An opening date for the new Daylight Donuts shop in east Iola remains up in the air because of a handful of issues that have slowed renovations to the property. THE CHITS OWN two other Daylight Donut shops, one in Fort Scott, the other in Nevada, Mo. Still another is planned for Garnett.
Sam Chit, Fort Scott, acquired the building at 1319 East St. in 2014 with his wife, Many. The building formerly served as Wayne Barnett’s nursery/garden center, and prior to that, as a gas station.
Their plans were to have the building renovated, along with exterior improvements, in order to open by the end of December.
But, Chit noted, a number of significant hurdles stand in the way.
The biggest impediment now is weather, which has prevented crews from improving a stormwater drainage ditch along Tennessee Street on the east side of the property. Once that’s complete, weather must remain warm enough so a new concrete parking lot can be poured.
“We need the drainage fixed first, so we can tie into it with the parking lot,” said David Greathouse, general contractor in charge of the renovations.
The parking lot is a necessity because of potential soil contamination, Chit said, stemming from the building’s proximity to the old zinc smelters in operation in the early days of the 20th century.
“It’s been difficult,” Chit told the Register in a telephone interview. “We spent a lot of time looking for a building so we can open, and now we’ve had other problems.”
Also a necessity — removing underground fuel storage tanks, from the property’s gas station days, as required by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
That process should take a couple of days, Greathouse said, when the time is right.
Finally, the building’s sewer line remains collapsed, which means water service will not be turned on until it is fixed.
The collapsed portion of the line is not on the Chit’s property, nor is it on the city’s. Instead, it’s on private property south of the building.
While the other property’s owner lives in California, Greathouse was able to contact the owner through her son.
“He actually lives in the house on that property, so we have permission to get in there and fix it,” Greathouse said.
The sewer line work likely will be the final piece of the puzzle.
Nearly all of the interior work, which included new electric and plumbing lines and climate-control systems, is complete. Crews added about 240 square-feet of building space on the west side of the structure as well.
“We’re finishing up trim work now,” Greathouse said.
But until Mother Nature cooperates, the exterior work is on hold.
There are a few silver linings. Greathouse noted KDHE will pay 90 percent of the cost to remove the fuel tanks, which should only take a day or two to complete. Likewise, repairing the sewer line and removing an old canopy from the property can be done in short order.
“I feel bad for the owners because they’ve put in a lot of money, and they’ve had costs they weren’t expecting,” Greathouse said. “They’re good people to work for.”
“One of our customers here is from Iola,” Chit said Wednesday from his Daylight Donut shop in Fort Scott. “He invited me to come over to Iola to open one. We thought about it for a couple of years.”
After several months of looking for a suitable location in Iola, the Chits acquired the 1319 East St. building from Barnett.
Sweet shop sees proverbial light
