Passenger rail gives boost to plans for Iowa City neighborhood

The announcement this week of $230 million in federal funding for a Chicago-to-Iowa City passenger rail line provided a lift to more than just public transportation enthusiasts.

It's also a boon to Iowa City's plans to redevelop the neighborhood surrounding the likely site of the Iowa City train station.

“It's an enormous boost,” said Jeff Davidson, the city's planning and community development director.

That area, now called the Riverfront Crossings district, stretches from just south of downtown to Highway 6, with Gilbert Street on the east and the Iowa River on the west. Currently, it's a hodgepodge of apartment, government and commercial buildings and is not widely seen as a cohesive neighborhood.

The goal is to have a dense, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with a mix of housing, recreational features and some commercial space. Public transportation is an important part of the plans, particularly with downtown Iowa City and the University of Iowa campus just blocks away.

With railroad tracks running through the area, that's where the Amtrak service comes in. The goal is to have trains running by 2015. An Iowa Department of Transportation study predicted two round trips daily with trains traveling 79 mph would draw 246,800 riders a year.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was in Iowa City Thursday to make the official announcement of the $230 million going toward the Iowa City-Chicago project.

“This will become an economic engine … all along the line,” he said, pointing to the Iowa Interstate Railroad train on the tracks behind him.

The news conference was at a circa-1898 depot at 119 Wright St. It's used for law offices now, but the city hopes to purchase the building and return it to a train station.

The depot is pretty much right in the middle of Riverfront Crossings, and Davidson said the rail project is “one more piece of the puzzle for making Riverfront Crossings” happen.

The city kicked off its planning effort for Riverfront Crossings a year ago and currently is using grant money to study a smaller part of the area in more detail. Federal and state agencies also have been involved in the effort.

Redevelopment will occur over many years, and most of it will be done by the private sector, with the city setting the tone for the overall vision for the area, said interim City Manager Dale Helling.

Casey Boyd, a developer and co-owner of Ambrose and Boyd Realtors, said passenger rail will help spur development.

“It's a win-win for everybody,” he said. “I don't know that there's any negative to it whatsoever.”

Boyd said he has clients who own several sites in Riverfront Crossings who are excited about the plans, and he is part of group considering projects of its own in the neighborhood. That includes building several condominiums on the 600 block of Riverside Drive.

Davidson said given the economy, it's projects with public components like a new mixed-use parking facility from the city and the UI's new school of music that are the closest to becoming a reality. Public projects like those probably will be needed to stimulate development, he said, and it's likely at least part of Riverfront Crossings will be classified as a tax increment financing district to give private developers a shot at receiving property tax rebates.

The City Council hired new City Manager Tom Markus, who starts Dec. 1, in part because of his experience with redeveloping existing parts of his current home, Birmingham, Mich. Birmingham has Amtrak service and is in the process of acquiring land for a new station on the boundary with a neighboring town.

Markus expects passenger rail service in Iowa City will be a “real catalyst” for the redevelopment of Riverfront Crossings.