UI continues with School of Music plans

Any agreement to purchase downtown Iowa City property for a new University of Iowa School of Music will eventually go to the state Board of Regents for approval.

UI leaders weren't ready to take that step Wednesday, when the regents met at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton. But Doug True, senior vice president for finance, said UI officials continue to negotiate for the downtown site to replace the flood-damaged School of Music.  The UI will move ahead with that plan and come back to the board when an agreement is ready, he said.

The plan, at an estimated cost of $125 million, calls for the UI to buy four and a half floors in a planned 12-story mixed-use condominium project to be built by private developers at the southeast corner of Burlington and Clinton streets. That space will house the School of Music program, replacing flood-damaged Voxman Music Building.

Across Clinton Street, at the southwest corner of Burlington and Clinton, the UI plans to build auditorium facilities to replace Clapp Recital Hall. Two banks are located at that site. The two UI spaces would be connected by an enclosed sky walk over Clinton Street.

Much of the project cost would be paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of flood recovery.