More than a year after the Bondurant City Council adopted the Grain District Downtown Redevelopment Plan, work is progressing to transform the former Landus grain elevator site into a vibrant mixed-use district that city leaders say will help strengthen the fast-growing city as a destination for the region.

While the city council adopted the redevelopment plan for the 25-acre site in February 2024, City Administrator Marketa Oliver said the city began redevelopment talks for the site when it learned Landus would stop using the elevators in 2021.

This video rendering by Simonson + Associates shows what the T12 Distillery in Bondurant’s Grain District development will look like.
Developer Scott Turczynski hopes to break ground on the project within the next month.

Oliver said it’s exciting to see momentum begin to build around the redevelopment project, which leaders have said has the potential to attract more than $100 million in private development.

“We are so excited, like levitatingly excited to see this come to life,” she said. “We knew Landus was closing before they announced it publicly, so we were busy working on what it could look like and engaging developers to gauge interest. Now we start to see the dominoes drop and I feel like two years from now this area will be transformed.”

When the Business Record met recently with city leaders about the project, they shared updates on various elements of the site’s redevelopment.

The Station

The soon-to-be former fire station, 101 Grant St. North, at the west end of the planned Grain District development, will be converted into a community building to support public activities and events as well as provide space for the city’s parks and recreation staff, Oliver said.

“We’ve named it The Station as a nod to the fact it used to be the fire station, but it’s also adjacent to the depot, or train station,” she said. “We do a lot of public events at the depot, like our sidewalk chalk art festival and things like that, so this will be a really good building to support those activities.”

The fire department moves to a new building in October, and Oliver said the city will begin seeking bids on The Station in July. Some site work will likely begin before the fire department moves out, “so we’ll be ready to start the renovations on it the minute they leave.”

The goal is to have The Station complete by June 2026, prior to the city’s Summer Fest celebration next year.

The city will work within the building’s current footprint, with no expansion planned except maybe a shade canopy on the east side to help promote the indoor-outdoor use of the building, Oliver said.

Inside will be a large event space on the side half of the building. The northern section will be parks and recreation staff offices, a conference room and storage. The city doesn’t currently have a parks and recreation staff, and once The Station is open, the city has plans to hire a parks and recreation director and a parks operations specialist who will be housed there, Oliver said.

T12 Distillery

The distillery project, by Scott Turczynski, managing partner of The 101 LLC, which is partnering with the city on the redevelopment plan, is planned for the three western-most silos on the site.

Maggie Murray, the city’s planning and community development director, said the distillery will include a welcome area, a speakeasy and patio seating. It would also include event space with parking on the north side of the building.

The other two silos could be used for storage and for the distilling operations, Murray said, referring further questions to Turczynski.

Turczynski said there are a couple former Landus buildings at the site that are being razed, and he hopes to break ground on the distillery within the next month.

The primary silo will include the distillery room and be open to the top for dramatic effect, he said.

The two silos immediately to the east will be for barrel storage, and he’s currently developing a racking system that would go vertical inside both silos, Turczynski said.

“It’s my hope to have it on some sort of conveyance system so you’d bring barrels up and down through the system by the push of a button,” he said. “I’m still developing it. Still dreaming.”

Turczynski said his hope is to begin production by January or February 2026, and be open to the public by March or April.

“It’s amazing,” he said about the project becoming a reality. “It’s a little bit scary at the same time. It’s exciting to see this become a reality because it was a little bit of a dream to try and reuse these in a new, adaptive way.”

He estimated the cost of the distillery project alone at between $9 million and $10 million.

Murray said the distillery project is also reliant on the extension of Lincoln Street.

“Lincoln Street dead ends and is being extended north to Second Street, and provides access to the T12 site itself and we expect the public infrastructure side to be a 2025 construction project,” she said.

The city has approved the site plan for the distillery and the review of building permits is being finalized, Murray said.

“Then he will be ready to jump in on construction this summer for T12,” she said.

Silo Commons

Silo Commons will be green space with an amphitheater on the east side of the Grain District site, with the nine-pack cluster of grain silos serving as the backdrop. It will serve as the entrance to the development from the east.

Oliver said the city hopes to go to bid on the project later this year with construction in 2026.

In addition to space for larger outdoor events that could host up to 800 people, there would be a play area for children and a boulder climbing area.

Murray said design is underway on the Silo Commons site, which also provides a direct connection to the Chautauqua Valley Trail system.

“We’re thinking Bondurant is already kind of a bicycle destination, and with these improvements in the Grain District we expect it to become even more of a destination for cyclists,” she said.

Oliver said the city is also in the process of having a sculpture made to go near Truman and Second streets, which is where downtown begins and serves as the entryway to the Grain District. It will be what Oliver described as a “melting bicycle sculpture,” which is included in the city’s art, culture and wayfinding plan.

Other plans

Murray said two local businesses plan to expand their operations near T12 Distillery and Lincoln Street when it is extended.

She said Twist soda shop and Farm Boys BBQ are planning locations that offer both walk-up and drive-through operations in the area.

“They are existing businesses in our community but this allows them the space to grow their operations within the Grain District,” Murray said. “In conjunction with that, the developer is constructing a seating plaza area to make sure the Lincoln Street corridor is treated like a pedestrian friendly area.”

The vision

At the time the redevelopment of the district was announced, the plan included the development of a commercial district that would include space for retail and restaurants, an area to build townhomes, an indoor recreation complex, public gathering space, and the transformation of the giant elevators into space for condominiums, a hotel and event space.

But that has evolved over time, Oliver said.

For example, the future of the nine-pack cluster of silos isn’t clear, although some public art or large murals could adorn the sides of the towering structures, she said.

They could still be part of a hotel or condominium development, but that would be down the road, Murray said.

“There’s no immediate plans for those areas but the vision is that those could potentially be reused in the future,” she said.

Oliver said the proposed townhome development that was part of the original plan is questionable for now.

“We don’t really know if that’s going to work there,” she said. “This could end up being something a little different. Maybe it’s supporting the future rec center in that area.”

Whatever the outcome, progress on the Grain District redevelopment is taking shape.

“There’s just lots going on and over the next half year or year, you’re really going to start seeing the transformation in this area,” Murray said.