If you’re interested in older homes, renovations or simply curious, mark your calendar for Thursday, January 12.
The Dutch Colonial home located on N. 2nd Street at North St. is set to be moved to its new foundation on January 12, marking months of hard work preparing the still-beautiful home for the move.
The home, with over 2,000 square feet was built in 1910, and most recently owned by the Lincoln County Hospital and Healthcare Foundation. The Foundation had plans for the ground, but not the home, and offered it at no cost with the stipulation it had to be moved by the end of 2022. When the Foundation was unable to sell the home, they scheduled it for demolition.
The Lincoln Economic Development Foundation (LCEDF) formed an informal committee to find the house a new owner willing and able to move and renovate the structure. A local volunteer made a $1,000 deposit to the Foundation to “buy” the committee more time. They now had until the end of 2022 to find a new owner for the property.
LCEDF identified several ways that would help a new owner with the structure including a $30,000 grant, eligibility for the Register of Historic Kansas Places, “free” parcels of land where the home could be moved and eligibility for the City of Lincoln Neighborhood Revitalization Program which could provide a property tax rebate should the home remain within the city limits.
After an article appeared in The Hustle, a source for business and tech industry news, LCEDF received 100s of inquiries on the property. The Hustle has 1.5 million on-line subscribers. The home has also been featured on social media channels like “CheapOldHouses,” “For the Love of Old Houses” and similar pages.
A process was created for intake of the inquiries which resulted in about 100 solid submissions. Based on the information obtained on the forms, LCEDF narrowed the field to 35 strong contenders, requesting additional information from them. Of the 35, nine responses were received.
Following six months of ardent searching for the right family, Eddie and Julie Flores adopted this beautiful home, becoming its new owners. Julie grew up in Lincoln and she and her husband resided in the Kansas City area at the time.
The couple have put an untold amount of time and energy into preparing for the move. Follow their progress at http://hursingbacktolife.com/ and on Instagram @Nursing-BacktoLife.
