Corbett updates Rotarians on Central Fire Station, city purchase of hotel and closing Second Avenue SE

CEDAR RAPIDS - Fresh off a week-plus vacation, Mayor Ron Corbett told the Downtown Rotary today where the new Central Fire Station likely will go, that it could cost up to $17 million to renovate the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel inside and out if the city buys it and that City Council support for closing Second Avenue SE for a new medical building has lost some initial steam. 

Corbett spoke for 30 minutes without a script, and then he was asked about water management in the Cedar River watershed above Cedar Rapids, about government efficiency, and about the proposed closing of Second Avenue SE to accommodate Physicians' Clinic of Iowa (PCI), which plans to build a new medical building on both sides of Second Avenue SE at 10th Street SE. 

On the Second Avenue matter, Corbett said the City Council has told the physicians group that it would have a decision to it in August. 

The PCI plan surfaced last fall as part of the city's newly created Medical District along 10th Street SE, which will stretch from St. Luke's Hospital to Mercy Medical Center. 

Corbett said there is strong support from the council for the medical district and for PCI's plan to build in the district. 

However, Corbett said any council support for closing Second Avenue between 10th and 12th streets SE as PCI has said it prefers "may not be as strong as it has been." 

Even so, Corbett said after the noon gathering that he likely had five votes on the nine-member council to support closing a portion of Second Avenue SE for the PCI plan. 

In May, four of nine council members - Corbett, Chuck Swore, Don Karr and Justin Shields - said they would support the closing. 

As for the new Central Fire Station, the mayor said the city's Fire Station Relocation Advisory Committee favors putting the new building on the 600 block of First Avenue NE, now home, in part, to a Taco Bell restaurant. 

In May, the committee had listed three possible sites. The two others were the 600 block of First Avenue SE, which now houses The History Center, among other properties, and the 700 block of First Avenue SE, now home, in part, to the former Emerald Knights property. 

The City Council will vote on the matter in the weeks ahead, the mayor said. 

Among other updates: 

Corbett said some city offices should return to the traditional home of City Hall, the Veterans Memorial Building on May's Island, in February or March. He said the renovation of the flood-damaged building will take place in three phases: the Second Avenue-side offices; the auditorium; and the First Avenue part of the building. 

The mayor said renovation of the former federal courthouse down the block will await the city taking ownership of the building. It gets the building in exchange for land on which the new federal courthouse is being built. 

Accompanying Corbett to the Rotary luncheon was West Des Moines City Manager Jeff Pomeranz, who will become Cedar Rapids' new city manager on Sept. 20. Corbett said Pomeranz was touring both the Veterans Memorial Building and the former courthouse so he can help make decisions about which city offices should go where. 

Corbett told the Rotarians that it made sense for the city to purchase the long-struggling Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel from its creditors so the city could renovate the hotel as it builds a new convention center next door and upgrades the existing U.S. Cellular Center Arena attached to the hotel. Earlier this month, the city offered $1.5 million for the hotel, an offer that has not yet been accepted by the hotel's owner. 

Corbett said renovation costs for the hotel could total as much as $17 million after purchase, renovations that would include updating the exterior to go with the new Event Center project. 

"We think it will be a good deal for the people of Cedar Rapids," the mayor said. 

Corbett said the Event Center project - the new convention center will sit on what is now Third Street NE next to the hotel and arena - now calls for the city to buy offices and a parking structure along A Avenue NE between Second and Third streets NE. Corbett said the city also would like to buy the aged parking ramp in the 200 block of First Avenue NE next to the Roosevelt, but he said he wasn't sure there would be enough money. 

Corbett also explained his well-publicized attempt to convince Internet firm Go Daddy to expand its metro area presence by locating downtown. Corbett's move came as Go Daddy had all but finalized expansion plans next door in Hiawatha, and the city of Hiawatha wasn't happy about Corbett's effort. In the end, Go Daddy decided on Hiawatha, moving about 100 existing Cedar Rapids jobs to its new location. 

Corbett said the upside to the competition for Go Daddy's jobs is that "two or three" companies have now expressed interest in moving to downtown Cedar Rapids. 

Corbett quotes the Old Testament Book of Proverbs to make a point that flood-recovery funds are still moving too slowly to businesses and for residential buyouts. He said, too, that the city will need to lobby hard to secure both federal and state funds for a flood-protection system that protects both sides of the river in Cedar Rapids.