Work Resumes On Transit Building

The coronavirus interruption behind it, construction work is back on and heading to mid-June completion at the new Kimball County Transit Service headquarters.

Project architect Ryan Stearns said the pandemic break put the $1.16 million renovation project about a month behind schedule, but everything is again “moving forward.”

That’s good news for downtown Kimball’s major facelift of 2020.

The transit building at 3rd Street is one of the two bookends on the Chestnut Street business district’s east side undergoing an extreme makeover, the other being the historic Longhorn Building and its $500,000 business and residential upgrade down at 1st Street.

Other promising business developments on Chestnut this past year, on its west side, include the return of Home Team Realty (formerly Century 21) and the sale of Kimball Bakery and its rebranding as Kimball Bakery/Merrycakes – a Nebraska Passport Stop for tourists this year.

On the downside, Hometown Floral and the short-lived JC’s Family Barbecue closed last year.

At the transit building, Anderson-Shaw Construction workers were back at it last week after virus restrictions were lifted. Their efforts included drywalls, light fixtures and electrical work, said Stearns, speaking May 5 at the Kimball County commissioners meeting on behalf of the North Platte architectural firm Joseph Hewgley & Associates.

Actual transit services were on a slight uptick as the pandemic showed signs of easing locally, service administrator Christy Warner told the commissioners. Transit vehicles were delivering lunches to children off from school and driving some people to medical appointments, she said.

“As far as service goes, slow and steady,” she said.

The commissioners, meanwhile, approved a couple of measures regarding federal funding for renovating the long-vacant former auto dealership into the transit building. Federal money will pay for the lion’s share of the project.