WEDNESDAY, NOV. 7, 2018  |  IN THIS ISSUE
 
A rendering of College Commons. CREDIT H & V Development 
Work has begun on College Commons, the first of two commercial projects that could have a transformational impact on the College District east of Coe College on First Avenue in Cedar Rapids.

Work began last month on the three-story building at the northeast corner of First avenue and 14th Street NE planned by H & V Development. It will have four ground floor businesses - Scooter's Coffee, Jimmy John's, H&R Block and Clean Laundry - plus 18 market-rate apartments on the upper two floors.

Developers Brian Hancock of B. Hancock Homes and Brent Votroubek of Skogman Realty expressed thanks for city support for the project after a groundbreaking ceremony held Wednesday at the site, where foundations have already been poured. They said the start of the $6.4 milion project was delayed for a few months by weather and asbestos issues that delayed demolition of several older buildings on the site, but they expect to have the project complete in July 2019.
 
The market-rate apartments will consist of two efficiency units and 16 two-bedroom units. The project involved demolition of several older properties, and a study was made of opportunities to relocate and preserve one larger residential structure with historic value. However, after talks with Coe College and the city about relocating the building, it became clear that the project wouldn't pencil out, Mr. Hancock said.
 
Mr. Votroubek and his wife Carissa are franchisees of Scooter's and Jimmy John's. Both businesses will be end-cap locations with drive-through windows. The city assisted the project using its Community Benefit-Economic Development program, based on a gap in project financing.
 
Mr. Votroubek conceded that the area might not have been desirable for such a project a decade ago, but with College Commons and a strip retail center being developed across First Avenue by local restaurateur John Khairallah, "it should bring the neighborhood up."

Mercy Medical Center in Cedr Rapids has begun a roughly $5-million-plus renovation of the hospital's seventh floor to create a new Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit.

The year-long project will result in 22 colorful rehab-ready rooms with spacious bathrooms and smart boards to keep patients up to date on changes to their day's schedule, hospital spokeswoman Karen Vander Sanden said. An apartment-like space on the new unit will provide a space for patients to practice skills like cooking, laundry and getting in and out of a bathtub before they return home. 

The renovations will include a new Transitional Care Unit, and a new rehab gym including a Zero G anti-gravity machine that safely holds the patient. It will also include equipment to help patients improve their balance, walking and other daily activities.

Rinderknecht Associates is general contractor for the project, which is slated for completion in October 2019.
 
Mercy "is committed to investing in our rehabilitation programs and services to enhance the quality of patient care and improve patients' functional abilities and independence necessary for a full recovery," Ms. Vander Sanden said.

The pre-renovation Harper & McIntire building at 411 Sixth St. SE, Cedar Rapids.  
The tenant list is beginning to take shape for the historic Harper & McIntire building, which Aspect Inc. is renovating into office and commercial space at 411 Sixth Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids.
 
The four-story brick warehouse building was built in 1922 as a warehouse for a wholesale hardware company. 
   
A 3,000-square-foot space is being renovated by Aspect for a Crossfit Gym, according to building permit records, while a 6,960-square-foot space is being renovated for Foth Engineering.  
 
The Foth project includes open offices, a conference room, a lobby area and a printer room. The Crossfit gym is a less costly buildout that includes locker rooms and gym space.
 
Aspect owner Steve Emerson, after buying and renovating the former Smulekoff's department store building on First Street SE, is now proceeding with renovations of the warehouse, which he purchased separately. He was awarded $3,489,332 in state Historic Preservation Tax Credits in June to assist in saving the building.

Home sales reported by the Iowa Association of Realtors fell in September, although prices continued their year-long rise.
 
A total of 243 single-family detached homes were sold in the Cedar Rapids Area Association of Realtors listings in September, down 12 percent from September 2017, while 135 were sold in the Iowa City Area Association of Realtors listings, down 12.3 percent.  
 
Sales in the growing townhouse/condo category rose 7.5 percent in the Cedar Rapids MLS to 57, and remained flat in Iowa City at 54.

The median price of new homes sold in the Iowa City area year-to-date was $249,900, up 4.1 percent from the first nine months of 2017, while the median price in the Cedar Rapids area was $160,000, up 3.2 percent.

The number of new single-family-detached home listings in the Cedar Rapids area for September declined 5.5 percent to 293, while the number of new townhome/condo listings was down 25.7 percent to 52. In the Iowa City area, the number of new single-family listings was up 0.4 percent to 203, and the number of new townhouse/condo listings rose 9.4 percent to 92.

