Six buildings on the southeast corner of Monmouth's town square will receive a $2 million facelift.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa developer Frantz-Hobart will turn the buildings into condominiums and retail space.
City Administrator Eric Hanson calls it “the biggest development project” in the downtown area in decades. He says it advances the city's vision for the downtown area.
He says, “We'd like to, you know, have more people living in our downtown. The mixed-use in the upper floors which will hopefully spur some additional retail opportunities given the foot traffic in our downtown.”
Five of the buildings have been vacant. Two of them were in foreclosure with a local bank and the city had acquired one of the buildings. Hanson says the project will preserve the buildings
He says, “A couple of them were in (a) pretty deteriorated state. So, obviously our ability to get them redeveloped and saved before a much worse scenario played out was a great win for us.”
Frantz-Hobart will receive several incentives. It will get about $250,000 in funds from the TIF district. It will receive an additional $355,000 from the Downtown Development Grant Fund.
The project is expected to begin in early June. It should be completed early next year.