North End building in Mason City to be re-made into laundromat

MASON CITY – A small, vacant North End commercial building in Mason City will get new life as a laundromat after the city council approved a loan to the entrepreneur leading the project.

The Mason City council approved a Corridor Revitalization Loan (CoRL) in the amount of $30,000 to YK Commercial Properties for renovations to 1625 North Federal Avenue (pictured at top via Google). The Forgivable Loan and Grant Review Committee recommended approval of the request.

According to city documents, the building at 1625 North Federal Avenue has been vacant since 2020. There was a Mexican “street food” restaurant here briefly, that closed during the COVID pandemic; previous to that, it had been vacant for several years. Prior to that vacancy, it was occupied by Maria’s Kitchen. The building is attached to a two-story apartment unit. The apartment and parts of the exterior of the building were renovated with the very first CoRL loan back in 2016. That loan completed its 7-year forgiveness period and has been fully released and forgiven. The owners are now eligible for a new CoRL loan.

The applicants sought a $30,000 forgivable loan to renovate the commercial portion of the building into a laundromat. The owners believe that this will be a viable business in an area where the nearest laundromat is several miles away. They seek the CoRL loan to assist in the cost of renovating the exterior of the building. This includes replacement of windows, repairing walls, insulating the building, and applying new siding.

The forgivable loan leverages a total investment of $61,000. The applicants included a letter from Northwood State Bank, stating that they have secured adequate funding to meet the 100% match requirement.

The Forgivable Loan and Grant Review Committee met on September 20 to review the application. The Committee scored the application according to the Scoring Matrix used for DoRL and CoRL requests. Scores ranged from 27 to 45, with an average score of 33.5. A minimum of30 points is required for consideration. The Committee recommended approval of the application.

There is no impact to the operating budget resulting from this action. The City Assessor estimates that the value of the improved building will increase by $12,970, an increase of 9.8 percent.