Latest news with #InnovationDistrict
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Company lists buildings for sale after Shawnee County invests $1 million
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Shawnee County has invested over $1 million into three properties, which are now for sale for $2.85 million in Topeka's Innovation District. Three buildings on Kansas Avenue that are owned by Astra IC Partners LLC, a company out of Waco, TX, are for sale for $2.85 million in Topeka's downtown area. Those buildings were part of a county investment program called the Innovation District, which anticipated the development of a BioRealty Animal Science, Technology, Research, and Agriculture (ASTRA) innovation center. 27 News requested financial documents from the county to show how many payments had been made to Astra IC Partners LLC since it purchased the properties for $1,150,000 in 2021. Since the purchase, the county has made over 40 payments ranging between $114-$196,012 to Astra IC Partners, totaling over $1 million. Meanwhile, the county appraised value of the properties has remained nearly unchanged. Marshall says he doesn't expect Medicaid cuts to impact Kansas We reached out to GO Topeka, the economic development group for the Greater Topeka Partnership which signed off on the innovation campus in 2021. The deal came as part of a previously announced $14.5 million innovation campus approved by the Joint Economic Development Organization (JEDO) in May 2021. 'GO Topeka continues to support the development of this property as a key asset for Topeka's innovation ecosystem. While Biorealty is seeking to exit the project, the buildings remain strategically important. GO Topeka previously invested in the buildings at 7th and Kansas to advance the Innovation District, including critical remediations to prepare the space for market. These properties are now actively marketed as valuable innovation assets, alongside The Link Innovation Lab at 6th and Quincy, reinforcing GO Topeka's commitment to a vibrant, innovation-driven downtown.' Stephanie Moran, SVP of Innovation for GO Topeka and current interim CEO of the Greater Topeka Partnership. The buildings are all located inside the South Kansas Avenue Commercial Historic District which received recognition on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in the summer of 2015. The area is home to numerous businesses, restaurants and retail shops that occupy historic structures which have been in use for decades, according to the City of Topeka's website. Evergy customers in Kansas could soon have lower taxes One of the buildings included in this package is the former Wolfe's Camera shop that closed in 2021. Wolfe's Camera began selling off its merchandise in early 2020, announcing the following year that it would be closing for good after nearly a century of business. Wolfe's Camera eventually closed on July 31, 2021 with its CEO, Michael Lee Worswick, dying a few days later. You can learn more about the properties by clicking here or by checking out the brochure below. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. 627 635 s. Kansas Ave Topeka Marketing Brochure Gh9 by Matthew Self on Scribd Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
North Omaha ‘Innovation District' funded by $30M from state is topic of May 21 public input meeting
The boundaries of the Omaha Inland Port Authority. (Courtesy of City of Omaha) OMAHA — Community input will be heard May 21 on a plan for a new 'Innovation District' in the North Omaha area, which is being funded by a $30 million state grant. The effort is to be overseen by the Omaha Inland Port Authority, the steward of the funding awarded by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. The public is invited to the 6 p.m. meeting at the Venue at Highlander Accelerator, 2120 N. 30th St. Representatives of the port authority will introduce the planning process and gather input to shape a vision for 'inclusive economic development in the area.' The proposed Innovation District is separate from the planned airport area business park project that is also being steered by the port authority board, in partnership with a development team led by Omaha Economic Development Corp. and Burlington Capital. Funds for both projects originally were approved by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Nebraska Economic Recovery Act of 2022, though the legislation and funding sources have since been updated. On the Innovation District initiative, the port authority board has started to lay groundwork in awarding a $546,000 consulting contract to HR&A Advisors Inc. Focus group sessions are to be held the day before the public meeting. HR&A secured the contract in April after a competitive bidding process. In conjunction with Lamp Rynearson and Vireo, the contractor over a six-month period is to create a vision and business plan model for a local Innovation District, which is to be developed within the boundaries of the Inland Port Authority. The consultant is to outline project costs and identify key indicators to measure success. Such a district is envisioned as an urban hotbed of leading-edge institutions, business and entrepreneurs. On the business park venture, a concern voiced by a few state lawmakers and community members was that it lacked community input early on. The business park initiative is funded partly through a separate $90 million state earmark. Both the business park and the Innovation District are seen as anchors within the boundaries of the port authority and seen as key to helping private businesses produce jobs and economic development that benefits North Omaha area residents. The port authority jurisdiction, members say, is roughly 3,000 acres, although not all of that is buildable property. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Over $75M in real estate to be auctioned in largest foreclosure in town's history
Americans could be in for the chance to snap up a property in a charming New York college town under a huge foreclosure auction. Over a dozen properties worth over $75 million will be up for auction of April 29 in Ithaca and nearby Lansing. Ithaca, which is known for its beautiful surrounding scenery and vibrant arts scene, is home to the Ivy League Cornell University. The properties are located on Cornell University land that was leased to private developers. 'I believe this is the largest real estate foreclosure in Ithaca's history,' Costa Lambrou of Lambrou Real Estate told The Cornell Daily Sun. The properties were originally part of a 2024 foreclosure lawsuit initiated by the Tompkins Community Bank against a group of real estate companies connected to prolific developer Phil Proujansky. The companies linked to Proujansky defaulted on a $68 million mortgage, which resulted in zero payments since September 2023. The real estate up for auction includes 17 pieces of land. The properties are located near Ithaca Tompkins International Airport on Thornwood Drive, Brown Road, Brentwood Drive and Arrowwood Drive. The upcoming auction comes after Cornell bought a foreclosed property last month for $15 million. The building, which is over 50,000 square feet, includes 26 residential units and houses Jason's Deli convenience store. 'We are excited to work with local leaders, business owners, and community neighbors on advancing shared goals in this area and, by extension, our city,' a Cornell spokesperson said. The building was owned by Proujansky and the late John Novarr before its February 2024 foreclosure. Cornell employee Jeremy Thomas explained the financial importance of leasing the land. '[The foreclosed properties] are around loans that were made specifically to the improvements on the properties,' Thomas said. 'So Cornell does own the land, but those are under a long term ground lease with the entity that actually owns the buildings themselves. … They're responsible for paying the loans that they take out on those buildings.' Thomas added that leasing around Cornell Business & Technology Park (CBTP) was crucial so they could see how potential developments could impact students, teachers, and other university priorities. Cornell employee Jeremy Thomas hopes the university will forge a strong partnership with the new foreclosed property owners Novarr and Proujansky had hinted at a project in Ithaca's Collegetown neighborhood before it went public in 2020. By then, the pair already owned several Collegetown properties worth more than $15.5 million and bought the former Nines building for over $3 million. The project was comprised of five Collegetown sites, including 17 properties. Dubbed the 'Innovation District,' the $145 million project was scheduled to begin construction in 2021 and end this winter. Unfortunately, the only portion of the project completed before the foreclosures was Catherine Commons, which completed construction last December. Their plans slowly fell apart, leading to one foreclosure after another. Other businessmen swooped in to purchase the buildings, including Charlie O'Connor and Nick Robertson. Following project failure, Novarr kept a low profile until his death in September 2024, and Proujansky has stayed out of the public eye. Thomas revealed that it was 'very unlikely' Cornell would purchase any of the other foreclosed properties. However, if the bank were to take ownership of the properties, the school would consider buying them. Thomas hopes to forge a partnership with the next property owners to ensure that CBTP continues to thrive. 'It is important for us that a [new] owner of these properties comes forward [who] can be a good strategic partner to the universities and the objectives that we have here,' Thomas said. 'So we will be a partner with whoever that owner is, and we want to work to find somebody that would be a good partner to the University in the region.'
