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TOPEKA – Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland today announced that downtown Liberal is about to receive an extreme makeover: Commerce edition.
Chosen from a group of 15 deserving applicant cities, Liberal is the recipient of the inaugural Building Local Opportunity through Coordinated Kansas-Investment (BLOCK) grant. The new pilot program is designed to beautify and transform an entire downtown block through coordinated investment in multiple buildings and businesses.
A $500,000 grant will support a concentrated revitalization effort in downtown Liberal, bringing property owners, businesses and community partners together to create visible improvements and build momentum for continued investment. Rather than funding isolated building improvements, BLOCK is designed to demonstrate how coordinated investment across an entire block can change the image of a community, accelerate downtown revitalization and create lasting economic impact.
“First impressions matter, and for a business deciding where to locate, a downtown’s appearance sends a clear signal about a community’s confidence in its future,” Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce David Toland said. “That is what this grant is all about. We created BLOCK to test what happens when you concentrate resources in one place and give a downtown the jumpstart it needs.”
Commerce received applications from communities across Kansas during the program’s intentionally short application window. Proposals represented a range of downtown conditions, project types and community sizes, demonstrating strong interest in an approach that encourages communities to work together to transform a larger area rather than tackle improvements one building at a time.
“Liberal stood out because the community was ready to bring multiple properties and partners together around a coordinated vision with the potential for a visible, lasting impact,” Commerce Assistant Secretary of Quality Places Matt Godinez said. “We believe this investment can be a catalyst for continued change in Liberal, helping build on existing investments and encouraging additional private-sector activity.”
The project also comes with an ambitious timeline. Seward County Development Corporation (SCDC) and its project partners must complete the downtown transformation within a 14-day construction window, with all work completed by December 15, 2026. The accelerated timeline is intentional, challenging partners to coordinate contractors, property owners and businesses to deliver a highly visible transformation in a concentrated period of time.
Commerce will use the pilot project to evaluate the effectiveness of the BLOCK approach, including implementation speed, community and property-owner participation, private investment leveraged, business impact and the overall transformation achieved. The results will help inform whether the concept could be expanded or adapted for future use in Kansas communities.
The BLOCK grant reflects Commerce’s broader commitment to helping Kansas communities turn local assets and ideas into action through strategic investments that strengthen downtowns, support businesses and improve quality of place.
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