WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2019  |  IN THIS ISSUE

Iowa City Council members on Tuesday approved the first of three rezoning votes needed to create a $200 million mixed-use gateway development at Dubuque Street and I-80.

Plans for the 73-acre Forest View development include 57 single-family homes, more than 280 multifamily residential units, a senior housing community, two hotel pads, 30,000 square feet of commercial space and 60,000 square feet of office space.  
 
Blackbird Investments, the developer, hopes to begin construction by the start of 2020. It would then take place over five to seven years, depending on sales. The immediate focus would include building roads and infrastructure to connect Algonquin Road to North Dubuque Street. 

Part of the site is currently occupied by the Forest View Mobile Home Park. Blackbird has collaborated with North Dubuque LLC, mobile home park residents, the Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa and HBK Engineering to develop a relocation plan for residents.

In a press release, Blackbird Investments said the current plan is the least disruptive to mobile home park residents, who had objected strongly to the dislocation the project will cause. The company called the planned housing in the development "attainable," and said it is also working with the city to preserve trees, improve storm water management and maintain the forested entryway to the area.

The first vote to approve the rezoning passed by a 7-0 margin. The developer has been working to address concerns and objections for more than two years, and in a news release, said the ultramarathon project is "one stride closer" but "not there yet."
 
A rendering of Fleet Farm's new store in Tiffin. CREDIT FLEET FARM
The 265-acre mixed-use Park Place development in Tiffin will have its first big commercial tenant later this year.
 
Fleet Farm will be built on a 25-acre site acquired by a developer off Park Road and south of the Forevergreen Road interchange coming to I-380. The project includes a convenience store, car wash and a multi-line retail store that alone will cover about four acres.

The Ders Group, developer of the Park Place development, expects Fleet Farm to hold a groundbreaking later this month, according to co-owners Alex and Nick Andersen. With sales volume typically totaling $2 million per week, they say the store will be a major traffic generator, and they expect to announce more retailers coming to the development later this year.

"Really, the goal is to create that all-in-one destination, where you show up and there's everything you could need or want to do," Alex Andersen said.
 
The development will include a mixed-use area surrounding a two-acre park, Andersen Square City Center, a multifamily building cluster called Aster Village, and single-family residential lots where the first half-dozen homes have already gone up.
 
Veritas Church, the first occupant of Park Place, has grown quickly and recently acquired six acres for expansion, Nick Andersen said. 
 
Tiffin is Iowa's fastest growing city. Fleet Farm recently announced it is developing a store in Waukee, the second-fastest growing city in the state.

The sale of homes in Iowa declined 11.4 percent in March from year-earlier levels as home prices climbed, the Iowa Association of Realtors reported.

The median sale price for a home in March was $160,000, up 6.7 percent from March 2018, according to the the association's  Monthly Indicators report. Homes were on the market for an average of 75 days, down from 89 days in March 2018.

"Overall, the inventory of homes is down slightly, but it really depends on the area of Iowa and the specific price ranges," IAR President John Goede said in a news release. "Several of our larger metros have fewer homes on the market, while in many of our smaller and mid-sized towns the inventory is higher than last year."

Mr. Goede said the Federal Reserve Board of Governors' recent announcement that it will pause interest rate hikes for the rest of the year is welcome news to homebuyers and sellers.

"We hope that news from the Fed, coupled with the improved weather that April brings, will result in a more active real estate market," he added.

For the first quarter, the number of sold properties was down 6.1 percent from the first quarter of 2018, while the median sale price was up 4.7 percent. A total of 6,766 homes sold in the first quarter this year. The median sale price for the first quarter came in at $157,000.
 
Iowa City and Coralville's Opportunity Zones shaded in brown. CREDIT ICAD GROUP 
The Iowa City Area Development Group will be holding meetings in the Corridor to explain the use and benefits of Opportunity Zones, which can only be fully realized if the investment is made in the 2019 calendar year.
 
"This time-sensitive tool could be a huge boon to our region to spur investment and job creation, but only if we can get our ducks in a row and can identify shovel-ready projects and sustainable business models that can utilize this investment," ICAD Group representatives said in a news release.
 
The economic development organization encourages developers to get preliminary city approvals for their projects, determine what state and local incentives are possible, learn what the financing gap is, and be able to provide assurance that the project can move forward in a timely manner with this equity investment. 
 
Opportunity Zones were included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to help drive long-term, private investments into low-income urban and rural neighborhoods and communities across the nation. They provide a tax incentive for investors to re-invest their unrealized capital gains into dedicated Opportunity Funds.
 
Prior to the release of the federal tax bill, cities were able to submit their census tracts to their governor, who then selected areas that would be included in the new initiative. Gov. Kim Reynolds selected two census tracts in both Iowa City and Coralville, as well as three in Cedar Rapids in the Corridor region.

In the most basic terms, the Opportunity Zones program allows a person or business to take earnings which would typically be subject to capital gains tax and reinvest them into a project or business in an Opportunity Zone. The investor avoid taxes on the current gain, and won't pay taxes on any gains from the appreciation of the asset in the Opportunity Zone over a period of up to 10 years.

Opportunity Zones meetings will be held in each community to provide further clarification on the rules, the steps to establish an Opportunity Zone Fund, discuss examples of qualifying projects, and identify businesses and projects that are seeking investment from local and national Opportunity Funds.

For more information about the program or to attend one of the local planning meetings, contact Mark Nolte at [email protected].
 
