Plans are on hold for the Midtown Aggieville development after one of the project’s investors pulled funding.
The Manhattan Mercury reported the pause Friday after Back 9 Development President TJ Vilkanskas said an unnamed investor was not making its deposited funds for the $53.9 million project, despite a prior verbal agreement. The amount invested reportedly amounted to half of the capital raised. Vilkanskas says the investor cited the final announcement of the K-State Foundation’s third office building as a main concern, as well as macro-economic factors such as the ongoing banking crisis unfolding.
All land, labor and materials have been paid to date without the need to borrow money and Vilkanskas noted in a follow up email from KMAN that he’s still excited about the project, saying “we have a premium location in a historic business district. I have no doubt the project will move forward at the right time.”
Manhattan Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jason Smith tells KMAN he too remains excited for the project, saying the Chamber “will work with Back 9 and the Aggieville Business Association in whatever way they would like to get things moving again.” He encourages residents to continue to support Aggieville merchants during this period of major construction.
Back 9 is working with BHS Construction to safely secure the job site and has put no timetable for when construction might resume.
