Old library will stand; Podzimek says city should market it as able to handle another floor

CEDAR RAPIDS - Nearly to a person last night, members of the City Council said they opposed demolishing the flood-damaged former downtown library, and instead, said they preferred to try to sell the building quickly.

At the same time, Greg Eyerly, the city's flood-recovery director, said the city will need to act almost immediately to set up a temporary climate control system in the building or it will fast turn into a Petri dish for mold with the season's high humidity.

Hearing that, the council told Eyerly to prepare to set up a temporary system, which is estimated to cost $225,000, to protect the building's interior as the city works to sell the 85,000-square-foot building.

Eyerly noted that crews mucked and cleaned out the building soon after the June 2008 flood, and he called the building clean but in need of repair. He noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had paid to control the building's climate using generators, the annual cost of which is $500,000 or more. It is a cost that the city now faces since FEMA stopped paying for the service on the day in February that the council picked a new library site.

Council member Chuck Wieneke asked last night if TrueNorth, the insurance and financial services company which is leaving its building on Fourth Avenue SE to make way for the new library, is interested in the old library site. City Manager Jim Prosser said the city is pursuing that prospect, and he added that others have expressed an interest in the old library building.

Prosser and Eyerly noted that the city will be required to pay FEMA the appraised value of the old library property. The city would need to deduct that amount from what FEMA is paying for the new library site and building if the city doesn't get the money in the sale of the old library site, they said.

Council member Kris Gulick suggested that what a person offers for the site might set its value, and Eyerly noted that FEMA will be “fair and reasonable” about it.

Council member Tom Podzimek said the city should work to market the old library as a structure on which an additional flood can be added.

Council member Pat Shey said he was pleased to hear that several people have inquired about the site. He said the city ought to look not at the best offer, but at the best development idea for the site.