Hometown Comfort By Ryan S parks Experience the Lofts
For many of us, the holidays mean time with
stairs retailer would be responsible for the overhead of these monstrous buildings all on their family. The special memories so many of us own. The expenses of maintenance, insurance, cherish often occur when all the siblings, cous- taxes, and utilities created a financial strain ins and aunts and uncles are gathered around on the downstairs businesses and ultimately the table. made it difficult for businesses to survive on the square. The square became a difficult sell. If that’s the case with your family—and if you’ve got friends or relatives coming to Iola That’s where Experience the Lofts comes in. this holiday season—Experience the Lofts is a wonderful option for your guests. The location Iola’s founders had a commitment to the town is ideal, the square is your playground, the ame- square as the cornerstone of our community, nities are first-class and it’s a way to make their and we seek to further their vision. As such, visit to our community that much more special. they began rehabilitating the upstairs of these Experience the Lofts has a proud history. When buildings in hopes of spreading out this finanthe Iola square was originally developed in the cial burden among multiple units. This would late 1800s, large masonry construction was in turn lower the overhead on the downstairs used to accommodate a booming economy. The buildings around our square were designed to be beautiful, to draw citizens and travelers from afar. They were built to last for centuries. And they have.
But as is the case with most small communities, over the last century or so, our population has declined. Furthermore, years ago the upstairs of many of these buildings were abandoned in a large part due to issues with ADA-compliance. With this abandonment, it meant the down20 HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS • 2021
