Agreement between Cedar Rapids, TrueNorth still awaits FEMA approval

A much-anticipated redevelopment agreement between City Hall and the insurance and financial firm TrueNorth remains on hold, awaiting approval from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Greg Eyerly, the city's flood-recovery director, late Tuesday morning said he was still hopeful that FEMA would come through before this evening's council meeting.

Eyerly recalled the old Perry Mason television show when Mason's investigator Paul Drake would show up near the end of a show, whisper in Mason's ear and the case would be won. Eyerly said he hopes to do the whispering to the City Council this evening.

The City Council had expected to approve the agreement two weeks ago, an agreement that will move TrueNorth into the city's flood-damaged former library, which it intends to renovate, and clear the way for the city's new library to go up at TrueNorth's current site on Fourth Avenue SE across from Greene Square Park.

Every day that the agreement is not approved is a day that the opening of the new library may be pushed back, Eyerly said Tuesday. The new library has been slated to open in December 2012.

Eyerly said the relocation of the library to a new spot is the first of several re-locations FEMA is facing in its Kansas City region and he said FEMA is using the Cedar Rapids library as a “template” for the other projects. That has caused a delay, he said. The city's Central Fire Station and Animal Control shelter also will be relocated.

The general terms of the agreement between the city and TrueNorth have been known since the City Council picked the TrueNorth site for the new library in February and then accepted TrueNorth's offer on the former library in June.

TrueNorth is paying $250,000 for the former library site, which it agrees to redevelop into offices and related uses at a cost to the firm of $7.5 million. In turn, the city agrees to pay $7.5 million for TrueNorth's existing office building and site.

Additionally, TrueNorth will pay the city $10,000 a month in rent to stay in its existing building while the renovation of the former library takes place. That renovation is expected to be complete in September 2011, the agreement states.

The agreement also calls for the city to provide TrueNorth with economic assistance over 10 years to offset the difference in property taxes at its new location versus the property taxes it had been paying at its current site. It is estimated that this property-tax assistance will total $990,000 over 10 years.

As part of the agreement, TrueNorth agrees to retain 120 existing jobs and to add 50 new jobs.

The City Hall-TrueNorth agreement notes that TrueNorth's preference was not to sell and relocate its downtown business. The agreement also states that the property transaction and redevelopment of the former library building are in “the vital and best interests of the city.”

The city's new library is a $45.5 million project, including the cost of contents and furnishings.