Kenyon Hall awaits State tax credits
By Joey Berlin
Originally published 01:50 p.m., May 19, 2008
Updated 01:50 p.m., May 19, 2008
The owners of Kenyon Hall are hoping they will soon be granted the housing tax credits they believe are necessary to keep the historic building from being torn down.
Rick Mitchell of Mitchell-Markowitz Builders, which owns the building, said this weekend that the contractor filed in February for housing and historic renovation tax credits from the Kansas Housing Authority, which would lead to Kenyon Hall being used as apartment housing for seniors with low to medium income. The city commission last summer approved Mitchell-Markowitz to file for the credits.
“But if that doesn’t happen, if we don’t get the tax credit(s), that’s probably coming down,” he said. “Because there just isn’t any other use for the building.”
Mitchell said he could hear back any time on whether Mitchell-Markowitz will receive the credits. But he said housing tax credits granted in filings from last August went to Greensburg and Coffeyville following last year’s disasters. As a result, the housing authority has a lot of applications for this round of credits, but not much money to give out.
“So we’re not real hopeful that we’re gonna get it,” he said. “If we don’t get it, we’ll probably do one more filing on it. We’ll file it in August and see what happens.
“And then if we don’t get that — we really need that in order to restore it because the building’s so deteriorated that that’s gonna be such an expensive project. And we’ve gotta have the historic tax credits along with the housing tax credits in order to renovate it.”
Mitchell said there are shingles missing on the south side of the roof following the last high-wind storm. He said the roof would be patched, but that the building needed a new one. Other work needed, he said, included cleaning and repointing the exterior brick and stone and replacing the windows. He said the renovation would cost about $7 million.
“Basically, a total gut job, except for the corridors on the interior,” he said. “All new wiring, new HVAC, new plumbing. In order to use it for housing, it’ll just be a shell. The corridors and the exterior will remain the same, but the interior other than that, it will be converted into living units.”
The tax credits are distributed based on a point system based on amenities, cost of the construction, and other factors, Mitchell said.
“A score of 120 used get you the tax credits,” he said. “Now, scores are up around 180 is what they’re telling us, that you gotta be up around 180 to probably get in on this filing. And we were one-mid-sixties, I think.”
Kenyon Hall was completed in 1928 and served as the main building for the College of Emporia. The 60,000-square-foot building hasn’t had any maintenance on it since the late ’70s or early ’80s, Mitchell said.