Hershey Hall project moves forward

MT. PLEASANT — Following the approval of a tax incentive from the Henry County Board of Supervisors, developers Chris Ales and Jim Bergman look forward to renovating the former Iowa Wesleyan University Hershey Hall into affordable housing units next spring.

“We are so lucky to have this opportunity, right now, to have something great in our community,” Supervisor Marc Lindeen said during the Thursday, Sept. 19 meeting approving the tax incentive. “I am very appreciative.”

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During the Thursday, Sept. 19 Board of Supervisors meeting, the supervisors unanimously approved a contract setting a Tax Increment Financing and Urban Redevelopment Area brought back to them by Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Mike Norris after previous meetings discussing the topic.

According to Bergman, current architectural plans for Hershey Hall show 32 units will take approximately 12 months to build, hopefully beginning in spring.

“It's designed to provide rents that are less than market rate rents for a period of 30 years,” he explained. “And besides that, obviously it's a renovation of an existing building. So, it's, it's keeping this building alive and refreshing it to go maybe another 50, 100 years. It's a gut rehab so the entire interior will be torn down, basically to the studs and outside walls, and completely redone.”

Bergman stated that renovating the historical buildings is nearly 50 percent more expensive and that is why the state helps with these types of projects. When Supervisor Chad White asked Norris to explain why the county was involved in the TIF incentives for this project instead of the city, Norris stated that it has to do with the long-term redevelopment of the campus.

“We’re in the beginning stages of that, and that’s going to take different levels of incentives and also cash investment and capital investment over time,” Norris explained. “So, the conversations with both the city and the county are really resulting in not one entity of government shouldering all the responsibility.”

According to Norris, TIF and tax incentives are typically necessary for large capital investments, especially adaptive reuses.

“It’s that complimentary system that seemed to make sense for a long-term development and redevelopment process,” Norris said.

While developers Ales and Bergman celebrate the Board of Supervisors approving the TIF URA contract with Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission and beginning the actual redevelopment of Hershey Hall into affordable housing units, Bergman says they have not applied and do not anticipate applying for the same kind of aid when it comes to renovating Nemitz Hall.

“Our goal is to try to take as few incentives as we can to make a project work, and that one works without it,” Bergman said. “So, we didn't even ask for it, nor do we intend to.”

They intend to start that project at the same time as they begin Hershey Hall. The plan for Nemitz Hall is to create a market-rate eight-plex.

“So, we're excited about it, and we think ultimately, we'll get all these buildings redone,” Bergman said. “That's going to take a while.”

Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com