Prospective Plumb Place owner Chris Stanley sees the facility becoming vibrant again, even with a totally different usage plan than it had for 100 years.
Plumb Place served for a century as a temporary home for women in crisis. If Lyon County Judge Jeff Larson formally approves the Stanley bid July 6 as expected, it will become Stanley’s home and an Airbnb. Stanley, who currently owns Brickside Beds Airbnb at 427 Sylvan, is pleased her bid was officially petitioned to Lyon County District Court by receiver Kevin Flott late last month. The Plumb Airbnb would have a totally different rental model than Brickside, where residents rent out the entire house.
Stanley has largely been out of the public eye after closing Stanley Jewelry in downtown Emporia back in March 2016. She doesn’t expect a lot of issue from the National Register of Historic Places with her renovation plans.
That’s good, because she sees a lot of restoration work ahead.
Stanley also sees a rearranged main kitchen, a bee removal process from the main columns and a full paint job as among her upcoming projects if approved.
If the bid is approved, closing is expected by July 12. Flott did not mention what separated Stanley’s bid from others, including publicized goals of Eli Fowler to use the space as apartments and temperature-controlled storage and Jarrod and Clarine Hibler’s idea of living in the home. Neither Stanley nor Flott mentioned a purchase price, although Stanley clarified her bid was more than the asking price of $199,000 and the insurance payment “will be taken off the price at the top.”
Proceeds from the sale are earmarked towards restarting the Plumb Place agency, which had a restart of its own after the agency shut down at the end of 2020 following extended financial difficulties. The United Way of the Flint Hills spearheaded the general process to resume agency operations and the sale of the Plumb house. On the agency side, the Plumb Place Board of Directors is tentatively set but the board continues working through different models for housing women in crisis, including women with children, as well as a location — or locations — in Emporia.
