UIHC to buy Cedar Rapids clinic, cementing commitment to community

• University of Iowa Health Care is looking to buy a clinical building in Cedar Rapids from a retiring private practitioner.
• The Board of Regents will consider the $4.25 million purchase next week.
• UIHC has been expanding its clinical and operational footprint across the region and state.

CEDAR RAPIDS — University of Iowa Health Care is looking to expand and further cement its “commitment to serving Cedar Rapids” by capitalizing on the retirement of a private practitioner and buying his 37,850-square-foot medical office building.

“The longtime building owner is retiring and offering UI Health Care the opportunity to purchase the building at appraised value before publicly listing the property for sale,” UI officials said in Board of Regents documents seeking permission to close the sale.

Already leasing and occupying 22,200 square feet of the 411 10th St. SE site for clinical dermatology, OB/GYN, and pediatric services, UIHC is asking to buy the building for $4.25 million.

“The price is based on two appraisals commissioned on the property, one obtained by the property owner and one by UI Health Care,” according to board documents.

UIHC also operates an urgent care in the 47-year-old building.

“The remaining part of the building is leased by the retiring owner/physician and another private practitioner,” and buying it would allow UIHC to “grow into this additional space.”

“The building received a full building inspection, authorized by UI Health Care, which indicated it was in very good condition with only limited required improvements over the next five years,” UIHC reported in its regents request. “UI Health Care also invested significant funds over the past few years to upgrade the interiors of their leased spaces and to create the urgent care facility.”

The university first signed a five-year lease to occupy a portion of the space in 2021 and extended that lease for another decade last year — reporting at the time, “UIHC has a long-term commitment to deliver health care from this facility.”

The purchase, if approved, continues an expansion of the UI Health Care footprint across Iowa — having recently bought at bankruptcy auction the former Mercy Iowa City hospital, turning into a new UIHC Downtown campus, and opening in April a new $525.6 million five-story, 469,060-square-foot hospital in North Liberty.

While pursuing plans for a new $1.5 billion inpatient tower on the main campus, UIHC has continued to commit resources to its clinical enterprise — proposing to build a new family medicine clinic in Tiffin and enter new medical office leases from Des Moines to Sioux City to the Quad Cities.

Of its 75 locations, UIHC has six in both the Des Moines area and the Quad Cities and three in Cedar Rapids.

“Purchasing the (Cedar Rapids) building will ensure continuity of care for Cedar Rapids patients for years to come, as well as provide future opportunities to expand services,” officials said.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com