Board OKs plan to demolish former county home

CEDAR RAPIDS - Critics pushed the Linn County Board of Supervisors to try one last time in August to find a developer with a viable plan for the former county home at Highway 13 and County Home Road.

None emerged, and on Tuesday, the board approved plans for the demolition and set a Sept. 25 deadline for contractors to submit bids.

The demolition is expected to cost between $465,000 and $500,000 and will clear the 24-acre parcel, said Darrin Gage, the county's director of policy and administration.

Gage told the supervisors that the county will ask the demolition contractor to salvage, reuse or recycle materials and equipment.

The building was emptied two years ago when its most recent tenant, the Abbe Center for Community Care, moved 70 clients from the residential facility into smaller facilities.

The supervisors have said the 39-year-old, 128,000-square-foot facility would cost too much to renovate. The property is more valuable as vacant development property, they have said.