Still no takers to move lone home at medical mall site

CEDAR RAPIDS – One building stands alone in a block where construction is set to begin this spring on the Physicians' Clinic of Iowa medical mall.

The stucco home-turned-office at 1113 Second Ave. SE will face its fate by the end of March.

Some still hope the building can be relocated, but demolition appears likely.

“To date, we've not been successful at finding a party to move that,” said Mike Easley, St. Luke's director of facility planning and operations.

St. Luke's purchased the property for PCI to use as part of its site for the medical mall.

The building, constructed in 1906, is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Former owner William Olinger will salvage the home if no one wants to move it.

Olinger said at least three people had expressed interest, but all three plans had fallen through.

Charles Jones, president of Green Development of Iowa City, still hopes to find bank financing to move the home nearby and lease as an office.

About half of the cost of the move and renovation could be recouped in the form of historic tax credits, he said.

Easley said St. Luke's is also offering what the hospital would spend on demolition for someone to move the building, minus the cost to prepare the site, if, for example, the basement was left behind.

The home will be demolished by the end of March if it isn't relocated, he said.

PCI's 206,000-square-foot medical mall will be built across a portion of Second Avenue SE, which will be closed to traffic on April 1.

Jones had hoped to move two nearby apartment buildings, but those plans fell through when financing could not be secured. The apartments, which also were eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, were demolished this winter.

Galen Wenger, an expert in early Cedar Rapids architecture, said the home was designed by architects George Josselyn and Eugene Taylor. Josselyn and Taylor also worked on the historic Brucemore mansion in Cedar Rapids.

The Arts and Crafts-style home has five fireplaces, built-in bookcases, oak woodwork and original tiles. Windows line a sun porch, as well as the landing of the grand staircase.

It was most recently used as an office for The Creative Gene, an advertising agency.

The home has a connection to the Averill mansion, just across the street at 1120 Second Ave. SE.

Mark Stoffer Hunter, an expert in Cedar Rapids history, said Arthur T. Averill, owner of the Cedar Rapids Gas Co., had the mansion built in 1870. His son, Glenn Averill, an investment banker, had the stucco home built across the street decades later.

Stoffer Hunter noted that mansions lined the street in the early 20

“Of all the big houses on Second Avenue, the two Averill houses are the last two standing,” he said.

^th

Century.