Iowa City: New Mixed-Use/Apartment Bldgs in DT (2011- 2012)

[RDCFIC]

Here are a couple more progress photos of the future 5-story building going in on Washington Street next to Gabe's. Second story beginning to be added as of last Saturday. Already taller than the building that was there before.





Also, some brick cladding is starting to go up on the 5 story building going up on S. Gilbert. I'll try to get some pics of it this weekend, and possibly more.

[hawk61401]

Here are a couple more progress photos of the future 5-story building going in on Washington Street next to Gabe's. Second story beginning to be added as of last Saturday. Already taller than the building that was there before.

My days at the University of Iowa and I never dreamed of anything like this. A cool 4 thousand dollars will get you in the door. The base rent is $1999. The deposit is $1999. Off street parking is $1020 a year. Is this San Francisco! And these apartments are going like hot cakes. There are only 3 left!

When I payed $350 for an apartment in Iowa City, I thought it was outrageous.

http://bit.ly/yQ5AoC

[RDCFIC]

BTW - Hope you said your goodbyes to the Red Avocado/Defunct Book Store house by now, because it and two houses on adjoining properties were already torn down a few days ago. I'll try to get some pics of the construction site soon. Right now, it's just dirt and some plywood fencing where those historic houses once stood.

[RDCFIC]

Here are some photos of the S. Glibert St. Building. Brick cladding going up and more windows than previously shown.

[RDCFIC]

Also, the third floor is going up on the Washington St. building. It will be 5 floors in total, so, more to come.

[BenRoethig]

That looks pretty decent actually.

[urbanite17]

The new mixed use development on S. Gilbert will be a great addition to an upcoming area south of downtown know affectionately at "SoBo" (South of Bowery). Hopefully, the builders will be able to sign a mix of retailers and NO liquor stores/pizza joints. I would to see an additional frozen yogurt shop in Iowa City (and according to Orange Leaf, a new location is coming soon to Iowa City). With the demand for more retail stores downtown (including national/regional stores), this would be a great way for companies to get into the downtown market. I think this area could also use a coffee shop, wine bar or clothing store.

[RDCFIC]

In light of the loss of the Red Avocado house and other proposed developments, Iowa City is considering zoning changes for downtown and near-downtown neighborhoods to prevent to diversify development from being too much student-focused. A lot of the mixed-use building have nothing but 3, 4 an 5 bedroom apartments in them, which caters to students looking to split the rent. Parties, parking and preservation of the character of near-downtown neighborhoods are of primary concern, and they also wish to encourage building more townhouses, studio, 1 and 2 bedroom apartments to cater to young professionals and small families to live in and near downtown. I think this is a very good thing. The historic neighborhoods need to preserved as much as possible, and downtown ought to be a great mix of everybody, not overwhelmingly student-y (although it is unrealistic to think that it wont always be pretty student-y, with the U right across the street and intermingled with downtown). There are two sides of the coin: the U adds enormous vibrancy to the city and downtown in particular. Downtown probably wouldn't be half as cool if the U was far away from it. The flip side of the coin is 'how much is too much?' DT and nearby neighborhoods still ought to be preserved for historic purposes and also for a wider appeal than being nothing other than a college student village, homogenized from an architecture standpoint for the student population. Just some thoughts. Here is a link to the article:

http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20120222/NEWS01/302220027/Moratorium-starts-for-non-relative-zoning-proposal?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage

[Mastermind]

In light of the loss of the Red Avocado house and other proposed developments, Iowa City is considering zoning changes for downtown and near-downtown neighborhoods to prevent to diversify development from being too much student-focused. A lot of the mixed-use building have nothing but 3, 4 an 5 bedroom apartments in them, which caters to students looking to split the rent. Parties, parking and preservation of the character of near-downtown neighborhoods are of primary concern, and they also wish to encourage building more townhouses, studio, 1 and 2 bedroom apartments to cater to young professionals and small families to live in and near downtown. I think this is a very good thing. The historic neighborhoods need to preserved as much as possible, and downtown ought to be a great mix of everybody, not overwhelmingly student-y (although it is unrealistic to think that it wont always be pretty student-y, with the U right across the street and intermingled with downtown). There are two sides of the coin: the U adds enormous vibrancy to the city and downtown in particular. Downtown probably wouldn't be half as cool if the U was far away from it. The flip side of the coin is 'how much is too much?' DT and nearby neighborhoods still ought to be preserved for historic purposes and also for a wider appeal than being nothing other than a college student village, homogenized from an architecture standpoint for the student population. Just some thoughts. Here is a link to the article:

http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20120222/NEWS01/302220027/Moratorium-starts-for-non-relative-zoning-proposal?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage

Am i reading this right, only 3 people per house/apartment?

