Iowa City school district may sell headquarters

IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa has offered to buy the Iowa City school district's headquarters for $4.5 million.

The UI's interest in the site, at 509 S. Dubuque St. in Iowa City, is related to its plans to relocate its School of Music nearby, spokesman Tom Moore said Friday.

The school board would have to OK the sale of the Central Administration Office. It will discuss the proposal, and could vote on it, at a public meeting July 27.

The district wasn't actively looking to sell the building and the UI offer came several months ago. Noting that the building is on prime real estate just south of downtown, school board President Patti Fields said the district has received various offers for it in recent years, and this is one she could support.

“It's a good deal,” she said. “It's also an opportunity to work collaboratively with the University of Iowa.”

UI spokesman Tom Moore said the land would be “key to the purchases related to” the university's plans to relocate its flood-damaged School of Music a couple of blocks to the north.

The UI wants to buy space in a proposed high-rise at the southeast corner of Burlington and Clinton streets to replace Voxman Music Building. It also wants to replace Clapp Recital Hall with auditorium facilities across Clinton Street where two banks, MidWestOne and Bank of the West, are now.

When asked how the purchase of the Iowa City school building would be related, Moore said those discussions are underway and the details will be shared with the state Board of Regents at an Aug. 5 meeting. He said the UI was not interested in any other land in the immediate area.

Moore also said the UI has no plans to place any building on the school district site. Asked if the UI could do a land swap or allow someone else to build on that site, he repeated that discussions are ongoing and he could not talk about the negotiations.

Bank of the West spokesman Robert Wolff said that negotiations are progressing but that the Iowa City school district site has not been discussed with the bank.

Charles Funk, president and chief executive officer of MidWestOne, was unavailable for comment Friday.

From the Iowa City school district's perspective, any deal must cover the costs of the district finding a new home for its central office, and $4.5 million would do that, Murley said.

Murley and Fields said building new was too expensive and the district was considering its options among existing facilities. Murley wasn't sure the district owned a building that would fit its needs.

There has been talk of having administrators move into Roosevelt Elementary School, which will close in two years. But Murley said that may not work because the idea is to have Roosevelt serve that neighborhood, and turning it into the district's headquarters may not be the best use.

The district would have 20 months to move out of the Central Administration Office if a deal is reached, Murley said.

While the district was not actively shopping it around, officials are interested in an upgrade. The building opened as an elementary school in 1917 but has been home to administrators since 1982. It is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and its parking lot is too small, Murley said.

The Iowa City Assessor's Office does not put a value on the property because it is publicly owned and is not taxed.