Board accepts Frontier Development Group offer for Kansas Avenue property with contingencies

The Emporia Board of Education voted 7-0 to accept an offer from Frontier Development Group to purchase the district-owned Kansas Avenue property for $80,000, with $10,000 in earnest money and contingencies tied to rezoning, the establishment of a reinvestment housing incentive district (RHID) and a Kansas Housing Investor Tax Credit (KHITC) award.

Board members discussed the proposal after Tyler Holloman, president of Frontier Development Group, described the company’s experience converting historic buildings into workforce housing in nearby towns and outlined the financing requirements the developer would need to proceed. Holloman said Frontier planned multiunit workforce housing targeted roughly at 50–60% area median income and that closing would depend on securing tax-credit funding through the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation.

The developer’s contingencies, as presented to the board, were: a successful rezoning of the site to allow multifamily residential use; the creation or approval of an RHID to support the project’s tax-increment/incentive structure; and an award of KHITC funds before closing. Holloman told the board that KHRC’s application rounds are competitive and that timing for awards was not yet announced, though the KHITC program had an appropriation for the next year. He estimated an RHID process could take roughly 90–120 days in a jurisdiction familiar with that tool.

Matt Johnson, the listing realtor, and Holloman answered board questions about exclusivity of the contract during the contingency period, the developer’s experience with similar projects (Cottonwood Lofts in Cottonwood Falls, a former school converted to workforce housing), and the anticipated rent range based on prior work. Holloman said Frontier is vertically integrated — performing development, construction and property management — and that the firm prefers exclusive negotiation while it incurs predevelopment costs such as architectural and historic-tax-credit qualification work.

After board discussion, a member moved to accept the offer “of $80,000 from the Frontier Development Group with $10,000 earnest money after the contingencies outlined in the offer are met.” The motion passed 7-0.

The sale is conditioned on actions and approvals outside the district’s control (rezoning, RHID approval by taxing jurisdictions and a competitive KHITC award); the board’s vote accepted the offer and authorized moving forward under those terms but did not purport to guarantee those outside approvals.

The district will work with counsel and the listing broker on next steps, and the developer will advance underwriting, due diligence and applications for the incentive and tax-credit programs cited to the board.

Additional procedural details and the full presentation are part of the meeting record; the board’s acceptance of the offer was the formal action taken.