Cedar Rapids looking to unload a few pieces of property

CEDAR RAPIDS - Officials first started talking about selling city property back in 2007 to make some money, though an initial idea to sell a 20-acre piece of the Twin Pines Golf Course was quickly dropped in the face of public protest.

But the mission continues, and on Tuesday, the City Council agreed to put up for sale an 18.5-acre parcel of vacant property, located west of the intersection of Memorial Drive SE and Spruce Avenue SE. The city puts the value of the property at $296,000.

Carol Morgan, Cedar Rapids' real estate disposition coordinator, said the city acquired the property in the early 1900s to build a hospital to treat smallpox patients, but the project apparently never materialized.

In addition, the council voted Tuesday to sell a 0.45-acre parcel of land at 6900 Council St. NE that was purchased for right of way as part of a street improvement project on Council Street NE. The city values the property at $115,000. Morgan said the city paid $216,000 for a house and lot at the address, then demolished the house and used a piece of the lot for right of way. What is being sold is what is left of the lot, she said.

The city has had other successes in selling off property.

In July, 1.67 acres at the northeast corner of the busy intersection of Williams Boulevard and 16th Avenue SW were sold for $750,000 to Kum & Go LLC, a convenience store chain based in West Des Moines. The property, which was valued at $510,000, once held an Iowa Department of Transportation driver's license station.

In January, City Hall sold a 5.4-acre parcel of woods with access problems north of Mount Vernon Road SE for $80,101. It was valued at $60,000.

And last year, two residential lots in the 2100 block of 20th Street NW that back up to the Ellis Golf Course brought in $25,000 each. The city initially had put the lots on the market for $72,500 each in 2009.

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