Kaw Valley Engineering’s Salina Office Receives Honor with Distinction Award
This fall, Kaw Valley Engineering’s Salina Office received a 2021 Honor with Distinction Award from the Kansas Preservation Alliance for excellence in the restoration of the historic Lee Hardware Lofts in Salina, Kansas. The Lee Hardware Lofts opened in fall 2020 and were restored into apartments and office space.
Our Salina office worked on this historic redevelopment, providing surveying, materials testing and civil design services for the parking lot, courtyard and more.
The Lee Lofts, located at 254 North Santa Fe Avenue, were previously home to the H.D. Lee Mercantile Company, which had its beginnings in the city of Salina in 1889. The company developed the Union-Alls in 1913, a garment that served as a one-piece coverall designed for farm, auto and factory workers. The company relocated its headquarters to Kansas City in 1917.
Since the H.D. Lee Company left Salina, the Lee Lofts had been used as storage or warehouse space, or left vacant. In 2019, the project to restore the buildings into residential and commercial space began, completing in 2020. We are proud to see our team recognized for their work on this historic restoration in Salina.
“It is an honor to receive this award and be part of a great team that worked hard to repurpose a very historically valuable building in our community,” Salina Office Director Justin Owens, PE, said. “This project took a building from a blight condition and transformed it into something the community can use and be proud of.”
The Lee Lofts have a prime location, located down the street from the Alley, Salina Fieldhouse, Stiefel Theatre, and other revived businesses and spaces that are part of revitalizing downtown Salina.
The Kansas Preservation Alliance is dedicated to preserving historic places in Kansas. The Lee Building complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas for its commercial and industrial significance in 2008.
“To be able to save a historical building and put it back to use—it feels a lot better than knocking it down,” Justin said.