Plans for Cedar Rapids Medical District are taking shape

Spring is not the ideal time for Kathy Kamberling to relocate her business.

Elegant Repeats and Elegant Bridal & Formal Wear, 1101 Second Ave. SE, is gearing up for its busy prom and wedding season but will move in March to make way for the Cedar Rapids Medical District.

Plans for the district, stretching from Mercy Medical Center to St. Luke's Hospital, were announced in October.

What's coming or going is still fluid, representatives of both hospitals said, and many business owners are taking a wait-and-see approach. Meetings with affected property owners will likely start in March.

District boundaries have been fluid, as well.

Proposed new lines are staggered, starting at Fifth Street SE and running to 12th Street SE/Coe Road NE. The proposed border extends from Ninth Avenue SE, between Seventh Street and Mount Vernon Road SE to A Avenue NE.

The lines are significant, as any business within will pay an additional property tax if the City Council approves the area as a self-supported municipal improvement district.

Mercy and St. Luke's own 34 percent of the 238 parcels. While hospitals are tax-exempt, they agreed to pay the district taxes, said project consultant John Helbling, who was hired by the hospitals and the Physicians' Clinic of Iowa.

Other exempt properties, including churches, will be asked to voluntarily pay that tax, which goes to lighting, snow removal or other services the district decides upon, he said. By law, homes cannot be charged the tax.

Helbling said the goal is to create an attractive medical destination.

Already, one building has been demolished. The former St. Luke's Children's Specialty Services office, 1002 Second Ave. SE, was torn down in January.

Physicians' Clinic of Iowa tentatively plans to build a parking ramp for a new $40 million “medical mall” on that site. The mall, actually a large medical-office complex, will likely be built on the other side of Second Avenue, on a parking lot owned by St. Luke's behind First Lutheran Church, 1000 Third St. SE, and extending to the rest of the block.

Elegant Repeats, which has been in its location since 1998, is among those properties. The Young Parents Network, 205 12th St. SE; the 11-unit Roman Apartments, 1115 Second Ave. SE; and the home-turned-office at 1113 Second Ave. SE also are slated to go.

Kamberling started her shop 18 years ago on Mount Vernon Road SE. Elegant Repeats will move to 4700 Tama St. SE now that its current location was purchased by St. Luke's, she said.

“It's not something I wanted to do,” Kamberling said. “We were doing real good here.”

Still, she sees the positive side of moving to a larger building, all on a single floor.

Other businesses are remaining in the district, for now.

Corporate representatives of Firestone Complete Auto Care, 205 10th St. SE, said they are unaware of any plans to move from the leased site.

Mike Orness, owner of Denny's Automotive and Muffler, 853 Second Ave. SE, expects to hear more in the coming weeks.

Chuck Parks, president of Construction Publications, in the same building as Teena's Classic Furniture, 829 Second Ave. SE, said they are also in a holding pattern.

“People talk all the time about these buildings,” he said.

Dave Bunch opened Auto Works in June at 866 Third Ave. SE, on property owned by St. Luke's. As far as he knows, the car lot will stay at least through its two-year lease, he said.

William Olinger, a land investor who owns several properties in the area, is enthused about the district's potential. Olinger is exploring building a hotel in the 1200 block of Second Avenue SE. Other businesses in buildings he owns there would remain, he said.

Olinger noted that the district could encompass the city's site for a new library or fire station, if the Emerald Knights block is chosen for either of those purposes, and serve as a bridge to the downtown.

“It's tremendously important to the neighborhood,” he said.