Coralville has big plans for Iowa River Landing

It once was best known as the future home of an indoor rain forest, but now local officials are comparing Coralville's Iowa River Landing district to Coral Ridge Mall.

Some big announcements are coming soon for the area, which is southeast of the Interstate 80-First Avenue interchange. Few details are being released, but officials expect a new hotel and “upscale” retail stores to open in 2012, with plans for even more retail, entertainment and commercial opportunities in the future.

“The desire is that it will have the same kind of impact that the Coral Ridge Mall has,” Mayor Jim Fausett said.

Not that it will be a mall, but the hope is that it will draw people from hundreds of miles away as Coral Ridge Mall has since opening in 1998.

Not bad for 150 acres of mostly city-owned land that used to include a truck stop, junk yard and strip club. The city first started talking about transforming the area 25 years ago, City Administrator Kelly Hayworth said.

The site has seen some big changes the past several years and is home to the Coralville Marriott & Convention Center and a building with residential and commercial space, along with some existing businesses.

The now-defunct, much-maligned indoor rain forest project most recently known as Earthpark was to be part of the development until its backers looked elsewhere after a land deal with Coralville fell through in 2005.

Planning for the site has not slowed, though.

Iowa River Landing received a big boost with the decision by the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to build an outpatient clinic there that is expected to serve more than 300,000 patients per year after it opens in fall 2012.

“That outpatient clinic has been a tremendous catalyst,” said Nancy Quellhorst, president and CEO of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce. “Retailers who inhabit an area like that count on a certain level of patronage, and when you have a concentration of visitors who you know are going to have time to spend, (retailers) can count on a certain level of success.”

Josh Schamberger, president of the Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, said he hears monthly from hotel developers and retailers who want data on nearby hotel rates and occupancies and I-80 traffic. Three businesses have even asked if the bureau's land, located across First Avenue from the Iowa River Landing, is for sale, he said.

A 100-room extended stay hotel is expected to be built over retail space in Iowa River Landing, Hayworth said. The name of the hotel will be released by the Coralville City Council's Nov. 23 meeting, when a hearing will be held to sell land for the project, he said.

It will be a couple of months before more is released publicly about the retail stores, with Hayworth saying details are being worked out. He and others said they're talking with “upscale” stores that would be new to the community and would complement Coral Ridge Mall and downtown Iowa City rather than compete with them.

“We're looking at everything from fashion retail to entertainment, restaurants,” he said.

There are expected to be a couple of phases of development. Construction on the first phase may start next spring on an anchor department store, a building with 60,000 square feet of retail space and the hotel/retail building, to be completed in summer 2012, Hayworth said.

The site plan calls for more stores, entertainment venues and restaurants, depending on how the first phase goes. Office and residential space also are part of the plan, Hayworth said.

The city's role is in guiding development. The city will own some of the land and parts of the buildings initially, but the idea is to eventually have it all privately owned, Hayworth said.

Iowa River Landing is in a tax increment financing district but no project has received a TIF yet, although the anchor department store is likely to receive some sort of city subsidy, he said.

There will be an environmentally friendly design, including collecting rainwater, using native grasses and electric plug-ins in parking facilities for electric cars, Hayworth said.

Other goals include eventually getting passenger rail to the district and finding an “attractor” to replace Earthpark.

A few years ago, it was thought a $90 million literature-themed attraction could be that, but the project was unveiled days before the 2008 flood and just as the economic recession hit.

Schamberger, who played a key role in that project, known as “Stories,” said it is on hold while flood and economic recovery takes priority, but he believes it will be reintroduced at some point.

Water threatened but did not inundate the Iowa River Landing in 2008, and several flood-protection measures have been proposed since then. Most visibly, First Avenue is currently undergoing a major redesign.

In the Iowa River Landing district, plans for a combination of earthen berms and floodwalls. All construction must be at least one foot above the 100-year flood level, Hayworth said, and the projects planned so far are going above the 500-year mark.

The city also recently asked the state for a $25 million reconstruction of the I-80 interchange at First Avenue to improve traffic flow and safety.

If Iowa River Landing turns out how city officials hope, it's going to be good for the entire Iowa City-Coralville area, said Schamberger, who also compared its potential impact to that of Coral Ridge Mall.

“We're talking about retailers and partners that are going to be regional draws, and I mean Eastern Iowa,” he said.