Construction will pave way for two new businesses in Hays

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

Another new retail location is set to open this fall in an area currently under development north of Interstate 70 and just east of Walmart. The building will house two businesses.

Building on the site is just beginning, after being pushed back about a month due to substantial rainfall in the area, but letters of intent have been signed, and the lease agreement for the tenants is being completed now.

“It’s an out-of-town owner,” said Jesse Rohr, superintendent of Planning, Inspection and Enforcement for the city of Hays.

But while Joe Redetzke, owner of Coal Creek Investments, lives in Buena Vista, Colo., he is familiar with Hays, graduating from Fort Hays State University and having served on the FHSU Foundation Board of Directors in the mid- to late-1990s.

The two business set to move into the completed location will be a franchise hair salon and an AT&T retail store, according to Curtis Deines, an inspector in the office of Planning, Inspection and Enforcement. He believes the locations will “be in and going in September-October.”

The former owner of the property, Steve Robl, who had worked with an investment group to purchase the land originally, confirmed that AT&T would lease the property, as would Great Clips. Robl owns the construction company, Robl Commercial Construction, that is developing the property. He expects construction at the property to be completed in 90 to 120 days, with the tenants moving in shortly after.

Redetzke has developed other properties with Robl and decided to purchase the property for development after seeing the growth in Hays. The pair recently collaborated to develop the USSA Financial Center in Junction City.

The city’s P.I.E. division oversees the inspectors that will regularly inspect the location as it is developed. Once a potential building owner identifies a space to be developed they must design and work with a construction company to get a proposal sent to the city for review. Once construction begins, regular inspections of the site are conducted by the P.I.E. staff.