” Phillips explains. “Yeah, we Lt. Dan Phillips was born in Oregon and now lives in came in on the sixth and seventh to move everything in. So, Manhattan, Kansas, with his wife, Ashley, and their five we had a month to create the business and only two days kids—a dog, cat, snake, and two rats. After a six-year stint in to physically build it,” Riekenberg adds. “But we wanted to the Air Force, Dan attended Kansas State University, during be here, it’s a solid community. They’re going through some which time he fell in love with the Manhattan area and decided great initiatives right now for bike lanes and sidewalk expanto stay. When not writing, he works as a part-time pilot for the sions for pedestrians, [Manhattan] is really trying to encourKansas Air National Guard.

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