By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A Grow Hays Year in Review luncheon last week highlighted the housing growth in Ellis County last year.
Doug Williams, executive director of Grow Hays, discussed some notable housing additions in the works and other economic indicators during the meeting with local leaders at Brief Space.
Williams said his predictions for housing for 2024 were off.
He estimated Ellis would have 20 single-family home starts, but there were 15. He estimated there would be more than 40 starts for multi-family housing units, but Ellis County had none.
In 2023, Ellis County had 29 single-family home starts, so housing development is down over the prior year.
Williams predicted single-family home prices would remain stable in 2024, depending on the price range. They increased.
Williams once thought a house in Ellis County selling for more than $500,000 would be very rare. However, numerous homes have now sold for more than $1 million.
He also predicted rents would remain stable or slightly rise. Rents have continued to rise, and the rental supply remains very tight, Williams said.
Williams highlighted multiple housing projects that are in the works.
Tallgrass Addition
All of the homes in phases one and two of Heart of America Tallgrass, 54 homes, are built and sold.
Six homes are under construction on Wheatland Drive and another six will be started soon.
The majority of the homes have been sold to first-time home buyers, and 16 more have been sold to families new to Hays.
"Once a family buys a home and puts down roots, they're more likely to stay," Williams said. "One of the things this housing development is doing is keeping people here."
Williams expected more Tallgrass buyers to be upsizing or downsizing, but few of the buyers fell into that category.
Thirty-six homes in phase one were limited to a $225,000 maximum sale price, and the next 18 to a $235,000 maximum sale price. Developers bought some homes, but the maximum sale price was only subject to the first sale.
Because the lots are larger, the sale prices for the homes on Wheatland Drive will be above the minimum in the first two phases.
Heart of America is working to develop phase four of the Tallgrass Addition, which includes 21 acres north of the existing development.
The city of Hays has agreed to bond the first three phases of the addition so that the developer can proceed to invest in the fourth phase.
The developer is in the process of rezoning and platting 101 lots in the fourth phase.
A new Reinvestment Housing Incentive District (RHID) will be used for the fourth phase. If approved, the district will capture the incremental real property taxes, less the state's 1.5 mills and 20 mill school levy, for up to 25 years.
Williams credited Heart of America as well as the city in making Hays a leader in housing in the state.
Michael Graham projects
Hays developer Michael Graham is planning to build 48 apartments on the site of the former railroad depot parking lot at 10th and Walnut in downtown Hays.
The city has also approved an incentive district for that development.
The district is expected to generate about $1.1 million of revenue during its maximum 25-year term. The revenue would reimburse the developer for an estimated $692,000 in RHID-eligible project costs on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Construction of the first 24 units in the development will begin this spring.
The Hays USD 489 school board has also agreed to enter into a contract with Graham to purchase Lincoln Elementary School. The school will close as new elementary school space comes online as part of bond-funded projects.
Graham hopes to renovate the building into 26 to 28 one- and two-bedroom apartments. He also plans to build more housing on the land adjacent to the school.
Victory Village
Forty-eight of the one, two and three-bedroom units would be market-rate housing, while 88 units would be low-income housing.
The city has submitted a letter of support for the grant, and the developer is waiting to see if it is approved.
Ellis development
Dan Hess has finished the construction of infrastructure for 12 lots in south Ellis on Maple. Developers have pulled eight permits to construct homes on those lots.
"We are excited to have activity in Ellis, which hasn't had activity in a long time," Williams said. "The school district enrollment shows they haven't had that activity."
Work is being done on the expansion of the Knight's Addition in Victoria.
"We have people who want to be over there, but we just don't have additional lots," Williams said.
The Grove
Construction of the Bob and Pat Schmidt Community Center at the Grove. is underway and should be completed in 2025. Multiple donors have been given to support the community center, but Williams said Grow Hays is short of the funding needed for the project. It is still seeking donations.
Work just started on the streets. Housing construction could begin as soon as this summer.
Grow Hays had planned 50 patio homes, eight duplexes and six plexes on the corner.
Grow Hays was able to purchase an additional single-family 2-acre lot that faces Canterbury.
Considering the number of multi-family units proposed in Hays, Grow Hays is now proposing a grouping of two-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-car garage villas for the additional property.
The homes would be about 1,100 square feet with a shared courtyard and be offered at a lower price point than the patio homes, Williams said.
MicroFactory
The MicroFactory, which was completed last March, is still empty.
The MicroFactory, 3000 Ninth in Hays, is meant to be a space manufacturers can rent for a lower-than-market rate as they launch new businesses or product lines.
The $4.5 million, 30,000-square-foot facility was constructed with help from the Kansas Department of Commerce and was supposed to bring new jobs into Hays.
Williams said it is Grow Hays' sore toe.
"We're disappointed we haven't got anyone in there yet," Williams said. "We've had a few people we have determined who would not be a good fit that had interest."
It is being marketed locally, regionally and nationally.
Williams compared the MicroFactory to the co-working Brief Space. He said it took awhile for people to understand and buy into the concept.
"This is a kind of co-working space for manufacturers," he said.
Williams said Hays is primarily a white-collar community and needs to grow its manufacturing base.
"I don't know when we say we gotta do something else?" he said. "At this point, we are committed to the people who put up the money for it, both the state and the Schmidt Foundation and Patterson Family Foundation, to try to fulfill the vision of what this facility can be."
"I'm still confident we can get it done. It's just been slow. We were hoping we would open the door, and we'd have all these people flocking in, and it hasn't quite worked like that," Williams said.
Retail
Williams said Hays has not done a good job of promoting retail over the last 20 to 25 years.
Retail matters in Hays because the city, Ellis County, and Hays USD 489 all use sales tax as a funding source.
"We are a retail trade center," Williams said. "People come here to shop. When they come here to shop, they eat lunch. They may stay here overnight. That contributes."
He said robust retail is also a quality-of-life issue.
The proposed development would be on 9.1 acres directly north of Home Depot. Grow Hays intends to develop a 60,000—to 70,000-square-foot shopping center.
Williams said retail development can be challenging because the rents don't match the construction or land costs. This project seeks to remedy some of those issues.
Williams said he hopes Grow Hays can start the retail development in 2025.