Cedar Rapids council approves incentives for new medical clinic, New Bo renovation

CEDAR RAPIDS - The City Council this week approved property-tax breaks for two construction projects - a new medical clinic at Kirkwood Community College and the renovation of a former night club building in New Bohemia.

In the first project, MercyCare Management Inc. will invest $10.3 million to build a 30,000-square-foot urgent and primary care facility with imaging and lab services at 777 76th Ave. SW next to The Hotel at Kirkwood Center and the community college's Iowa Equestrian Center, city officials said.

Brooke Kensinger, director of Business Health Solutions at MercyCare Community Physicians, told the council this week that the new clinic will provide training opportunities for community college students. The clinic, called MercyCare Prairie Creek, should be open in the Fall of 2016, she said.

According to the city, the clinic project will create 28 jobs and qualifies for the city's High Quality Jobs Program. The program will provide MercyCare with a 44 percent reduction in property taxes over 10 years. Over the decade, the city will exempt an estimated $1.2 million in property taxes while collecting $1.53 million in new property tax revenue for the period because of the investment.

In New Bohemia, 2025 Development LLC is renovating the building at 307 12th Ave. SW that had housed the Chrome Horse Saloon and Slop House before a pile of greasy rags caught fire in July 2014 and closed the business.

The new owners, which include Dennis Henderson, chief executive officer of Ready Wireless in Hiawatha, will renovate the building for office and retail uses on the first floor and a music venue upstairs.

The project qualifies for the city's Core District Reinvestment Program, which provides a property-tax break of 44 percent over 10 years. With the renovation, the city estimates it will exempt $116,154 in property taxes over 10 years on the new investment while the project will generate $326,960 in property taxes for the period, including taxes on the property's current value of $277,300.