KOAM TV 7 Joplin and Pittsburg News Weather SportsOld Parsons, Kansas hotel has a new purpose
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By ELIZABETH MATTHEWS
PARSONS, KAN. - The Parsonian Hotel in Parsons, Kansas is under renovation and being transformed into apartment-style living.
The 56-year-old building is receiving a makeover and being transformed into apartments.
The new owner of the structure, Lester Kiehn, says it is important to get the building up to code but also preserve features of the old hotel.
"I wanted to keep the character of the hotel as close to the original as possible," Kiehn tells us. "If you look around you can see we are keeping the lobby essentially the same."
Renovations include floor covering, paint, security and fire systems and all new plumbing.
The eight story building will have 45 apartments - some for low income residents, some studios for singles, and some options for families.
"They are market rate apartments," Kiehn says. "They are available to anybody. What we want to do is market it to the local students."
Labette Community College has no on-campus housing and with the Parsonian Hotel only three blocks from school property, Keihn hopes to fill rooms with students.
"This is just another one of those properties that LCC can mention to their students when they come to us and say 'we need a place to live,'" says Bethany Kendrick, Public Relations for LCC. "One-third of our student population are athletes - many of our athletes live out of town, out of state, and so they are definitely looking for a place to call home away from home."
Already the building houses a handful of LCC basketball players and low income families living on lower floors that have not yet been renovated.
Keihn says there are many rental houses in Parsons for students but very few apartment housing options.
"There are no other apartment buildings like this anywhere in town so I think this is going to serve a pretty vital need for the city of Parsons," Kiehn says.
The apartment complex will offer free basic cable, wireless Internet service and a computer lounge.
The owner is hoping to get the building officially open in the summer.
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