Name: The Gazette
Address: 116 Third St SE, Cedar Rapids, IA, 52401, US
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A five-story mixed use building on under construction at the Kingston Yard, more commonly known as First & First West, development in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday, June 16, 2023. The first floor is retail, second floor is office space. The upper three floors are residential. Construction of Big Grove, Pickle Palace and a mixed-use building that will add commercial space and residential units are part of the $81.5 million mixed-use development from a local development team including Joe Ahmann, Nate Kaeding and Matt Swift. The City of Cedar Rapids is starting to plan for construction of a parking ramp. Plans for an approximately 105-room hotel have shuffled around the site to now be configured facing Second Avenue SW, allowing for better guest dropoff. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) — A five-story mixed-use building under construction at the Kingston Yard, more commonly known as First and First West, development in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday, June 16, 2023. The first floor is retail, second floor is office space. The upper three floors are residential. Construction of Big Grove, Pickle Palace and a mixed-use building that will add commercial space and residential units is part of the $81.5 million mixed-use development from a local development team including Joe Ahmann, Nate Kaeding and Matt Swift. The city of Cedar Rapids is starting to plan for construction of a parking ramp. Plans for an approximately 105-room hotel have shuffled around the site to now be configured facing Second Avenue SW, allowing for better guest dropoff. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — As construction continues on the anchors of Cedar Rapids’ $81.5 million mixed-use First and First West site, the development team is planning to bring on line other components of the massive project in the urban core.

Soon, a hotel flag will be announced for the approximately 105-room hotel that will add another place for overnight guests in the downtown area — a win for city officials who say more hotel rooms are needed to attract larger events and fuel tourism. Big Grove Brewery and Pickle Palace bar and grill are still slated to open later this year.

These pieces are all part of the development taking shape at the land on First Street and First Avenue W, which the city had once earmarked for a casino.

“We're excited that we are where we're at on the project and the stuff that we're working on and that we'll be starting,” said Joe Ahmann, president of Hiawatha-based Ahmann Companies and a member of the 1st and 1st LLC development team. He works with a local team, including Nate Kaeding, business development director for Build to Suit, and Big Grove founder and Chief Executive Officer Matt Swift, on the project.

Ahmann said the hotel will now be located along Second Avenue SW. Its initial location in the master plan was on First Avenue W and Third Street SW across from the Linn County Sheriff's Office.

Because of the changes coming with the city’s work to build a flood wall on an elevated First Street NW and modifications to First Avenue W, Ahmann said there was no logical access for drop-off parking off First Avenue. These changes should benefit the hotel and project overall, Ahmann said.

The Pickle Palace is under construction at the Kingston Yard, more commonly known as First & First West, development in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday, June 16, 2023. Construction of Big Grove, Pickle Palace and a mixed-use building that will add commercial space and residential units are part of the $81.5 million mixed-use development from a local development team including Joe Ahmann, Nate Kaeding and Matt Swift. The City of Cedar Rapids is starting to plan for construction of a parking ramp. Plans for an approximately 105-room hotel have shuffled around the site to now be configured facing Second Avenue SW, allowing for better guest dropoff. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) — The Pickle Palace is under construction at the Kingston Yard, more commonly known as First and First West, development in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday, June 16, 2023. Construction of Big Grove, Pickle Palace and a mixed-use building that will add commercial space and residential units is part of the $81.5 million mixed-use development from a local development team including Joe Ahmann, Nate Kaeding and Matt Swift. The city of Cedar Rapids is starting to plan for construction of a parking ramp. Plans for an approximately 105-room hotel have shuffled around the site to now be configured facing Second Avenue SW, allowing for better guest dropoff. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

As construction on the private portions of the development has accelerated, the city is pursuing its plans to build a parking ramp on the site using $6 million of its $9 million state Reinvestment District funds. The parking ramp will go up at Second Avenue and Third Street SW and is anticipated to have about 550 stalls.

The city has issued a request for qualifications for a schematic design of the project that will offer a general overview of the project, including its location, appearance and parking capacity. A professional services agreement is anticipated to come before the City Council for consideration in September.

“We can create a better drop-off area,” Ahmann said. “There’s a little more room to work with over there and access for patrons that would be parking in the ramp that would be right next to the hotel. It's closely connected, if not exactly connected.”

Ben Kinseth, vice president of Development/Finance for Kinseth Hospitality Companies, declined to release information on the hotel flag at this time but said he expects an announcement to be made in coming weeks.

Over the last year or so, Ahmann said, the team has worked to determine the best fit for a hotel flag.

“There was a suggestion from one of the hotel chains if it was moved to have a better view of part of the river and maybe be more alongside the park, they would let them go with a higher-level flag, which I think everybody wanted, so that's part of the driver,” Ahmann said.

Rooftop garden and seating areas will be part of the Pickle Palace at the Kingston Yard, more commonly known as First & First West, development in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday, June 16, 2023. Construction of Big Grove, Pickle Palace and a mixed-use building that will add commercial space and residential units are part of the $81.5 million mixed-use development from a local development team including Joe Ahmann, Nate Kaeding and Matt Swift. The City of Cedar Rapids is starting to plan for construction of a parking ramp. Plans for an approximately 105-room hotel have shuffled around the site to now be configured facing Second Avenue SW, allowing for better guest dropoff. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette) — Rooftop garden and seating areas will be part of the Pickle Palace at the Kingston Yard, more commonly known as First and First West, development in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Friday, June 16, 2023. Construction of Big Grove, Pickle Palace and a mixed-use building that will add commercial space and residential units is part of the $81.5 million mixed-use development from a local development team including Joe Ahmann, Nate Kaeding and Matt Swift. The city of Cedar Rapids is starting to plan for construction of a parking ramp. Plans for an approximately 105-room hotel have shuffled around the site to now be configured facing Second Avenue SW, allowing for better guest dropoff. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

For Big Grove and Pickle Palace, Ahmann said it should give a boost to those venues to have the hotel closer to the activity. The hotel is not yet under construction but should be either this fall or next spring.

The other building under construction now is an approximately 100,000-square-foot mixed-use facility. In the master plan, Ahmann said, it was separate buildings that are now combined into one big building with a floor added — much bigger than the initial proposal. That is slated to be finished by next summer. There will be apartments on the upper three floors and commercial space on the first and second floors.

If hotel construction doesn’t start first, work will likely begin on another mixed-use building, Ahmann said. Developers are seeking workforce housing tax credits through the Iowa Economic Development Authority for that project, which would be the determining factor in whether construction first begins on that.

“We're getting a lot of interest in the commercial that we're putting in that mixed use,” Ahmann said. “And hopefully we can get a couple of deals finalized that we can announce here over the summertime. ... We've got some good really options and even options looking a little further down the road, which is making us want to get this next mixed-use building teed up and ready to go.”

On the north block of the development on the opposite side of First Avenue W, that area will be used as temporary parking for the south block — giving patrons a place to park until the ramp is completed. A lighted crosswalk will guide visitors from that area to the development.

“It's a good temporary solution,” Ahmann said.

Finally, work is anticipated to start on the park or plaza area that will serve as a central gathering space for the site.

“We're going to have a cool stage in there and some nice lighting and fun things or activities for the public to do and families — just a neat little area we're trying to create not only within the project but for the public to enjoy,” Ahmann said.

That space will have some unique touches with old steel railroad trusses Ahmann found from the early 1900s being used for the roof of a stage that will go on the plaza. There also will be an area with old photos honoring the history of the Kingston Village area — named after what long ago was the village of Kingston.

“We're trying to really make it not only a fun place to go, but also remember what it was and how it got here,” Ahmann said.

Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com