New Library Surprise

I stopped out at Westdale this morning to check out a discussion on potential sites for a new downtown Cedar Rapids library.

Gazette reporter Adam Belz has a fine blow-by-blow account of the meeting here.

One new site option caught my eye immediately. It was very familiar. "The Gazette Site" its called, taped up on wall in clear black and white.

It turns out the Gazette building at the corner of 5th Street and 3rd Ave. SE, where I am sitting as I type, is now a potential library site. If it were picked, they'd tear down the building, hopefully when I am not here typing, and build a two-story library. They'd keep our parking garage, potentially tearing down KCRG's building to expand it.

Huh. This was news to me.

I felt a little like a night I was sitting at my desk in the Iowa Falls Times-Citizen when the scanner reported a fire at 714 1/2 Washington Ave. Funny thing is, that was my address.

Luckily, they had the address wrong. But it was one of those odd moments when the usual comfy arm's length "they/them" of news is suddenly "us"  "we" or "me." Curious.

So I sat and listened to questions shooting around about how soon my building could be demolished and how long it would take my company to move my fellow employees and I out to new digs. I did learn that our building is so solid that it will be more costly to demolish. Good to know.

The entrance to the "Gazette Site" library would be roughly where my desk now sits, according to sketches. Maybe they could hang a photo of me working in the new lobby. No one would believe it.

But really, we're just one among four options, and I didn't get any impression that we're the leading candidate. Although I've coevered government long enough to know that you need to watch those late entries.

And this site does make some sense. Its next to the art museum and Greene Square Park. We clearly could operate in less spacious accommodations these days. Parking is built in. And after listening to today's discussions, parking is a really, really big deal.

Still, I got the impression that the "Emerald Knights Site," along 1st Ave. between 7th and 8th Streets SE, is the leading candidate. One big plus for that site is the prospect for including commercial/retail space which would make it a property tax gain instead of a loss. Although downtown development folks like this site least because they don't think it's close enough to the city's core.

The Gazette site aquisition cost was pegged at $7 million, but that's a rough, non-negogiated estimate. Taking this block off the tax roles would result in a $116,000 tax loss.

Neither Emerald nor The Gazette are in the 2008 flood zone, which could end up being a pretty important factor. Two other sites under consideration, the True North site south of Greene Square and the adjacent "Banjo Block" to the southeast of the park, each took flood waters.

The library board of trustees meets Jan. 7, when its expected to prioritize the list and express a preferred option. They have a tough choice to make.

I was always very interested in this process. Now, suddenly, I'm very, very interested.