Iowa awards Cedar Rapids’ Iowa Building redevelopment $5.5 million historic preservation tax credits

CEDAR RAPIDS — A project to convert the upper floors of the Iowa Building in downtown Cedar Rapids into multifamily housing got a $5.5 million boost from the state last week.

Developer Steve Emerson’s redevelopment of the Iowa Building, located at 211 Fourth Ave. SE, received historic preservation tax credits from the Iowa Economic Development Authority. The program supports projects that rehabilitate historic buildings while keeping their character-defining features.

Emerson will convert the third through seventh floors of the Iowa Building into downtown housing units. The first and second floors will be renovated into office space. Jimmy John’s will continue to operate on the first floor.

Once complete, the project will add 41 market-rate rental units — all one-bedrooms. Emerson said work started in January and is slated to wrap up late this year or early 2024.

The IEDA also previously awarded $975,559 in workforce housing tax credits toward the Iowa Building’s redevelopment, as well as $750,000 in brownfield/grayfield tax credits. Both awards were announced in 2021.

This is Emerson’s only active downtown Cedar Rapids housing project, but he said he is contemplating other projects in the urban core.

Building’s history

The Iowa Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On Nov. 14, 1913, seven construction workers were killed and three others were injured when the south end of the structure — then called the Lyman building — collapsed while it was being built downtown, according to Gazette archives. Thirty people were working on the building at the time.

Workers were on top of the building when the roof gave out, and in less than a minute, the structure was reduced to rubble about one story high. According to the archives, the collapse was caused by two frame sections that had “faulty and insufficient falsework in supporting concrete.”

The building was later redesigned and completed after the incident halted construction. Its name changed in May 1914 from Stark-Lyman to its current name, the Iowa Building. The Iowa Building Co. was incorporated in August 1914, led by W.H. Stark as president and treasurer and F.A. Lyman as vice president and secretary.

Emerson’s other downtown projects

Emerson’s redevelopment of the old Skogman Realty headquarters, at 411 First Ave. SE, into a multifamily housing development — Pullman Lofts — recently finished construction.

The units in Pullman Lofts are already about 50 percent leased, Emerson said.

“People still want to move downtown and live down here,” Emerson said.

That project also received $750,000 in brownfield/grayfield tax credits to be converted into rental units.

Both the Iowa Building and Pullman Lofts are supported with the city’s standard incentive package — which, for housing projects, is a 10-year, 100 percent tax exemption or reimbursement.

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Another Emerson redevelopment — the Dows Building, at 210 Second St. SE — opened last summer with 43 studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. The ground floor continues to be used for office space. He also renovated the historic Smulekoff’s warehouse into apartments with first-floor commercial space in 2016.

State gave $25.4 million to 15 projects

The Iowa Building was among 18 applications the IEDA received seeking $35 million in tax credits. There was $25.4 million available in this round.

Funding was awarded to 15 buildings to support restoration efforts that preserve historic attributes.

Some other projects include:

“The revitalization projects create distinctive spaces with historic charm that also support the needs of Iowa’s communities to attract people to visit, live and work,” Debi Durham, executive director of IEDA and the Iowa Finance Authority, said in a statement.

Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com