CliftonLarsonAllen to move back to downtown Cedar Rapids

(Modified on 2/17/12 to correct name of Pete Jacobs in paragraph three and present address of CliftonLarsonAllen in paragraph 6)

CliftonLarsonAllen plans to move to downtown Cedar Rapids by Jan. 1, 2013, as one of the first tenants of a new professional office building at 600 Third Ave. SE.

The accounting and consulting firm formed from last month's merger of Milwaukee-based Clifton Gunderson and Minneapolis-based LarsonAllen will occupy the top floor of a three-story office building developed by Steve Emerson's Progression LC.

The firm will bring about 40 employees to downtown Cedar Rapids, with enough space to grow by 50 percent over the next five years, according to Bill Vincent and Pete Jacobs, two of its local partners.

"We want to be part of the community, and being part of a vibrant downtown with its arts and professional community is important to us," Vincent said. He said the company likes the pattern of development it is seeing in the area, including the new federal courthouse, medical facilities, library, and TrueNorth Companies offices.

The Cedar Rapids City Council is considering whether to approve tax increment financing incentives to for the $5.4 million development. The many issues raised in council discussions this week included whether incentives would simply reshuffle tenants among the city's buildings and landlords.

Jacobs said CliftonLarsonAllen "has "just basically outgrown the facility we're in"  at 1715 First Ave. SE, and also has parking limitations at the location. The company wants to be closer to other professional services and government offices downtown. He said ample onsite parking for employees and clients at the Third Avenue building was a big part of its appeal, also.

The current leased space housing CliftonLarsonAllen was expanded once following a merger with another local certified public accounting firm in 1998, and is not owned by the firm.

The merger of Clifton Gunderson and LarsonAllen moved it up into the ranks of the ten largest CPA firms. It is the largest CPA firm specializing in small, medium-sized and closely-held entities, Jacobs said. The company's other services include wealth management, litigation support, and industry-specific consulting.

Emerson said the new 45,000-square-foot office building will be "contemporary, sleek and a great improvement" at a site where a historic, though deteriorating, historic church once stood.

Hunter Companies is the contractor for the project, which was designed by Emerson's Aspect Architecture.

The building will face east toward its parking lot, but will not really have a "back," Emerson said, because it will be visible from all sides.

It will be the first new structure in the immediate neighborhood in many years. Emerson, who owns many downtown properties, is optimistic about the improvements coming to the area, which is outside of the 100-year flood plain.