Development group to renovate Science Station into offices

CEDAR RAPIDS - The three flood-damaged buildings that made up the Science Station on First Street SE next to the Cedar River are being acquired for redevelopment.

The buyer, 4000 LLC, a subsidiary of 2001 Development Corp., is a group of downtown property owners and large local employers that plans to convert the buildings into offices.

The buildings consist of the city's one-time central fire station at 427 First St. SE and the buildings that flank it, the Paxton Building on one side and the IMAX Dome Theatre on the other.

The Science Center - the administrative entity of the Science Station - announced in late summer that the operation would not be returning to the buildings it had occupied before the Floods of 2008. At that time, the Science Center had a purchase agreement in place for the IMAX and Paxton buildings.

The redevelopment plans for all three buildings surfaced on Tuesday as the City Council approved a sale and redevelopment agreement with 4000 LLC for the city-owned former firehouse. The agreement calls for the city to sell the building for $75,000, and for 4000 LLC to invest at least $1.17 million to redevelop it and find a tenant or tenants within two years.

Jim Hoffman, executive director of 2001 Development Corp., said his group plans to convert all three buildings into office space in a transformation that envisions putting a second floor and new windows into what had been the IMAX Dome Theatre.

Hoffman estimated that the former theater would have room for 18,000 square feet of office space with the old firehouse providing an additional 10,000 square feet and the Paxton Building another 6,000 square feet.

“There are some exciting possibilities for all three of the properties,” he said.

He said the redevelopment group intends to restore the “historic fabric” of the firehouse, much as it intends to do at the flood-damaged former Great Furniture Mart building at 600 First St. SE. 2001 Development bought that property in January 2009 for $700,000.

Hoffman did not disclose how much the development group paid for the Paxton Building or the IMAX Dome Theatre.

He said 2001 Development's long-standing approach to redevelopment downtown is to invest in existing buildings, vacant property and new building projects with the central intent to recoup the investment and support downtown redevelopment, not to otherwise profit.

The Science Station has been at Lindale Mall since the 2008 flood.