116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
State extends tax credit deadlines for two Cedar Rapids projects
Guaranty Bank building, Loftus Lumber developers cite COVID-19 impacts in requests for extension
The Iowa Economic Development Authority extended deadlines for $1.6 million in tax credits going to two Cedar Rapids projects — one a major downtown development project that would include bringing in two new hotels and the other in the NewBo District.
Moline, Ill.-based Heart of America Group received a 30-month extension for its $53.5 million restoration and conversion of the former Guaranty Bank building into what was proposed in 2019 as a pair of Marriott hotels and encompassing most of the block at Third Street and Third Avenue SE.
Restaurant restrictions and decreased travel during COVID-19 “has made it difficult for any hotel/restaurant hospitality business to initiate a new project of this scale during the pandemic,” wrote Mike Whalen, president and CEO of Heart of America Group, in a letter to the IEDA board.
The developer now has until October 2023 to complete the project or risk losing a $1 million redevelopment tax credit.
Heart of America Group plans to begin construction in March 2022, according to IEDA documents, with the project completed in time for the October 2023 deadline.
The Guaranty Bank project, when given a tax incentive by Cedar Rapids City Council two years ago, was proclaimed by Council member Ann Poe as a “community cornerstone.”
Construction of the original bank building was completed in 1896.
IEDA also gave a 14-month extension to Lake Barrington, Ill.-based Landover Corp. for its $28 million demolition of four warehouses and construction of a three-story apartment building with 16,000 square feet of retail space in the New Bohemia district of Cedar Rapids.
Richard Sova, president of Landover Corp., said the loss of an investor delayed the project.
“He was heavily invested in hotels, and due to COVID-19 those investments nearly took him under,” Sova said in a letter to the IEDA board.
“We have been seeking a new investor since then and have just put together an agreement with a qualified investor which will allow us to move forward with the project.”
The extension gives Sova until June 2022 to complete the project or lose the $600,000 state tax credit.
Comments: (319) 398-8394; john.steppe@thegazette.com
Heart of America Group plans to redevelop the 300 block of Third Ave. SE in downtown Cedar Rapids, which includes the former Guaranty Bank. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)
Landover Corp. has plans to redevelop the Ninth Street block on Third Street SE in Cedar Rapids — which had been home to Loftus Lumber but now sits vacant — into a $28 million mixed-use apartment complex. (The Gazette)
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