Iowa City offers TelePharm parking incentive

IOWA CITY - City officials have provided half-priced parking spaces to Iowa City's TelePharm in order to keep employees downtown as the telepharmacy company prepares to expand.

Jeff Davidson, Iowa City economic development administrator, said the city has entered into an agreement with TelePharm to provide the roughly three-year-old company with half-priced parking spaces in downtown ramps for the next two years.

In the agreement, TelePharm, which is leasing additional space near its current offices on the second floor of the Iowa Book building on the corner of Iowa Avenue and Clinton Street, will receive four discounted parking spaces, to reflect current staff, and can get up to 10 total half-priced spaces as the company hires.

The agreement is contingent on TelePharm expanding their staff by at least three employees, Davidson said.

'They're required to maintain the employment for three years, otherwise they have to prorate back the cost to us,” Davidson said. 'It's contingent on them growing their company and adding employees.”

Roby Miller, TelePharm founder and CEO, said adding three employees shouldn't be a problem.

'We hope to grow more than that, but just to be safe we tried to be conservative on those numbers,” Miller said.

TelePharm officials will pay full price for any parking permits after two years.

Davidson said downtown permits are currently $80 a month. As the parking agreement falls below the $50,000 threshold, the City Manager's Office was able to authorize the agreement without needing approval from the Iowa City Council.

Davidson said the city has provided similar parking incentives two other times in recent memory; when the Iowa City Press-Citizen relocated from Dodge Street to 123 N. Linn St. in 2011; and again last year when MetaCommunications moved into the Park@201 building on the pedestrian mall.

Davidson said parking incentive has worked well in the past to draw and keep businesses downtown.

'The idea is we're easing you into the situation, this is just a transition period,” he said. 'This is exactly what we're trying to do with the financial incentives that we provide.”

Founded in 2012, TelePharm's technology enables a central pharmacist to inspect and verify prescriptions that are being dispensed by technicians in a rural pharmacy.