C.R. panel makes plan for ‘West Village’

CEDAR RAPIDS - Get used to the idea of a West Village.

The City Council's Development Committee this week all-but formally created the place, West Village, directly across the Cedar River from downtown in a move that turns talk among council members in recent months into a new piece of Cedar Rapids geography.

The drive to create and name a West Village is modeled, in part, after the successful retail, office and residential renaissance in the old commercial blocks now called East Village across the Des Moines River from downtown Des Moines.

At the same time, city leaders are trying to figure out what to do with old, flood-damaged commercial buildings on the west side of the river as two truths stare them in the face. One, there is no short-term prospect for a flood protection system to protect the buildings. And two, the door is closing on the federal government's deep-pockets program that has paid to date for some 1,200 property buyouts and 1,000 demolitions.

Flood-damaged buildings, empty now for four years, will require city money to demolish if they aren't on a federal demolition list by next spring, Joe O'Hern, the city's flood recovery and reinvestment director, reminded the council committee this week.

Even so, council member Monica Vernon, the committee's chairwoman, said she wanted City Hall to figure out a way to save commercial buildings in and around the historic Louis Sullivan-designed bank building at 101 Third Ave. SW as well as nearby buildings on Second Avenue SW.

Vernon and council member Ann Poe have mentioned the idea of a West Village for some months, and Poe on Wednesday noted that she lived for a time in the East Village in Des Moines before its transformation.

Poe said she agrees that the city should concentrate on preserving the first few blocks of commercial buildings on Third and Second avenues SW up to Third Street as the seed of a West Village with the historic Louis Sullivan-designed bank as the keystone to it.

“The last thing we want are big, gaping holes in our core,” she said.

Vernon suggested that an actual natural boundary of West Village might extend to Interstate 380 to the north and Eighth Avenue SW, while council member Scott Olson said that a more expansive potential boundary might put a West Village between the Time Check Neighborhood to the north and Czech Village to the south. Poe said the West Village idea has backing from most on the City Council.

O'Hern told the council committee that there was “critical balance” between keeping and demolishing. He said some flood-damaged buildings, four years after the 2008 flood, might be in worse condition and harder to restore than others while others might more negatively impact the area if left standing without being renovated or occupied.

Olson said some of the commercial structures in the core of West Village are smaller, “manageable” buildings that remain in “reasonable” shape. He added that some could remain empty and boarded up and not detract too much from the area as City Hall waited for someone to develop them. City incentives might help lure investors and preservationists, he said.

Olson noted, too, that the city's new outdoor riverfront amphitheater on First Street SW across the street from the Louis Sullivan-designed bank will bring excitement to the spot and help promote interest and development in the West Village area.

Vernon suggested that local residents one day might agree to support a flood-protection system for the west side of the river when they see the West Village coming to life in the blocks directly across from the downtown.

Two small developers expressed some interest in three buildings near the Louis Sullivan-designed bank before the unsuccessful vote on March 6 to extend the city's local-option sales tax to help pay for flood protection through the city.

Those buildings, at 102 and 120 Third Ave. SW and 426 First St. SW, have been pulled from the city's demolition list for now, city officials said on Wednesday.

The council's Development Committee asked the city's planning staff for an update in July on buildings with some potential historical standing that might be worth keeping for redevelopment. The city's Historic Preservation Commission has identified some buildings in the West Village to keep.

O'Hern noted the city already has commissioned a feasibility study to look at options for the Sullivan-designed bank.