Iowa City schools headquarters to move to newspaper site

The Iowa City school district will move its headquarters to the current home of the Press-Citizen newspaper.

The school board voted 6-0 Tuesday night to purchase the property at 1725 N. Dodge St. from North Dodge Partners. The site is in northeast Iowa City, south of Interstate 80.

The school board this summer agreed to sell the land where the district's Central Administration Office is located, 509 S. Dubuque St., to the University of Iowa for $4.5 million. The UI plans to use the property to relocate businesses that are on land where it will move its flood-damaged School of Music facilities.

Superintendent Steven Murley said the school district will spend $4.5 million to buy the site and renovate the building to fit its needs.

The Iowa City Assessor's Office puts the property's value at just less than $2.8 million. A year ago, it was listed by a real estate company at $3.75 million.

Murley said the district would see further cost savings by moving its technology center and some other programs that are in leased space to the new central office. The Press-Citizen building is about 40,000 square feet, which is 16,000 square feet more than the district's current headquarters, he said.

The district plans to move into the new building by Oct. 15.

The Press-Citizen building is a good fit physically for the district and, unlike the current central office, is compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, Murley said.

The three-story Central Administration Office opened as an elementary school in 1917 but has been home to administrators since 1982. It also is the site of school board meetings.

Board member Toni Cilek said that while it will be tough to see the district move from just south of downtown Iowa City, the new site is easy to get to and has ample parking, something the current building lacks.

The move to the Press-Citizen was not a total surprise. The newspaper's corporate owner, Gannet Inc., put the property up for sale last year. It was considered as a possible site for a new Johnson County jail, but county officials later rejected that idea.

Board member Gayle Klouda was absent from Tuesday's meeting.