College wins roughly $1.75 million federal grant to rehab downtown Main Street building into makerspace

The Goodland City Commission heard that the local college has been awarded a federal grant of about $1,750,000 to rehabilitate the Main Street building at 1008 Main Street and turn it into a makerspace for students and community users.

The manager said the grant is a significant award after more than two years of waiting for notice of award. The planned makerspace will provide workshop and fabrication resources (for example, 3-D printing and other technology) for students, instructors and members of the public to collaborate. The college intends to use the space for classes and community-facing programming.

Commissioners responded positively to the news, noting it will add another refurbished building to downtown and create a forward-facing area for students and the community. Staff did not provide a complete project budget breakdown in the meeting packet beyond the announced grant amount; city staff said they would coordinate with the college as rehabilitation planning proceeds and bring any intergovernmental or funding coordination back to the commission if required.

Quote from the meeting: "So that's another building on Main Street refurbished and back up and going... The grant was in the neighborhood of about $1,750,000," a staff speaker said. The commission acknowledged the grant as a major boost for downtown redevelopment and tasked staff to continue coordination with the college on next steps and any formal agreements that might be needed.