Engineer faults Gazette parking ramp, could impact library site decision

The downtown Cedar Rapids block that houses Gazette Communications' newspaper and television station might be a little less attractive as a site for a new $45 million library than the local library board first thought.

In picking two possible sites to further investigate for the library, the library board selected The Gazette Communications block, in part, because of the company's existing, two-story parking ramp.

However, a structural engineering firm has concluded, after examining the parking ramp, that it should be demolished as part of any library building project.

In a report to the library board and the city of Cedar Rapids, Bruce Hamous, an architect with OPN Architects of Cedar Rapids, reported that M2B Structural Engineers of Cedar Rapids found the parking ramp has a “fairly significant design flaw that is compromising the necessary factor of safety of the ramp.”

Hamous reported, too, that M2B noted that the ramp was built with economy in mind and, as a result, the ramp has experienced ongoing maintenance and repairs that are costing “more than they otherwise should.”

The engineering firm recommends “that the existing ramp be demolished and replaced with one of a more substantial structural design for both increased longevity and reduced ongoing maintenance costs,” Hamous stated in his report.

Susan Corrigan, the library board president, on Wednesday said the parking ramp on The Gazette Communications site had been viewed as “an asset” of the site, and without it, the cost of demolishing the ramp and building other parking now will factor into the board's site recommendation.

“I don't think it takes The Gazette block off the table,” she said. “I think it has to be negotiated. What's that block really worth if we have to put in a new parking ramp or put in surface parking or whatever we would have to do? It has to be taken into account in the price.”

The second block being explored by the library board between First and Second avenues and Seventh and Eighth streets SE - part of which housed the Emerald Knights Drum and Bugle Corps. It does not have a parking structure on it.

The Gazette block, Corrigan said, still is attractive because it is close to Greene Square Park and the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, is in the core of the downtown and was not touched by the June 2008 flood.

“So I think there are still favorable attributes to that block,” she said. “But, certainly, not having a parking ramp that has long-term viability impacts the price of the site.”

The library board is scheduled to review the city's analysis of the Emerald Knights and Gazette blocks at its Feb. meeting. Corrigan said the board, no doubt, will talk about a third site, which now house TrueNorth across Fourth Avenue SE from Greene Square Park.

The city also is analyzing the TrueNorth block, in part because some on the City Council, which will make the final site selection, have expressed an interest in that location. The library board also has discussed the site previously.