A movement is afoot along south Iowa Street, and it involves more than the normal logistics of semi-trailers to accommodate my wife’s post-Halloween shopping. Instead, a development group has reached a deal to purchase another key south Iowa Street property, seemingly with redevelopment on its mind.

Officials with Emprise Bank confirmed they have agreed to sell their bank branch at 2435 Iowa St. to a development group. The bank will cease operations at the Iowa Street branch, likely in February. The Wichita-based bank will continue to operate its main Lawrence branch along Wakarusa Drive.

“We were not planning to close that bank,” Cindy Yulich, Lawrence president for Emprise, told me. “We were approached by a developer, and a contract was signed. We are committed to serving Lawrence and committed to being here. We’re thrilled with how our business is going statewide, and particularly with how it is going in Lawrence.”

(UPDATE: I got a little more specific information from Emprise this morning. The bank plans to remain open on south Iowa Street until Feb. 27, and it expects employees at the south Iowa branch to be reassigned to the bank’s branch at 1121 Wakarusa Drive.)

Banks have shown a willingness lately to make do with fewer branches as online and mobile banking have become bigger parts of their business. Intrust Bank earlier this year agreed to sell its branch on Wakarusa Drive to a credit union. Emprise has operated that south Iowa location since 1991, Yulich said.

Yulich said she’s confident Emprise will be able to serve its customer base from its one location on Wakarusa. She said the bank may look for a second location in Lawrence, but she said no decision had been made on that.

As for the development group that is purchasing the property, Yulich declined to name it, but I’ve confirmed that it involves a group that includes Lawrence businessman Jeff Hatfield. That makes sense because Hatfield is involved in the group that owns the adjacent Holiday Plaza shopping center.

“It just makes sense,” Hatfield said of the purchase. “You hate to have a mouthful of teeth with one tooth missing.”

He confirmed that Emprise wasn’t looking to sell the location, but rather was approached by his group. He said his group doesn’t have any immediate plans to redevelop the property, but wants to keep its options open for the future.

“The piece is poised to change its complexion at some point,” Hatfield said. “Whether it is a retrofit or a complete change, I’m not really at liberty to say. We have had people approach us. It is a location where a lot of retailers and boxes would like to be.”

The development group includes Christian Ablah, a noted Wichita commercial real estate broker who has been involved in bringing Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy and Home Depot to Lawrence. Ablah also is part of a group that involves Lawrence businesswoman Susan Hatfield that recently purchased the shopping center that includes Office Depot and the soon-to-close Discovery Furniture on south Iowa Street.

That’s a site that certainly seems poised for redevelopment and could attract a lot of interest from larger, national retailers. Jeff Hatfield, who is a longtime real estate appraiser in Lawrence, said momentum just seems to be building for south Iowa Street. He said he expects the momentum to build now that Menards has actually started construction on its store near 31st and Iowa streets.

“Ten years ago, I never would have thought we would be seeing this,” Hatfield said. “But it is interesting how timing works. It is interesting to see how retailers really want to build off the synergy of other retailers.”

We’ll see how far the south Iowa Street momentum theme gets at Lawrence City Hall. I’m still hearing that the group proposing to develop property south of the Iowa Street and SLT interchange wants a hearing with city commissioners this month. As I reported a few weeks ago, there is a lot of speculation that they’re going to present new information to City Hall that Sam’s Club wants to locate in their proposed development. Previously, the development group has said Old Navy, Academy sports, Ulta Beauty, and Designer Shoe Warehouse all are interested in the site.

The project, though, has failed to win a positive recommendation from the city’s planning commission.
But that was back in July when the planning commission heard the issue, and because of some logistical problems only six of the 10 planning commissioners heard the issue. City commissioners haven’t yet had a hearing on the proposal.

In other news and notes from around town:

• City commissioners next week are expected to have a hearing on whether to provide Lawrence-based Wicked Broadband a $300,000 loan guarantee as part of a pilot project to bring super-fast, gigabit Internet service to 300 homes and businesses in the downtown area.

Well, City Commissioner Bob Schumm is adding a twist to that debate. He’s said that he plans to float the idea of providing a $250,000 grant to any company who successfully delivers gigabit service to 500 Lawrence addresses by the end of 2015. In case your dial-up modem is acting up, gigabit service is the same super-fast Internet that Google Fiber is installing in Kansas City.

Schumm’s idea is kind of like a challenge grant. You only get the money if you successfully deliver the product in a timely manner. It will be interesting to see what type of traction the idea gets. Thus far, two companies have been vying to bring gigabit service to Lawrence: Wicked Broadband and Baldwin City-based RG Fiber. Wicked officials have said they need the loan guarantee to secure the private financing to start its pilot project. RG Fiber has not asked for a loan guarantee from the city.

Schumm said he likes the challenge grant idea better than a loan guarantee. He said he doesn’t like being in the position of picking a winner or a loser between two companies interested in the community. Nothing technically would stop both companies from pursuing their projects, but conventional thinking is that only one gigabit service is going to be feasible in Lawrence. RG Fiber officials have said they won’t offer the service in Lawrence if the city provides a loan guarantee to one of its competitors.

Schumm said he also likes the idea of the city not paying until a company delivers results. He said if a company can bring the service to 500 addresses by the end of 2015, he is confident the company can successfully expand the service to large areas of the city.

It will be interesting to see what traction Schumm’s idea gets at City Hall. Commissioners have really been struggling with how to land on the issue of a loan guarantee to Wicked.