April 25, 2024

D&D program lot sold for development

First Newton National Development Corporation to build four high-quality duplexes purchased land

By Jamee A

A rendering of the future Jewel Tea Court Townhome development shows the general style and quality the city plans to achieve with the project. (Submitted photo)

The First Newton National Development Corporation is the new owner of the D&D program development lot projected to house four duplexes.

Named the Jewel Tea Court Townhomes, the lot located in the 300 block between East Fourth Street North and East Fifth Street North was sold for $8,000 by the city council at Monday’s meeting.

“All through our D&D program we focused on that area to make it a marquee development area to show the kind of development that we have been asked for and the kind of development that we are going to deliver to our community,” Mayor Mike Hansen said.

The First Newton National Development Corporation plans to develop the property through BTS Construction, a new partnership between First Newton National Bank and Nathan Van Maanen of Van Maanen Electric.

“We’ve been looking at projects off and on for a little while and really just haven’t found the right one,” said Rob Kahn, First Newton National Bank vice president. “Then this opportunity presented itself, and we liked the location, the idea and the concepts and jumped at the chance to make it happen.”

The development consists of four duplexes with two homes in each building selling for $160,000 each. The homes will have rear accessed garages and high quality finishes in line with the city’s current housing projects.

“The plans that the developer has agreed to construct have been developed by the city. We’ve had a strong role in making sure that this is going to be a beautiful, high-quality project,” director of planning and zoning Erin Chambers said.

Incentives presented to the developer include a waiver on building permit fees and a $15,000 infrastructure fund for the project. The homes will qualify for the $10,000 buyer incentive package because the price reached the $160,000 threshold.

The city will provide a streetscape design for the right-of-way of the project in an effort to support and benefit the look of the project. The design will be similar to what is on North Fourth Avenue in front of the hospital.

“With the anticipated value of about $1.28 million, it is anticipated that the project would generate approximately $30,000 in tax revenue in each year, $12,000 of that being the city’s share,” Chambers said. “We’re feeling very excited about the project. It should be high quality.”

Another special feature to the project is the original of its name.

“(The) Jewel Tea Company was founded by the Skiff family, so it is connecting to the history of the Skiff family, the hospital and the community as a whole,” Chambers said.

A ground breaking date of July 15 has been tentatively planned for the project.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com