Yolanda Rice, a Springfield investor and
entrepreneur, plans to purchase the former King’s Daughters Home and create
apartments for nursing students and traveling nurses.
“This has been a long journey,” Rice said,
“but I have been met with great support from the city, the Historic Sites
Commission and many others to make this a reality.”
At the Aug. 19 Springfield City Council
meeting, she was awarded a $942,000 TIF grant to help purchase and renovate the
property at 541 Black Ave. The TIF assistance represents 14% of the total
project cost of $6,728,925 and will be paid out in installments over the
next seven years.
Rice was already familiar with the historic building since she had been the property manager for Peoples Capitol, the owners of the property, several years ago. The East Coast-based investment firm acquired the property following the closure of Benedictine University, which had used it for a dormitory. But the building is still often referred to as King’s Daughters Home, the name it operated under for 110 years before the senior living facility closed in 2006, citing the cost to maintain the historic property and increased competition from newer, modern facilities.
Peoples Capitol’s idea to once again turn the
home that had housed seniors back into the same use was nixed due to the
renovation costs to comply with state regulations dictating requirements for senior
living space. Rice began to consider other uses, and with the realization that
an influx of traveling nurses came to Springfield during the pandemic, she
explored the idea of making the house a place where both traveling nurses and
student nurses could live. The building is located just a few blocks north of
the Mid-Illinois Medical District.
“Nursing students and traveling nurses have
to find their own housing,” Rice said. “Many come from outside of Springfield;
some are married with children. So, we determined with some remodeling we could
make both two-bedroom/two-bath and one-bedroom/one-bath units.”
Rice said the units will be fully furnished
and available for nine or 12-month leases. “We’re reducing the total number of
units from 26 to 18 to give them more space,” she told the City Council during
a July 29 presentation and noted that no zoning changes would be required.
Bob Immel, the chair of the landmark
committee of the city’s Historic Sites Commission, heard Rice speak about the
idea and helped write the application for naming the house a historic landmark.
That designation was approved earlier this month by the Springfield City
Council. Rice told the council that one of her future goals is to get the
property added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The home across from the former
Benedictine University campus was owned by Charles Rollin and Carolyn (Carrie)
Post from 1872 to 1888. Their oldest son, Charles W. Post, was the creator of
Postum and Grape-Nuts cereal and the founder of the Postum Cereal Co. C.W.’s
only child, Marjorie Merriweather Post, was born in the house on March 15,
1887. Marjorie became the owner of the Postum Cereal Co. upon the death of her
father in 1914. Along with her second husband, E.F. Hutton, she expanded the
company. which became General Foods Corp. in 1929.
C.W. Post contributed toward rebuilding the King’s Daughters Home after a fire in 1902 and donated to the Home’s endowment fund in memory of his mother, Carrie Post. Marjorie Merriweather Post also contributed to the Home over the years, including a contribution for an addition to the Home in 1921. In 1953, in recognition of the Post family ties to the Home, the King’s Daughters Home for Women legally changed its name to the Carrie Post King’s Daughters Home for Women.
Rice said, “I didn’t even know the connection to Marjorie
Merriweather Post until Bob Immel shared that with me. I am now a member of King’s Daughters and in
the Marjorie Post Circle.”
Now that the City Council has approved her
TIF request, Rice can move forward with purchasing the property and begin
renovations. The city of Springfield’s building and zoning team’s review of the
property concluded that a driveway must be added to the back. Plans have been
drawn up that will need approval from the city.
“We need to stabilize the building, make sure
security is addressed, review the plans by the architects and engineers and
finalize floor plans,” Rice said. That will take time, but she hopes to have
the building ready for occupancy within nine months.
Rice also continues to seek other funding for
long-range planning and development. She said, “I had so much support for this
idea; it is wonderful to see a historic home saved and that it can be used for
a good cause.”
Cinda Ackerman Klickna has previously written
about King’s Daughters and Marjorie Merriweather Post.
