Save CR Heritage raising money to buy historic Time Check pharmacy

CEDAR RAPIDS — In the 17 years since the 2008 flood, the former Zastera Pharmacy in Cedar Rapids’ Time Check neighborhood has sat empty. Now, a local nonprofit is looking to buy it outright.

The building, located at 1135-1137 Ellis Blvd. NW, was constructed in 1921. The building was home to a pharmacy operated by Charles Zastera until 1964. Zastera was one of three Czech brothers who owned businesses scattered across Cedar Rapids throughout the 20th century.

Intent on honoring the building’s Czech connection, Save CR Heritage — a nonprofit focused on preserving historic structures in Cedar Rapids — is running a race to get the necessary funding to buy the building by summer’s end, said Cindy Hadish, Save CR Heritage’s secretary.

“This building has been vacant, really, since the flood,” she said. “It's been used for storage, and we were concerned that it might be at risk of demolition.”

At a meeting on Tuesday this week, the Cedar Rapids City Council extended preliminary approval to designate the Zastera Pharmacy building as a local landmark. The designation must pass two additional rounds of approval to be finalized.

The property’s asking price of $175,000 is what the nonprofit is looking to pay to develop it into a storefront and storage space. The building would house the salvaged items CR Heritage currently holds and sells from the J.E. Halvorson house in southeast Cedar Rapids, according to a news release from Save CR Heritage.

To assist with the purchase, the Hall-Perrine Foundation pledged a challenge grant of $100,000, staked on the nonprofit raising the remaining $75,000 by Aug. 1.

New Leaf Redevelopment President Emily Meyer also has pledged a matching donation for the first $25,000 raised, according to the release.

As of June 23, the nonprofit had raised $43,000 from fundraisers, donations, and its routine monthly salvage sales, which usually yield just a couple thousand dollars a month.

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To increase its fundraising capacity, Save CR Heritage launched a “Brick-by-Brick” fundraiser, Hadish said. The fundraisers are held outside the J.E. Halvorson house, under a tent, which “illustrates the need for a storefront,” she said. The setup welcomes passersby to stop, learn about the project, and donate.

The “brick” part comes from the reward offered to donors who give $100 or more: recovered bricks from other local buildings, honoring the area’s Czech heritage. During the June 21 fundraiser, the bricks came from an auction at Sykora Bakery in Czech Village.

These bricks are not the only pieces of history the nonprofit has to offer. The interior of the J.E. Halvorson house is filled with old doors, window frames, door knobs, and other pieces of historically significant salvage recovered from demolition sites across the city.

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Originally, Hadish said the house, at 606 Fifth Ave. SE, bought in 2021, was intended to host board meetings and business activities, alongside the salvage sales and historical tours. Now, they are running out of room.

Hadish said the Zastera Pharmacy, functioning as a new storefront, will provide several advantages, one being more space on one floor. Considering the physically large and/or awkward nature of the salvaged items Save CR Heritage acquires, she said having one floor will be a benefit.

“... right now we have volunteers carrying heavy doors upstairs and windows up two flights of stairs,” she said. “So this would be nice to have everything on one floor, and that's my priority, is safety.”

Hadish also said the house, which currently is headquarters for their operations, will have to be moved off the property in two years. The nonprofit bought the house from Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids for $1, with a lease on the land and the knowledge that eventually the structure would have to be moved.

Plans for exactly how they will achieve that move are still in their infancy, she said.

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Community members come to the salvage sales for a variety of reasons, Save CR Heritage President Nikki Halvorson said. From homeowners making repairs or builders starting a new project, to artists looking for odds and ends, she said the salvage they have to offer is plentiful.

Hadish said the nonprofit will have tabling events, like those already held at the Cedar Rapids farmers market, among other small fundraisers in addition to the July 26 Brick-by-Brick fundraiser.

Comments: 641-691-8669; evan.watson@thegazette.com