UI will pursue downtown School of Music site through April

University of Iowa officials will take until April 28-29 to negotiate the purchase of downtown land for the new School of Music facilities.

UI officials will report back to the state Board of Regents at the regents April 28-29 meeting with further recommendations on the proposed School of Music site, just south of Burlington Street in downtown Iowa City. If university officials can't say by that April meeting that they have success in purchasing the downtown land, they will instead recommend to the regents that UI officials move forward with a plan to relocate the School of Music facilities on UI-owned land on the west campus, north and west of the school's former flood-damaged location.

Those details were released today, part of information for the regents meeting next week in Ames. The board will be asked next week to approve the UI request to move ahead with planning to rebuild flood-damaged Hancher Auditorium and School of Music facilities. They are recommending that Hancher be replaced on UI-owned land just north and west of the current Hancher.

The projected cost for replacing Hancher and the School of Music facilities is $276 million, the majority of which will be paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. That amount will be refined after project architects and engineers develop plans for the selected sites, UI officials said.