Could there be big plans for the Wiley Building and making it a viable facility in the heart of Downtown Hutchinson? That appears to be the case.

The council will consider a resolution and letter of support for Wiley Plaza LLC. This would be for the renovation of the Wiley Building. The council will also consider a memorandum of understanding between the city of Hutchinson and the developer.

That means that the city will provide the real estate necessary for a multi-level parking structure at First & Walnut, which the city would pay to have built. They would fund this through some form of municipal fund tool. City Manager John Deardoff believes the cost for that will in a range of 1.9 to 2.5 million dollars. He says the city would eventually deed that real estate to a not-for-profit entity and would be included in the development agreement.

Manske and Associates would need to acquire the building from George Nerhan and then there would be a negotiated agreement over parking spaces for use by the public indefinitely.

The developer would complete renovation of the property into a mix of retail, two floors of office space, 18-units of market rate housing and 37-units of income based rental housing.

The estimated cost of the renovation of the building is at 14.3 million dollars, while the total cost would be around 16.9-million.

Manske and Company are seeking “Low Income Housing Tax Credits” from the Kansas Housing Resources Corporation, but they would also seek some historic tax credits.

The developer has to have the request for the tax credits in to the state by February 1, so that’s the reason for the special city council meeting Tuesday. It would be sometime in May when they would learn if they will get the credits. Deardoff says plans for this property depends heavily on those tax credits.

The Wiley Building would be the 79th project they have developed since 1988, including these properties in Hutchinson.

Evergreen Townhomes in two phases, Coventry Court Townhomes also in two phases, Maplewood Townhomes, Walnut Court Apartments, Crown Homes of Arlington, Tierra Verde Apartments, The Hutchinson Lofts in the Old South Hospital, and Friendship Place in South Hutchinson.

Again, the city will meet over this plan in a special meeting on Tuesday at 9 a-m.