A group of Perry residents who have been working to rehabilitate a historic downtown building are looking for the City’s help to be able to move forward.

The Nudgers Inc. approached the Perry City Council at their meeting this week to see if they would approve a loan guarantee for their renovation project at 1314-1316 Second Street.

City Administrator Butch Niebuhr says a lot has been accomplished already, but right now the group is in a catch-22 in terms of moving forward.

“They have tax credits coming their way, but they have to spend the money before they can get the tax credits and it’s hard to spend the money if you don’t have the money.   They’re looking for a bridge loan to be able to do that and right now they’re having trouble trying to find a bank that will do that without having somebody to co-sign.  That’s what they’re looking for the city to do, have the city use their bonding capacity to sign the note with that for construction, so that they can finish out the construction phase” says Niebuhr.

The building will be split up into at least two parts on the first floor with The Perry Chief looking to move into half of it.  The second floor will be split up into two, one bedroom apartments.

The exact amount of money needed to finish the project depends on the property appraisal though it’s estimated to be around $300,000.

The council, on a 4-1 vote with Councilman Chuck Schott voting nay, gave the group permission to seek funding from a local bank after the appraisal is done.  The bond will have to go through the full public hearing process before it can be approved by the Council.