Cedar Rapids’ Kingston Village to get new four-story commercial/residential building

CEDAR RAPIDS - Kingston Village isn't going to stand still, waiting for the proposed Cedar Crossing Casino.

On Tuesday, the city unveiled plans by local developer Joe Ahmann to build a four-story, mixed-use building on city-owned property at 200, 210 and 212 Third Ave. SW.

Caleb Mason, the city's housing redevelopment analyst, told the City Council that the half-acre site was 'a critical piece” in the evolving redevelopment of Third Avenue SW, which is seeking national historic designation as part of the emerging Kingston Village.

Ahmann's four-story, 43,000-square-foot building will feature covered parking and commercial space on the first floor and three floors and 27 units of market-rate housing above.

Mason said Ahmann intended to spend $4.2 million on the project for the shell of the building, with the additional spending for the interior build out.

On Tuesday, the City Council unanimously voted to direct the city manager to negotiate a development agreement with Ahmann.

As part of the agreement. Ahmann is seeking a 10-year, 100-percent, urban-renewal property-tax break for the residential portion of the proposed building, Mason said.

He said Ahmann expects to begin construction this fall and to complete the project in 12 months.

Council member Scott Olson said the tax break for the project made sense because the city is trying to encourage the construction of market-rate housing in the downtown area.

Sarika Bhakta, district improvement specialist for the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Agency, told the council that the downtown had a 'gap” in market-rate housing that the Ahmann project would help address,

Council member Ann Poe, who has been a champion for Kingston Village, said the Ahmann project is a welcome investment in the west-side neighborhood and will give young adults more downtown residential options that will keep more of them in the city.

Poe recounted how she and council member Monica Vernon walked across the Third Avenue bridge about two years ago and had a 'vision” of what the newly named Kingston Village might become.

'The vision is coming to fruition,” Poe said.

Vernon laughed, saying Poe made it sound like the two of them had an 'hallucinogenic experience.”

Vernon called Ahmann's project 'an exciting” one.

Mason said Ahmann's proposal beat out a second one that had competed to build on the city-owned site, which the city acquired in its flood-recovery buyout program.

Mayor Ron Corbett said the developer with the other proposal is looking to build elsewhere in the neighborhood.

The city continues to own about eight acres of buyout property at First Avenue West and First Street SW in Kingston Village where the proposed casino has been slated to be built.

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