Mixed-use building planned for West Bank site in Iowa City

IOWA CITY - Preliminary site plans for the corner of Dubuque and Burlington Streets detail plans to swap out the one-story building - formerly home of West Bank - for a multi-floor building with commercial space and apartments.

According to a site plan filed Monday by a limited liability company for the property at 229 S. Dubuque St., where demolition is underway on the former West Bank building, proposed new construction would include about 13,600 square feet of commercial space, 37 underground parking spaces below and 20 one-bedroom and 27 two-bedroom dwelling units above.

A site plan is the very first step to potential development and the proposal will go through the standard staff review process.

'It's just the very very beginning of the process,” said Julie Tallman, with the Iowa City Building Department.

Located in the Riverfront Crossings District and currently zoned central business, the project design and possible rezoning also will come under review at a later date.

The site plan does not indicate how many floors the potential building will have, but states it is proposed to be about 70 feet in height.

In October, 229 S. Dubuque LLC, of which local developer Jeff Clark is a member, purchased the 15,300-square-foot took ownership of the property, with no declaration of value for the sale listed, according to the Iowa City Assessor website.

The assessor site lists the property and building valued at about $2.2 million, according to Jan. 1 estimates.

On April 20, the city issued Clark a demolition permit for the 7,000-square-foot former West Bank building, according to city documents.

Clark could not be reached for comment by Monday's deadline.

West Bank began operating in the building at 229 S. Dubuque St. in 2003. Before that, the building was owned by Hawkeye State Bank.

Doug Gulling, West Bank Chief Financial Officer, said West Bank officials decided to relocate to Coralville due to mounting concerns of the downtown building's age and size.

'It was an old and tired building,” Gulling said. 'There wasn't enough room on that site to do what we wanted to do so that's why we went to a new site.”

In mid-January, West Bank ended operations at the Iowa City building and relocated staff to a new 15,500-square-foot, three-story building at 1150 Fifth St.

The bank operates retail on the first floor, which includes three drive through lanes, commercial banking on the second floor and a third-floor conference space. A second tenant takes up the remainder of the third floor.

'It's been great,” Gulling said of the new bank building. 'It's been going very well and it's been very well accepted.”