Regents approve UI purchase of Iowa City schools land

The University of Iowa will purchase Iowa City school district land, part of a plan to relocate the flood-damaged UI School of Music to downtown Iowa City.

The state Board of Regents, meeting Thursday in Ames, unanimously approved the UI plan to buy the school district's Central Administration Office building, at 509 S. Dubuque St., for $4.5 million.

Buying the school district land is linked to the negotiations for nearby property where the UI wants to relocate the School of Music, Doug True, senior vice president for finance, said.

“This enables our School of Music to be where it needs to be,” True said.

The UI wants to relocate the flood-damaged School of Music to land on each side of Clinton Street south of Burlington Street. Two banks are located on part of that site now. Negotiations for those properties are going well, True said Thursday. Where those businesses are relocated and how that works out is part of the ongoing negotiations, and details aren't yet final, he said.

The school district property is 56,790 square feet of land. It includes a three-story building, which dates to 1917.

Also Thursday, the regents gave UI officials approval to raze three flood-damaged facilities west of the Iowa River: Hancher Auditorium, the School of Music and the old Art Building complex. That approval doesn't mean the buildings will be demolished soon, True said. There is a standard process the UI must follow with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said.

“This is the start of a process and it will be quite a while,” True said. “It could be many months from now.”