Cedar Rapids sells former parks office on 42nd Street NE

CEDAR RAPIDS - The City Council this week agreed to sell a city-owned office building at 3601 42nd St. NE that had housed the city's Parks and Recreation Department and more recently, the city's Information Technology Department.

The sale price of $280,000 was below the $440,000 value set by a local appraiser for the city.

However, the city's attempt over a 120-day period to sell the building by sealed bid failed to attract bidders, according to Rita Rasmussen, the city's real estate services manager.

She said a subsequent bid of $120,000 was rejected by the city as too low before the council this week accepted the bid of $280,000 from Jeffrey and Debra Wilkin.

In his bid proposal to the city, Jeffrey Wilkin said he would need to remodel the building, put on a new roof, add new landscaping and resurface the parking lot at an estimated cost of $150,000 to $200,000 before he could seek office, medical or day-care tenants.

The city purchased the building from the local Red Cross office in 2002 for $412,000 to house the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

At the time, city officials said the Red Cross initially had asked $485,000 for the building.

Both the city's Parks and Recreation Department and the city's Information Technology Department now are housed in the city's new City Services Center, 500 15th Ave. SW.