A rezoning and land use map change for the American Prairie project on 135 acres of land between Earhart Lane and Club Road SW in Cedar Rapids will go to the city council with 96 more housing units than during a previous review by the Cedar Rapids Planning and Zoning Commission.
 
The commission last week supported a land use map change and rezoning for the project, which is now submitted at 583 units, up from 487.
 
The plans by a unit of Coralville-based Build to Suit Inc. call for duplexes and single-family homes on 119.7 acres, multifamily and fourplex structures on 15.5 acres and 4.8 acres of commercial.
 
In a memo, city staff said the increased density is the result of a change in the number of lots dedicated to single-family homes to two-family attached structures.
 
The request now goes to city council for a public hearing and consideration.
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Short-Term Event Planner
   
May 8
New Member Speed Networking,  by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, 4-5 p.m., MidWestOne Bank Home Mortgage Center, 500 S. Clinton St., Iowa City. New chamber members will learn different ways to get involved during this networking event. Free. For more information, visit  iowacityarea.com. 
 
May 9
Grit to Greatness: A Leadership Journey, by PMI Eastern Iowa Chapter, 7:30-9 a.m., Kirkwood Regional Center, University of Iowa, 2301 Oakdale Blvd., Coralville. Learn why more than talent is needed to be great. Members $13, guests $20. For more information, visit   bit.ly/2JVkrON. 
 
13th Annual Tribute, by The Academy for Scholastic and Personal Success, 5:30-8:30 p.m., The Hotel at Kirkwood Center, 7725 Kirkwood Blvd. SE, Cedar Rapids. The Academy SPS will honor Daniel Hayes, Andre Perry, Dale Todd and Dr. Mary Wilcynski as part of this 30th anniversary celebration. Tickets: $60 or $600 for table of 10 (nonprofit $500). Visit  theacademysps.com.
 
Super Hero Influence, by SCORE of East Central Iowa, 6-7:30 p.m., Cedar Rapids Ladd Library, 3750 Williams Blvd. SW. This workshop will give you specific ways to inspire your employees and associates. Free. To register, visit  conta.cc/2GsPGvB. 
 
May 10
Stellar Women Achieving Greatness (SWAG), by U.S. Small Business Administration, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Marion Public Library, 1905 Sixth Ave. During this casual networking event, women who are in business or who are thinking about starting a business will share their ideas and thoughts. Attendees can give a short elevator pitch about their business. Come for the entire event or as it fits your schedule. Free. For more information, visit  bit.ly/2WD6AOH.
Headlines from CBS2/FOX 28 
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28  
Hundreds of former federal prosecutors say President Donald Trump committed multiple felonies. They come to that conclusion after reading the Mueller Report, which details evidence of 10 potential instances of obstruction of justice, but did not recommend charges. Former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa Kevin Techau, along with more than 700 other former prosecutors,  added their names to a letter claiming the only reason that was the case is because of a decades-old opinion at the Department of Justice that a sitting president cannot face federal charges. The opinion has never been tested in court but, they claim, Special Counsel Robert Mueller was operating under the guidance of that policy. "It's clear from reading the report carefully, and I agree with those that signed it, that the evidence was overwhelming," Mr. Techau said. "If we don't look at that from the standpoint of the criminal justice system, the rule of law, that really tears down the foundation of our legal system." But Sen. Chuck Grassley, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, stands by the president, and claims lies from the media and not the president are the real problem. "The American people have had to listen to those falsehoods for years," Sen. Grassley said on the Senate floor. "Perhaps they're embarrassed that the world is learning that we've been sold a bunch of snake oil for the past two years. And now the jig is up."

Gov. Kim Reynolds on Tuesday cited previous state policy defending her decision to approve a bill that would, in part, ban publicly funded insurance from covering transgender surgery. Ms. Reynolds signed the health and human services  budget totaling $1.9 billion on Friday. In it were two last-minute policy additions pushed by  GOP lawmakers in the Iowa Legislature that would not require local governments to use taxpayer-funded insurance like Medicaid to cover sex reassignment surgery for transgender Iowans, and would strip Planned Parenthood from getting federal grants for sex education programs. The governor has the power to line-item veto provisions in budget bills, including the two related to transgender surgery coverage and Planned Parenthood funding. Ms. Reynolds told reporters Tuesday that the policy to curb Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgeries has been "the state's position for a long time," adding "This takes it back to the way it's always been." Administrative rules from the Iowa Department of Human Services, which govern Iowa's Medicaid program, prohibited coverage for such surgeries, but those were overruled by a March Iowa Supreme Court decision, which found that that banning Medicaid payments for such surgeries violated  gender-identity provisions of the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

T hese news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28 
CBS2 Chief Meteorologist Terry Swails' Weather First Forecast
 
Showers and thunderstorms will move through the area throughout the day as a storm moves in. A warm front will lift north and likely set up near I-80, but the exact placement is still uncertain. To the north of the front, temperatures will be in the 50s and 60s and heavy rain will be likely. To the south, temperatures will be in the 60s to near 70. This is where there may be enough instability for strong to severe thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. If any strong storms develop, large hail and strong winds will be possible. An isolated tornado cannot be ruled out near the warm front. There is still uncertainty in how much clearing there is today and how unstable the atmosphere gets. If we stay rainy and clouded over, then instability - and therefore severe chances - would be low. Rainfall amounts of 1-2 inches will be likely, with some locally higher amounts possible. Some localized flooding may be possible. Showers and thunderstorms will continue Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The storm will exit and rain will end by midday Thursday.