May's Island restoration nearing halfway point

Work on repairing a flood-damaged popular bit of green space and underground parking garage in downtown Cedar Rapids has now hit the halfway point.

Workers began removing the grass and topsoil from May's Island shortly after that area was used as the launching pad for the Cedar Rapids Freedom Fest fireworks July 4.

Crews have now exposed the top of the underground parking facility that stretches between the Linn County Courthouse and the Veterans Memorial Building on the island.  The underground garage, that can accommodate 90 to 100 vehicles, hasn't been used since the June 2008 flood damaged the structure.

Plans now call for the parking facility to return next May, with the top of the island returning to its former life as a gathering spot for music and other community events.

Mike Jager, executive director of the Veterans Memorial Commission, said workers are now busy both repairing the underground garage and waterproofing the top of the structure.  There will also be other improvements, such as relocating utilities and a generator for portable power above the level of the 2008 flood.  He expects crews to haul in new dirt and have the grass in good shape by the time the next Freedom Fest rolls around.

“We certainly hope so,” Jager said. "Fireworks have shot off here on the last two summers and it's our intent by next July the fireworks can once again go off from this location.”

As the weather gets colder, Jager said workers will spend more time working underground in the garage that stretched between the courthouse and what, before the flood, was City Hall in Cedar Rapids.  Jager said more city workers are returning to the new City Hall, the former federal courthouse on Second Ave. SE.  He said that's expected to happen sometime next spring, and one of his goals is to have the covered underground parking ready for some of those returning downtown employees to use.

Jager said he hopes it doesn't take long after May's Island is restored for downtown pedestrians to reclaim the grassy area in the middle of the Cedar River.