Moen considering new multi-story building in downtown Iowa City

Marc Moen, the developer of the 14-story Plaza Towers in downtown Iowa City, is considering constructing another multi-story building nearby.

The building would be located at 112 S. Dubuque St., where a Wells Fargo Bank branch is located on the Pedestrian Mall. Moen and a family member own the land there.

Moen did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

In an Aug. 15 email message to Jeff Davidson, Iowa City's planning and community development director, Moen said his Moen Group is considering a multi-story multi-use building at the site. He said a very rough estimate put the project at $8 million to $10 million.

The property currently is valued at $550,390 by the Iowa City Assessor's Office.

City Manager Tom Markus said the project is still in the conceptual stage and it was premature to provide details. In general, though, it likely would have retail space on the first floor and office and residential space above, he said. He believed its height was still under consideration.

Davidson said Moen has not yet filed any applications with the city for things like a site plan, rezoning or demolition work and he did not have much information on the project.

He said with the Pedestrian Mall and an alley providing open space on three sides of the property, it would be an attractive site because it would offer views and other buildings could not be built next to it.

Markus and Davidson said they've received no indication that Moen would want his building to encroach on that city space. Davidson said that Moen's Vogel House upscale apartment building also downtown is on the same size of land.

Plaza Towers, which has commercial space and upscale housing, opened in 2006 at a cost of $27 million. City officials have recently said that's the type of project they want to encourage downtown as they and some business owners try to transition the area from a place seen primarily as a bar district to one with more residential, office and retail opportunities.

“I think that reinvestment to the downtown … is a big plus to us,” Markus said.

Said Davidson, "We would love to do a project like this."

There has been talk of building a few mixed-use high-rise buildings since Plaza Towers opened, but the economic recession killed or altered most of those plans.

Two of those were proposed for land south of Burlington Street, but planning stalled in the economic recession and wasn't revived until the University of Iowa agreed to relocate its School of Music and make it part of a high-rise building on the southeast corner of Clinton and Burlington streets.

The two groups of developers are now collaborating on one project.

In his email to Davidson, Moen said Wells Fargo wants to remain downtown and Moen Group helped them find a location, but the site does not allow for an ATM. He said Wells Fargo is asking that the city allow it to install an ATM at the kiosk closest to Clinton Street on the College Street portion of the Pedestrian Mall.

At its Sept. 6 meeting, the City Council is scheduled to vote on setting a public hearing for later this month on a resolution related to the ATM issue.

[mqMap showScale="true" key="hd6A" width="485" height="440" src="http://www.mapquest.com/embed?icid=mqdist_mb_wp&c=hd6A&maptype=map&zoom=15¢er=41.65950115678068,-91.5324089524836&projection=sm&showScale=true"/>