Cedar Rapids council to buy last small piece of block for new library

CEDAR RAPIDS - The City Council is slated to purchase a final piece of a block needed for the site of the new public library across Fourth Avenue SE from Greene Square Park.

The cost of the final piece - which is currently a parking lot, 300 feet by 60 feet, with adjacent alley - is $200,000, according to a city staff memorandum to the City Council.

Guaranty Realty Inc., the property's owner, had used the lot for parking.

The purchase has long been planned. Earlier, the city purchased the rest of the block from TrueNorth Companies Inc. for $7.5 million. In turn, TrueNorth purchased the city's flood-damaged library on First Street SE for $250,000, and the company is spending more than $7.5 million to renovate the former library into an office building.