White Elephant building finally on solid ground

CEDAR RAPIDS - On the move since being saved from demolition more than a year ago, the New Bohemia District building known as the White Elephant finally has a home on solid ground.

Aylsworth House Movers of Wadena moved the 135-year-old, two-story structure on Thursday through an alley, and on Friday lowered it onto its new, recently poured foundation at 1305 Third St. SE. The White Elephant - which once housed a popular secondhand store - had been sitting on stilts on a temporary lot nearby at 1312 Second St. SE since May 2016.

'It's finally moved; what a relief,” said Beth DeBoom, who now owns the building with her husband Tom DeBoom.

The couple made a successful eleventh hour bid to save the White Elephant, but had to move it. Movers hoisted the structure off its old foundation at 1010 Third St. SE last spring and moved it down the street to Second Street. A new building with Lu's Deli has opened in the old location.

Saving the White Elephant has proved far more costly and time consuming an endeavor than expected and finding an affordable contractor to pour the foundation, getting utilities run, securing historic tax credits, and weather all prolonged the effort. Costs have hit the $400,000 mark, Beth DeBoom said, noting that 45 percent of qualified costs can be rebated through the historic tax credit and the couple received a $75,000 Main Street Iowa grant.

'We have these soul-searching conversations every time we look at the budget, which creeps up every time we look,” Beth DeBoom said. 'If we knew how much it would cost and time it would take before we took this on, we would still save the building, especially this one that has so many positive memories in the community and is such an important part of NewBo.”

Renovations will proceed as soon as setting the building is finished, she said. It needs all new electric, plumbing, drywall and insulation and siding needs to be removed and put back in place. An old picture will serve as a guide to help recreate the front, including steps that once ran across the structure and the old door, she said.

'We will be recreating the front of the building in a historically accurate way,” she said.

Renovation could take four to six months, she said. The hope is a destination shop will be the first floor tenant with an Airbnb upstairs, she said. 'You'd think starting with a building already gutted, it would be easier but basically we are building a new building,” she said.

DeBoom also saved the adjacent Heart House, 1301 Third St. SE, where she now runs Little House Artifacts on the main level and an Airbnb rental on the second floor.

l Comments: (319) 339-3177; brian.morelli@thegazette.com