The council Tuesday set a public hearing for March 20 to discuss a zoning amendment that would reduce the number of unrelated persons allowed to live within one dwelling unit to a maximum of three.

Give me a break, its a college town. Unless it is limited to a very small area, its a bad idea IMO.

[RDCFIC]

A progress shot of the Abbey apartment building on Washington St between Ecumenical Towers and Gabe's. At five stories, this is now topped out, save for any possible roof area detailing and of course the pitch of the roof itself.



Speaking of Washington St., in other news, that two blocks of Washington between Clinton St. and Linn St. is about to be converted to a two-way street again, after 36 years as a one-way street. This will be way better for driving down there, being able to go west on at least one more street in the heart of downtown instead of having to skip past it in favor of Iowa or Burlington, depending on where you're headed/going. I doubt I.C. ever needed a one-way street there, anyway.

http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20120302/NEWS01/303010034/City-wants-make-Washington-St-two-way-by-end-month

[RDCFIC]

Here are a couple of site pics where the Red Avocado and a couple of other vintage houses once stood. Someone registered an opinion there. I agree, it was a loss, but the city could not legally stop the demo.

[RDCFIC]

This is the supposed 'luxury student living' apartment building on Burlington. This design is not impressing me at all so far, but it is an improvement in the sense that it sits on the former site of a fairly cruddy-looking auto-repair shop and lot.

[RDCFIC]

An update on the 5-floor mixed use apartment building on S. Gilbert St.:

[DMRyan]

The S. Gilbert Street building looks great. Any city in Iowa would be proud to have this. The Burlington Street project, not so much. It looks like a Baymont Inn and Suites or something.

[RDCFIC]

DMRyan: Agreed on both points. The Burlington St. building will probably be nice inside and out in most respects, but I don't think it will add much, if anything, to this town's architectural heritage. On the plus side, it fills aneed for more apartments close to downtown, and it replaces an eyesore of an auto repair cinder block building that was on the same site. File this one under the category of "It's better than what was there before."

[RDCFIC]

Here are some more fairly recent pics of the building going up next to Gabe's on Washington St.

[RDCFIC]

The facade of the building on S. Gilbert Street near the OCBW and The Vine is very close to finished...

[RDCFIC]

Progress pics for the 5-floor between Ecumenical Towers and Gabe's. I like the arches in the brick near the top.

[RDCFIC]

Not that much to see here just yet, but here is the start of the building going in at the site of the former Red Avocado house and the two other vintage houses that were torn down to make room for it (near the corner Washington and Van Buren St.)

[Mastermind]

Not that much to see here just yet, but here is the start of the building going in at the site of the former Red Avocado house and the two other vintage houses that were torn down to make room for it (near the corner Washington and Van Buren St.)

Wow, that didnt take long.

[RDCFIC]

Some progress photos of the apartment building going up on Burlington St., just east of Gilbert St. on the site of the former auto repair shop that was torn down. Apparently it is called Burlington Commons. I like it a little better now that the brick and other cladding is up on it, but I still feel a bit underwhelmed at the design overall, given that it is downtown. Still, it's way better than what sat on that site before.

[RDCFIC]

The outside of the building, and even most of the streetscaping (brick sidewalk, etc) is now completed on the S. Gilbert St. mixed-use building.





Some bike racks are in place.










Backside of the building, plus the Orchard Green building, from the lot behind them.

[RDCFIC]

Some recent photos of the Washington St. "Abbey" mixed use building. Even though it's going to be essentially another student-oriented apartment building, I'm liking this one more and more the further it comes along. I like some of the details, for one, but also the fact that it is right on a downtown block and has street level retail/restataurant space replacing a forgettable building. Not to mention that the additional retail/restaurant space is being added to a block of Washington St. that does not have all that much retail/restaurant space to begin with. Hopefully this will add some extra activity to this block. While it's not an amazing addition to downtown by any stretch, I view it as a pretty good addition nonetheless.







Note the red brick lining the tan stone window/doorway areas. Nice detail.




Next to Ye Olde Gabe's.

[casbern]

I really wish Des Moines was seeing development like this, multiple variations of these low rise buildings would be great additions for renters/buyers in the downtown area.

[Mastermind]

The Gilbert St. building will stand the test of time. Great building!

[BenRoethig]

Yeah, the one on Gilbert ended up fantastic. In fact, I wish it would have ended up a few blocks north.