Iola got a sweetheart deal on Valentine’s Day, as school board members learned a Kansas City company wants to convert all three of its elementary schools into housing, an investment worth about $20 million. At a meeting Monday, school board members voted to pursue an agreement with BNIM, an architecture and design firm based in Kansas City, Mo. Under the deal, BNIM would partner with two other entities to secure financing including tax credits for low-income housing and historic preservation. They would remodel all three elementary schools in three phases: Jefferson and McKinley Elementary schools would be renovated to create 39 apartments in the first phase; Lincoln would be converted into 22 apartments in the second phase; In the third phase, they would build single-family homes, duplexes and possibly quad-plexes on land surrounding the schools, such as areas currently used for parking lots or playgrounds.
Source: The Iola Register
