HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A $17-million renovation has wrapped up on a 1913 Hutchinson building that once featured a department store. The Hutchinson News reports that a dedication ceremony is planned for Thursday night for the Wiley Building. The nine-story structure has been transformed into two floors of commercial space and 73 apartments with the help of state and federal tax credits. In the building's first year, an estimated 1.5 million people walked through its doors. But by the mid-1980s, the store was suffering because of competition from the Hutchinson Mall. The Wileys closed the downtown department store in June 1985, and the building had been mostly vacant since 2002. Renovations began in December 2012 with the gutting of the interior.
