Cedar Rapids council has questions on Ellis condo project

CEDAR RAPIDS - Developer Jim Happel said that he had answers for all the questions that City Council members raised at their Tuesday evening council meeting about his proposed four-story, 27-unit condominium project on the Cedar River at the gateway to Ellis Park.

The council members' questions did not prevent them from unanimously directing the city manager to negotiate a final development agreement with Happel that the council could support and would allow the developer's $6.2-million project called The Landings to move ahead.

The agreement is expected to be finished by early January at the latest, Jennifer Pratt, the city's development director, told the council.

Council members Scott Olson and Ralph Russell both talked about the size of the project compared to what is around it, and Olson said he wanted the city to have 'some controls” over the final design and to continue to include neighbors in the discussions.

Council member Justin Shields was quick to say that Happel had been 'very open” with the neighbors up to now.

In the proposed development agreement, the city will provide a 10-year, 100-percent break on property taxes, and Olson wanted to know if that break will go to Happel or if it will go to those who buy the condominiums as a similar tax break did for the Water Tower Place loft condominium project next to downtown.

The tax breaks will go to the condominium owners, Happel, who attended last night's meeting, said after the meeting.

Council member Monica Vernon said she was not concerned about the four-story height - a first floor of parking and three floors of condominiums above it - of the Happel project, and she pointed to Cottage Grove Place near Washington High School as one development that has fit well with its residential surroundings.

However, Vernon did want the city to come up with some kind of plan for what else might go up in and around Happel's project and what sizes those other developments might be.

Vernon and Russell also wanted to know how the city's riverside trail system will run once it gets to the Happel project and if the project will cut people off from the river. The city's Pratt said that will be one thing worked out in the development agreement.

Happel said his plan is to have the city's trail run in front of his property and not between it and the river.

Olson and Vernon asked how the Happel project will fit into the final alignment of the city's flood control system. Olson noted that the alignment calls for an earthen levee to run between the river and Ellis Boulevard NW in a design that will necessitate the buyout of a dozen or so remaining homes there.

Pratt said the concept is for the levee along Ellis Boulevard NW to tie into a flood wall at the Happel property at the northernmost point of the flood control system.

Happel, who is teaming up with developer and architect Steve Emerson on the project, said the project design calls for a flood wall on the river side of the building and a flood wall on the north side.

Happel will pay the current fair-market value for the property, much of which had been the site of a former hair salon. The salon was damaged in the 2008 flood, bought out and demolished.