"Although residential real estate should continue along a mostly positive line for the rest of the year, rising prices and interest rates coupled with salary stagnation and a generational trend toward home purchase delay or even disinterest could create an environment of declining sales," the Iowa Association of Realtors said in its monthly report.

Statewide, home sales were down 12.7 percent for September, while the median home sale price was up 4.2 percent compared to September 2017.
 
Home prices in the Cedar Rapids and Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro areas were undervalued in September, according to the latest CoreLogic Home Price Index report, although Cedar Rapids prices are projected to reach normal in five years.

The study defines undervalued markets as those in which prices are at least 10 percent below the long-term sustainable level, while overvalued markets are those in which home values are at least 10 percent above the long-term sustainable level. About 43 percent of the largest metro markets fall between those ranges, and are rated normal.

CoreLogic reported home prices in the Iowa City metro area and other Iowa metros except Cedar Rapids and Waterloo-Cedar Falls fall into the normal range. While home prices in Cedar Rapids are projected to be back at normal in September 2023, Waterloo-Cedar Falls home prices are expected to remain undervalued.

CoreLogic projected in the report that, on average, home prices nationwide will rise by 4.7 percent from September 2018 to September 2019.

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Short-Term Event Planner .
   
Nov. 7
Make Your Mark, by ImpactCR, 5-7 p.m., Eastbank Venue & Lounge, 97 Third Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids. Join ImpactCR for a special Siren Wednesday that will celebrate 2018 and preview the new things to come in 2019. Free. To register, visit bit.ly/2IDz6Kq .

Nov. 8
PMI Chapter Meeting, by PMI Eastern Iowa, 7:15-9 a.m., Kirkwood Regional Center at the University of Iowa, 2301 Oakdale Blvd., Coralville. This session will offer a behind-the-scenes look at Alliant Energy's Smart Meter Implementation Program. Cost: $13 for members, $20 for guests. For more information visit  https://tinyurl.com/y7htlwhw

A Toast to Our Communities Awards Breakfast, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, 7:30-8:30 a.m., Graduate Iowa City, 210 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. Join the chamber's board of directors in acknowledging outstanding businesses, organizations and individuals at the chamber's 30th-annual awards ceremony. Tickets $20-$25. RSVP to  emily@iowacityarea.com.

Effective Planning & Claims Management for Business Interruption, by Holmes Murphy, 10-10:30 a.m., online. Join Holmes Murphy and Michael Skweres for a two-part webinar series that will walk through business interruption risk. This part will cover management of the claims process, how and what to communicate internally and externally, critical early decisions, and claims negotiations and settlements. Free. For more information visit  bit.ly/2JaPGRX.

Nov. 12
Coralville Roundtable, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, noon-1 p.m., Monica's, 303 Second St., Coralville. Roundtables are social lunches over the noon hour. All are invited to network, keep up-to-date with chamber and community events and frequent a member restaurant or business. Free. For more information visit  https://tinyurl.com/yc5mvqqy
Headlines from CBS2/FOX 28 
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28  
Family Promise of Linn County is hosting their first "Sleep Out For Homeless Families" on Nov. 10 at the NewBo City Market to raise awareness and funds for people having to deal with frigid temperatures without the ability to find appropriate shelter. The event will feature live music and food while also giving people the opportunity to stay out in the cold overnight to experience what it's like to not have a warm place to stay. Each four-person tent will pay or raise $100.  Each car will pay/raise $200.  A simple dinner, breakfast and a spot to pitch a tent or to park the car that you will sleep in will be provided. "You are talking about two, three, four year-old and teenagers on the streets. It opens people's eyes to what is really going on in the Corridor. It's a concern and when people see it and get a little taste for it, I think they need to be compassionate and realize and hopefully become part of the solution," said John Derryberry, executive director for Family Promise of Linn County. For additional information, click here.
 

T hese news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28 
CBS2 Chief Meteorologist Terry Swails' Weather First Forecast
 
High pressure will be moving in today and will help clear the skies. It will also keep the cold air in place and temperatures will just climb into the mid to upper 30s. On top of that, it will be breezy with winds of 20-25 mph at times in the early afternoon. Later tonight the skies will clear and winds will die down which will allow for temperatures to drop into the 20s.  We'll start with sunshine Thursday but clouds will move back in during the afternoon.