Chris Deal ready to tackle second floor housing
Chris Deal, who was so intent on enticing Accenture/ Pillar Technology to his hometown of Jefferson he took on the role of developer of the vintage building that’s now home to Pillar’s first rural Forge, is turning his attention to the next project – right next door to The Forge.
Deal was at the Jefferson city council meeting June 9 with Geoff Wood of Gravitate to talk about a project involving 200-202 E. State St. The building is owned by the city. Remodeling of the west portion of the building was fast-tracked after Heartland Bank said it would rent the space until it could build a new branch on N. Elm St. Heartland opened at 200 E. State St last fall.
At the council meeting, Deal and Wood announced Wood’s plans to open the next Gravitate coworking space in Jefferson.
Wood did an informational session in Jefferson a year ago. Gravitate provides workspace for freelancers, remote workers and entrepreneurs, “providing community, collaboration, and lots and lots of coffee,” a press release stated at the time.
Wood has been involved with coworking since 2014. He has two Des Moines locations. He said he has looked at several options for his next location but settled on Jefferson. “There’s a lot of neat activity going on in Jefferson and we’re really excited to be part of it,” Wood said.
According to Wood, coworking will become more important as the country recovers from the Covid-19 public health crisis. “As people start to go back to work, they’re going to stay remote. That’s something we’re going to see more and more of… If your job is in New York City or Des Moines or Boone, and you happen to be living in Jefferson, you’re still going to want to find a place that you can plug into… and coworking is that kind of place,” Wood said.
Deal is suggesting a “more holistic project” to bring coworking to Jefferson. The city would renovate the east side of the building and lease it to Gravitate, just as it renovated the west side for Heartland Bank. Gravitate would use both sides after Heartland vacates.
Deal would create second floor living above the coworking space. His plan is to restore three upstairs apartments in the building, and possibly finish a total of seven upstairs apartments in downtown Jefferson. He’s working with Region XII Council of Governments on an application for a Community Development Block Grant in a new program targeted to restore upper story housing that has been vacant for five years or longer. A goal of the program is to “reactivate rural communities,” Deal said.
According to Deal, Iowa Economic Development Authority director Debi Durham, and Gov Kim Reynolds’ chief operations officer Paul Trombino, both want to see Jefferson “as an example of how we can tackle this challenge of rural housing.”
Up to $500,000 is available, with seven apartments the goal of the grant program. Deal is interested in two apartments above John’s Appliance on the west side of the downtown square, and he’s looking for two other apartments. He’d combine the CDBG with historic tax credits. State historic tax credits would provide up to 25 percent of qualifying costs. Federal historic tax credits would provide another 20 percent.
The city would be the applicant for the CDBG. The city has already used tax increment financing (TIF) revenue for work on the building, and that would qualify as the city’s match for the grant.
If the city receives the grant, it would then sign over the building to a developer – in this case, Chris Deal. He said he’d assemble a for-profit LLC and purchase the building from the city, putting it back on the tax rolls.
Greene County Development Corporation is providing “soft funds” for the project
Deal did business as East State Street Properties LLC in developing the building that is now The Forge.
The CDBG application deadline is July 31. Regardless of the outcome of that application, the city will build-out the street level of the building for Gravitate. The lease with Heartland Bank includes enough for the city to recoup build-out costs. The plan is the same with Gravitate.
Approval of a 2-year lease with Gravitate was on the council’s agenda. A lease amount has not been determined and the agenda item was tabled.
In other business, the council set July 14 as the date of a public hearing on detailed plans and specifications, form of contract, and estimate of cost for Arch Alley and city hall parking lot improvements. The engineer’s estimate of probable cost is $38,300 for Arch Alley, which includes resurfacing the alley south of city hall to State St and the foundations for the arch sculpture that’s being constructed there, and $74,470 for paving the existing parking lot behind city hall.
The funds for the project were included in the 2019 bond issue.
The council also approved $75,000 from TIF revenue for façade improvements to the building at 215 S. Wilson Ave. Court Street LLC of Carroll is doing that project.
Those two agenda items – the Arch Alley/parking lot project and the façade improvement grant – were approved without discussion by the council.
The council spent 22 minutes discussing a contract with Sebourn Video Services for recording council meetings, editing the file, and posting it online for public viewing. Sean Sebourn quoted $120 per meeting; total contract for one year would be $2,760.
No council members said the quote was too much for the service provided. Council members Dave Sloan, Pat Zmolek and Harry Ahrenholtz all said they had gotten “push back” from residents about whether this is the right time to spend the money. None of the three said how many different residents they had heard from, or if it was the same residents.
The council took a side track and discussed the merit of livestreaming meetings over recording them for later posting. Sebourn agreed that in addition to the services named in the contract, he would facilitate livestreaming, possibly on Facebook, without an additional charge.
The council approved a contract with Sebourn, but for only six months, a cost of less than $1,500. The vote was unanimous, with Sloan casting a reluctant “yes” vote as the last one to vote.
