DHDC celebrates new downtown Hays location — prepares to move again

By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

It might only be a temporary location, but the Downtown Hays Development Corp. celebrated the move to its location at 109 E. 11th with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday afternoon.

The DHDC moved from the Hays Welcome Center at 2700 Vine in February.

“We’re doing the ribbon cutting for a couple of reasons,” said Sara Bloom, DHDC executive director.

“DHDC is very excited to finally be downtown. As the Downtown Development Corp., we always knew there was a need for us to be downtown. We’re very happy to finally be here,” she said.

Liberty Group, a major developer in downtown Hays, suggested the building to the DHDC while the group was searching for a downtown location.

“Myself and my board really fell in love with the space, and we approved the move to go down here,” Bloom said.

Knowing the cost of moving to the new building would create a significant impact on the DHDC budget, Liberty Group helped facilitate the move by donating six months rent to DHDC.

But even going into the new location, Bloom knew it would not be permanent. Development plans for a proposed hotel and restaurant nearby would use the building location as a breezeway, but another opportunity arose that will move the DHDC to another location much sooner than expected.

“We knew this location was going to be temporary. We just didn’t know how temporary,” Bloom said, announcing the DHDC will move to a new location in the 100 block of West 12th on July 1.

“This is a great location for us, but 12th Street is just a lot better,” Bloom said. “It’s a little bit more visible. It’s got a lot of windows. It feels more like a welcome center.”

During the event, Bloom said another reason for the sudden move was the another business expressing interest in the location.

“We were approached about the location on 12th Street, and we were really torn because we just moved in here and we were really contemplating whether we should make another move,” she said. “But there is very likely a new business coming in right after us and, when we found out there was interest from this new business to move in here, we felt it was our duty to go ahead and move to 12th Street.”