Guaranty Bank Building nearly empty in preparation for sale

CEDAR RAPIDS — Tiffany Terzo's Emerge Salon and Boutique has been a fixture at street level of the Guaranty Bank Building for four years. But she soon will be relocating.

She said she was notified two Wednesdays ago that she has to be out before Sept. 1. Terzo said anyone who did not have a long-term lease in the building had to be out by May 31, so she was glad to have a little more time.

'It's bittersweet,' she said.

The six-story Guaranty Bank Building, at the corner of Third Street SE and Third Avenue SE, is nearly empty. Emerge Salon is the last street-level merchant.

'There are less than a handful that are in the process of moving out,' said Gary Becker, senior vice president at Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust.

CRBT now owns the building, along with most of the block, after a merger with Guaranty Bank last year.

The building was completed in 1896. It's part of a block bound by Third Avenue, Third Street, Second Avenue and the Fourth Street SE railroad corridor.

The Witwer Center, which houses White Star Ale House, is the only property on the block not owned by the bank and is not part of plans for redevelopment.

In December, The Gazette reported about developers proposing projects that would include renovating the Guaranty Building possibly into a boutique hotel and reusing the World Theater as entertainment space. The concept also included repurposing much of the rest of the block, including the Hazzard County Saloon building and a surface parking lot where the bank drive-in was located.

Becker said they are trying to sell the building as quickly as possible, but the timeline is uncertain and they are not ready to publicly discuss future plans.

'We intend to sell the building, and you can't really sell a building with tenants still in it,' Becker said.

On the ground level, Third Street Convenience and Third Street Vape, along with Guaranty Bank branch, have closed.

Terzo plans to move her salon to 310 Third Street SE, the first-floor site of Rep. Rod Blum's former Cedar Rapids office. She said construction is supposed to start in a few weeks.

The upper floors, with dozens of offices, mostly are vacant or closed. Among those remaining are business consultant Offices of Two Thirty on the second floor, Holmes Law Office and Contract Exchange Corp. on the third floor, and Ron's Coins on the fourth floor.

Ron Pettit, owner of Ron's Coins, said his lease is up in November, but he anticipates being out sooner as is the wish of the building owners. Pettit, who's been in the building for more than 10 years, said he anticipates knowing more next week about where he will move.

Lawyer James Holmes has until July 1 to be out. He is relocating to the Cherry Building in the New Bohemia District.

His grandfather, Stewart Holmes, founded the law firm and was one of seven original founders of Guaranty Bank, which at one time included manual elevators staffed round-the-clock by operators and six-lane bowling alley with manual pin set up in the lower level.

Holmes said the move is disappointing, given his family's history with the building and the fact the law practice had been in the same third-floor corner office for 99 years.

'We aren't going to make 100 years,' he said.

l Comments: (319) 398-8310; brian.morelli@thegazette.com