Coralville officials confident in state help for new arena

CORALVILLE - With one of the Iowa communities vying for millions in state funding dropping out of the program, the remaining four cities - including Coralville - could see increases in how much money they get.

On Tuesday, the Iowa Economic Development Authority board's due diligence committee discussed Coralville's final application for $12 million in state funding toward an ongoing $170 million public and private investment in the Iowa River Landing development.

The board last summer pledged Coralville about $9.5 million. But with Davenport - which received a pledge for $10.7 million - scrapping its project and dropping out of the running, the Johnson County city bumped its request back to $12 million.

Coralville Mayor John Lundell, who attended Tuesday's meeting in Des Moines, said he left feeling positive.

'Overall we felt very good about the meeting. I think they were very pleased to hear our progress report and how we've continued to secure more agreements with our many partners,” Lundell said. 'We left the meeting feeling very confident.”

Tina Hoffman, the authority's marketing and communications director, said the full board could make a final decision on the funding in April or May.

All of the state funding that's eventually approved for Coralville would go toward construction of an arena within the larger project, Lundell said. Demolition to prepare for the arena and an attached fitness center could begin this year if the funding is approved, he said.

The 6,216-seat, multiuse arena and Iowa Fitness and Sports Performance Institute - projected to cost more than $69 million - are among several Iowa River Landing projects.

Others include a $9 million - nearly $7.5 million in private investments - retail building that would also provide a new home for the Antique Car Museum of Iowa and Johnson County Historic Society Museum.

A $34.4 million Drury Hotel is set to begin construction next spring, and two other mixed-use buildings - estimated at $37 million - are expected to add hotel rooms, residential units and retail and restaurant space.

All told, the 180-acre project is poised to see a roughly $174 million investment.

City Administrator Kelly Hayworth said while the Drury Hotel is somewhat independent from the rest, all the projects are connected.

'They really are projects that work together ... if we split them apart, those projects likely wouldn't move forward,” he said.

The board last summer gave provisional approval to proposals from Coralville, Davenport, Grinnell, Mason City and Sioux City.

With only about $41.5 million available - made possible through the authority's state-funded Reinvestment District program, which allows new state hotel/motel and sales taxes to be reinvested within approved districts - and more than $65 million sought, each community received a smaller slice than it requested.

With one of the cities now out of the running and the state looking to use up the funds this year, the board asked the four remaining cities for new applications seeking more money to decide how to divvy up the nearly $11 million that Davenport left on the table.