PCI medical mall to add another floor

CEDAR RAPIDS – Physicians' Clinic of Iowa plans to build a partial third level to its forthcoming medical mall.

The addition will bring the mall, named the Physicians' Clinic of Iowa Medical Pavilion, to 221,144-square-feet.

Each of the two primary floors is just over 100,000-square-feet, with the added 15,000-square-foot level planned as a community education center, said CEO Mike Sundall.

PCI has asked for a variance so more parking spaces won't be required by the city for the additional level. As it stands, 1,024 spaces are in the project's plans.

The request is scheduled for the city's Board of Adjustment meeting at 3 p.m. Monday at 3851 River Ridge Dr. NE.

Separately from the variance, Vern Zakostelecky, the city's land development coordinator, said city staff members will research parking requirements for medical offices at other cities in Iowa and elsewhere.

The staff will give that information to the City Planning Commission, which could recommend potential changes for the City Council to consider.

Zakostelecky said the City Council's community development committee, led by council member Monica Vernon, requested the research.

Future changes would not affect plans or reduce the number of parking spaces required for PCI's development, he said.

Cedar Rapids based the parking regulations for PCI's building on medical, dental and optical doctor's offices, which requires seven spaces per 1,000-square-feet.

“That was the closest thing we could match it up with,” Zakostelecky said.

PCI already received a variance to lower the number of parking spots to five spaces per 1,000-square-feet.

Zakostelecky said if the latest variance is approved, that would be reduced to about 4.65 spaces per 1,000-square-feet.

For comparison, therapy clinics require four parking spots per 1,000-square-feet.

During a meeting Friday, May 6, 2011, with The Gazette Editorial Board, Sundall said the $47 million facility will be patient-focused.

“It's not your typical medical office building,” he said.

Patients will be invited to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for the medical mall at 4 p.m. May 19.

The mall, 202 10th St. SE, will be built across Second Avenue SE, between 10th and 12th streets. That portion of Second Avenue SE will close May 16 for construction to begin by June 1.

With 18 months of construction, depending on the weather, the facility should open between October 2012 and February 2013, Sundall said.

Each of the 50 or so doctors who are shareholders in PCI is investing about $128,000 of their own money in the project, he said.

Sundall noted that 118 trees are in the site plan, compared to 45 trees currently there.