The downtown Junction City business “Gatherings On the Prairie” (615 North Washington )  will apparently not go forward with a State Community Development Block Grant funded project to expand next door into a vacant building at 617 North Washington St.

Susan Jagerson, Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Specialist, confirmed Gatherings On the Prairie owners decided it was not a good decision for them to do the project. “They’re unsure of the cost. There’s a lot of things with the building that are unknowns, and they just don’t see how it makes financial sense at this point.”

“Gatherings On the Prairie” had been awarded a $250,000 CDBG to help finance the project. The City had also committed $10,000 for remediation of asbestos and mold, and some additional funds if the costs exceeded the projected estimates for the project. Gatherings had also planned  a match of $200,000.

Jagerson reported the Chamber of Commerce has contacted the Kansas Department of Commerce. “And right now we’re looking to see if there might be an alternate solution. If we can get somebody else that is interested in taking over the project, has a viable business that could go in the building, even a landlord that knew of somebody that had a viable business that could go in the building. We are working with Kansas Department of Commerce to see if we can work something out so we don’t lose the grant money.”

Jagerson confirmed “Gatherings on the Prairie” had spent money on the project for architect fees for the planning and design for the building, different inspections, and the preliminary analysis for the building, which is a vacant former waterbed store.

JCPost.com contacted one of the business owners Rob Dudley for comment, who confirmed they were no longer moving forward with the block grant, but he did not feel comfortable commenting.

The subject first became public knowledge during a Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday.