Daily Archives: Aug. 1, 2012

Southeast Kansas economic development effort gets $715,000 federal grant

Aug. 1, 20123:16 p.m.

A federal grant of $715,000 has been awarded to a 17-county effort to spur economic development in southeast Kansas.

The Kansas Department of Commerce announced Wednesday that the grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration is in addition to $1 million worth of leadership training for the initiative from the Kansas Health Institute. The training funds were announced in March.

In a news release, the Department of Commerce said the “Together We Succeed: Southeast Kansas Economic Improvement Initiative” – more commonly called Project 17 – will be managed by southeast Kansas stakeholders and in cooperation with Kansas State University’s Advanced Manufacturing Institute and the Kansas Department of Commerce.

According to the release, the goal of the effort is to create and sustain jobs in advanced manufacturing and other economic sectors in southeast Kansas.

The counties involved include Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Coffey, Crawford, Elk, Franklin, Greenwood, Labette, Linn, Miami, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson and Woodson.

By Julie Doll | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments Off | Share this post

Former Thorn Americas building off the block

Aug. 1, 201212:02 p.m.

WICHITA  — To no one’s surprise, CIP Investment Properties, which owns the former Thorn Americas buildings at 37th and Rock Road, declared bankruptcy, preventing the tax sale of the buildings set for next month to pay off the $3 million in back property taxes. It also blocks any immediate action by its mortgage lender, 5400 Holdings of West Des Moines, Iowa, which contended in a suit filed in June that it hadn’t made a mortgage payments since September 2010. County Treasurer Linda Kizzire notes that the county has first position to collect when the buildings are sold by the bankruptcy court.

Unfortunately, a host of local creditors won’t be in as good a position to collect. Total Inc., a Wichita construction company, is owed $225,000. However, the others are owned just a fraction of that.

The buildings, which total 175,830 square feet, are among the more prominent office buildings in Wichita. They served as headquarters for Thorn Americas until it left Wichita in 1998. It now houses a number of tenants,including corporate offices for Via Christi Health.

 

By Dan Voorhis | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments Off | Share this post