The Manhattan City Commission voted 5-0 to approve a resolution of support for the KSU Foundation’s development of the Edge District at a meeting on Feb. 17. The Edge District will bring luxury condos to “Champions Gate” across from Bill Snyder Family Stadium, including a luxury hotel, a steakhouse, a brewery, food truck plaza and a mini park with a turf football field.
According to the Edge District’s website, this project will provide the City of Manhattan with a “vibrant hub for business, innovation and entertainment.”
Community reactions to the Edge District plans were mixed, with some expressing disapproval and worry about funding. Yashima Armstrong, junior in fashion business, said she doesn’t understand why this project is a priority.
“As a student that pays monthly rent, I don’t understand why we need luxury condos or another hotel now,” Armstrong said. “No students have the money to afford that, and not many people in the city would be able to either, so who is it for? Most of us are already struggling just to pay rent.”
Information presented at the City Commission meeting may have answered some of the public’s questions. According to the KSU Foundation’s presentation on the Edge 3.0, the project will provide $17.5 million of direct investment into Kansas State facilities. In addition, it directly addresses nine imperatives of the Next-Gen K-State strategic plan. The project is slated to create more jobs and further community development.
According to the presentation, compared to other communities, Manhattan is falling behind in meeting demands and community needs.
“Our intention here with Edge 3.0 is adding a number of amenities that bring an innovation and research district here to K-State, and then add some live-play elements,” Greg Willems, KSU Foundation CEO, said. “There’s a lot of elements that are going to be good for our students, good for our faculty, good for attracting companies and then have amenities that are good for the community as well.”
The new initiatives to better the Manhattan community aren’t just now starting, they’ve been in the works.
“The indoor track and the new Bilbrey arena are elements that are going to benefit from these public financing tools that again, support the mission for our student athletes, and some of our programs in agriculture, but also are an economic generator for the community,” Willems said.
During the city commission meeting, the KSU Foundation clarified that Edge 3.0 is not about enriching the KSU Foundation, as they will not own the hotel, restaurants or indoor track.
To fund the project, the KSU Foundation is looking at STAR bonds and Tax Increment Financing.
“I reiterate that this is not the beginning of The Edge; this is a continuation of an evolution of infrastructure development that has been going on for over a decade in Manhattan,” Willems said. “This goes back to the previous administration of Kirk Schultz, then President Myers and now to President Linton.”
Mayor Susan Adamchak said at the city commission meeting that the city is not committing resources to the project as of now, other than the time spent by staff to work with the KSU Foundation.
“We have successfully achieved the support of the city commission to believe that the project is promising enough that they want to work with us, so that vote that they took the other night was basically a vote of confidence in the project,” Willems said. “There’s a lot of elements to [the project], so it’s natural that there’s going to be questions and concerns about how these work. It’s important for us to take the time to educate our community, to educate the students and the faculty, to understand the realities of how these things work so that they can make a good decision and have a well-informed opinion.”
