GreenState Credit Union has foreclosed on one of Iowa City’s best-known buildings, The Chauncey, as well as some other significant properties owned by real estate developer Marc Moen and business partners. The properties will be sold off at a sheriff’s auction, the Corridor Business Journal (CBJ) reported Thursday. GreenState sued Moen and his associates on […]
Iowa City development
Posted inCommunity/News
The Friends of Hickory Hill Park help guide the beloved IC nature area’s future
“Solitude,” “contemplation,” “sanctuary” — the Friends of Hickory Hill Park nonprofit uses these words to describe the park it supports. Unlike many of Iowa City’s parks, at Hickory Hill you won’t find the traditional swing sets, baseball diamonds or large shelters shading rows of picnic tables. Sure, Hickory Hill is a destination for winter sledders […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Proposed development next to Hickory Hill Park is halted amid public outcry
A plan to build houses, condos and a retirement village adjacent to Hickory Hill Park hit a wall last week when the Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) voted unanimously to send developers back to the drawing board. The 0-7 vote against the development came after a three-hour discussion of its merits by commission […]
Posted inCommunity/News
New deal: Interactive public art installation comes to downtown
When it became clear that a sewer renovation project on Washington Street in downtown Iowa City would obscure the streetscape for nearly eight months, the Iowa City Downtown District turned to local artist Thomas Agran for help. Agran has been responsible for the murals at both the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City New Pioneer Co-op […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Op-ed: A year on the job with the Iowa City Downtown District
Imagine you’re a time traveler visiting current-day downtown Iowa City from an earlier time. Upon exiting your DeLorean, parked in front of the Airliner, you walk south and hang a left on Washington St. passing the beautifully restored MidWestOne Bank building. As you walk east you focus on the architecture of the buildings around you: […]
Posted inCommunity/News
UR Here: How variation in building facades can change the paths we take
Recently, I was sitting at the front window café bar of Iowa City’s Z’Marik’s Noodle Café on Dubuque Street eating my krith-a-raki for lunch when I decided to conduct a little experiment. For 15 minutes or so, I kept track of how many people walked past on my side of the street and how many […]
Posted inCommunity/News
What will the “Core Four” councilors mean for Iowa City’s pending development projects?
Last November, prior to the election of a slate of candidates who called themselves the “Core Four,” then-Mayor Matt Hayek penned an open letter predicting the consequences of such a win. It would, he wrote, see a “return to the anti-growth, micromanaging City Hall of eras past.” But at the top of 2016, to many […]
Posted inCommunity/News
City prepares for Riverfront Crossings Park proposals
Iowa City’s Riverfront Crossings Park project continues to move towards fruition. On Dec. 18, city officials held a pre-submittal meeting for consultants who plan to submit bids in response to its Request for Proposals for Design and Engineering Services for the park. According to Senior Civil Engineer Ben Clark, a half-dozen firms from across the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Chauncey tower question splits council candidate forum
Less than fifteen minutes into last night’s city council candidate forum on environmental issues, moderator Tom Carsner split the field with a question about the direction of the tax-increment-financed (TIF) development known as the Chauncey Tower. Sitting councilors Rick Dobyns and Jim Throgmorton went back and forth on the project after Carsner asked the field, […]
Posted inCommunity/News, UR Here
UR Here: The place is what’s Important
“If you build it, they will come” is baloney. Perhaps it’s heresy to question a platitude from one of Iowa’s sacred texts. But the ghostly voice from the cornfield seems to be whispering in a lot of ears as major changes loom for Iowa City’s downtown and near-downtown area. We have a new Downtown and […]
Posted inCommunity/News, Letters
Letter to the Editor: High-rise development in Iowa City
By John Thomas For over two years, Iowa City residents have vigorously debated the cost/benefit of high-rise development. Opponents have argued that high-rises only belong in the Downtown or portions of Riverfront Crossings, where impacts on adjacent and nearby properties will be insignificant. The use of tax-increment financing (TIF) is another concern. Why must taxpayers […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Ecopolis makes last-ditch effort to save control house from demolition
The environmental group Ecopolis is continuing their push to save the abandoned North Wastewater Treatment facility control house tonight, as the Iowa City Council
