Plans in Joplin to rehabilitate and convert the Frisco Building at 601 S. Main St. into an apartment complex for senior citizens, and plans to do the same at the former Neosho Intermediate School north of that town’s square were awarded millions of dollars in state and federal tax credits and loans.

David Bryan, with the housing commission, said Carlson Gardner Inc., a Springfield development company that purchased the Frisco Building last summer, was awarded $585,541 in annual tax credits for the next 10 years. Bryan said the total translates to nearly $5.9 million in credits.

Tax credits are sold on the open market much like bonds. The purchaser of the credits receives an income tax deduction equal to the amount of the tax credits. In addition, the purchaser becomes an investor in the building project.

The housing commission also awarded the company a $449,000, low-interest loan. The loan carries a 1 percent interest rate for a 25-year period.

Denise Ogan, in charge of development and acquisitions for Carlson Gardner, said the commission’s action ensures the Frisco project will proceed.

“This means we have the green light and we will now move forward,” Ogan said.

She said actual work on the building could begin by midsummer, and the project could be complete by the late fall or early winter of 2003.

Carlson Gardner purchased the 89-year-old Frisco Building from Carl Wilson. The historic building has been vacant for more than 14 years.

Plans call for the building to be converted into 57 one- and two-bedroom units that would rent for $315 to $395 a month.

Ogan said that in addition to the state and federal housing tax credits, the Frisco project likely will qualify for $3 million in historic preservation tax credits.

Ogan said the building has received tentative approval to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a major requirement for receiving the preservation tax credits.

She said those tax credits are not issued until a project is completed.

“But, we are allowed to acquire equity in anticipation of the credits,” she said. “And, obviously we are comfortable we will get them.”

The city of Joplin has pledged $150,000 in federal Community Development grant money to the Frisco project.

Rob O’Brian, president of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, said the commission’s action will have a positive impact on the downtown area.

“One of our concerns was having the largest building sitting right in the heart of the downtown not restored and not productive,” he said. “If the Frisco Building is taken care of, many things can come from that.”

The Neosho Intermediate School project, under the direction of Jeffrey E. Smith Development Inc. of Columbia, was awarded $281,955 in annual tax credits.

Bryan said the award translates to about $2.8 million in tax credits over a 10-year period.

In addition, the Columbia company was given a no-interest, 30-year loan of $603,100.

Plans call for the school building, which was constructed in 1916 and has been vacant since 1995, to be converted into 37 one- and two-bedroom apartments for people 62 and older.

The building initially served as the town’s high school and later became the intermediate school.

Representatives with the development company were on the road and unavailable for comment Friday, but Lee Ireland, director of the Neosho Housing Authority, said the housing commission award was good news for the community.

“We have a definite need for affordable senior housing, and this has a different twist to it, the nostalgic value,” he said.

Ireland, who attended the school as a boy, said it’s likely many of the people who wind up living there will be former students.