TOPEKA (KSNT) – Shawnee County has invested over $1 million into three properties, which are now for sale for $2.85 million in Topeka’s Innovation District.
Three buildings on Kansas Avenue that are owned by Astra IC Partners LLC, a company out of Waco, TX, are for sale for $2.85 million in Topeka’s downtown area. Those buildings were part of a county investment program called the Innovation District, which anticipated the development of a BioRealty Animal Science, Technology, Research, and Agriculture (ASTRA) innovation center.
27 News requested financial documents from the county to show how many payments had been made to Astra IC Partners LLC since it purchased the properties for $1,150,000 in 2021.
Since the purchase, the county has made over 40 payments ranging between $114-$196,012 to Astra IC Partners, totaling $1,000,647. Meanwhile, the county appraised value of the properties has remained nearly unchanged.
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We reached out to GO Topeka, the economic development group for the Greater Topeka Partnership which signed off on the innovation campus in 2021. The deal came as part of a previously announced $14.5 million innovation campus approved by the Joint Economic Development Organization (JEDO) in May 2021.
“GO Topeka continues to support the development of this property as a key asset for Topeka’s innovation ecosystem. While Biorealty is seeking to exit the project, the buildings remain strategically important. GO Topeka previously invested in the buildings at 7th and Kansas to advance the Innovation District, including critical remediations to prepare the space for market. These properties are now actively marketed as valuable innovation assets, alongside The Link Innovation Lab at 6th and Quincy, reinforcing GO Topeka’s commitment to a vibrant, innovation-driven downtown.”
Stephanie Moran, SVP of Innovation for GO Topeka and current interim CEO of the Greater Topeka Partnership.
The buildings are all located inside the South Kansas Avenue Commercial Historic District which received recognition on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in the summer of 2015. The area is home to numerous businesses, restaurants and retail shops that occupy historic structures which have been in use for decades, according to the City of Topeka’s website.
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One of the buildings included in this package is the former Wolfe’s Camera shop that closed in 2021. Wolfe’s Camera began selling off its merchandise in early 2020, announcing the following year that it would be closing for good after nearly a century of business. Wolfe’s Camera eventually closed on July 31, 2021 with its CEO, Michael Lee Worswick, dying a few days later.
You can learn more about the properties by clicking here or by checking out the brochure below.
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