Council considers next steps on hospital redevelopment as appeal remains pending
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After a lengthy discussion on enforcement of the offensive odor ordinance and a brief recess due to technical difficulties, the Marshalltown city council closed out Monday night's meeting with a presentation from Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO John Hall regarding the preliminary findings of a study on the redevelopment potential of the former downtown hospital property and what steps the council would like to take next.
A judge awarded the city the title to the property back in June, but an appeal from previous owner Scott Covalt is still pending with no activity since July. On Monday, Hall explained that the Chamber had engaged with ISG to perform a preliminary assessment of the property and understand the redevelopment potential through a four-phased contract.
Hall reported that the basement areas are in "fair to good" condition without significant settlement or deterioration, and the structural integrity remains intact -- although the moisture has begun to affect the clay masonry wall construction.
"All of that is positive when it comes to the potential for redevelopment and reuse. The next phase that we would be discussing or really looking at would be, really, the detailed assessment. This would be beginning coordination for potentially selective demolition and putting together the plans for that, the final structural designs as well as the financial expectations for those steps of work," he said.
According to Hall, the multistory buildings have the most reuse potential, and he estimated the ability to create roughly 120 housing units and 174 parking spaces. The concept of a downtown hotel is also a possibility, but it will depend on which developer they're ultimately able to attract. Because the city does not currently have a need for 200 downtown hotel rooms, they could opt for more of a mixed-use strategy with a mix of hotel rooms and apartments.
The next phase he discussed is a large building on the east side of the lot creating 144 new housing units and 384 parking spaces in a parking garage, followed by the fourth phase with another new building and a 58-unit development and removing 50 parking spaces.
"I know we just came through the comprehensive plan, the housing needs assessment. This would pretty well accomplish all of the housing that was identified in our housing needs assessment and then some," Hall said. "We recognize that this is a many, many year plan that would take a while to come to fruition. Really, the question is... What is the council's desire recognizing that selective demolition still comes with a cost? Obviously, redevelopment and development is gonna come with some amount of cost at some level as well as the potential of holding the building for an extended period of time when I know there's desire to see remediation of that site as quickly as possible."
From there, he asked the council for feedback and noted that historic buildings like the hospital, which is over 100 years old, don't get rebuilt, so if there is any chance to salvage them, the city should take a swing at it. City Administrator Carol Webb told the audience that Covalt was due to file a brief in court and failed to do so, so the city is in the process of filing another motion for summary judgment. She predicted that the city should know soon whether it will keep ownership of the property.
Councilor Greg Nichols asked Hall how many developers would be interested in this type of work, and he replied that the engineering and architecture firm they hired has experience with developers who have completed similar projects in the past. Webb also said the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) is interested in providing funding for some selective demolition work.
Fellow Councilor Melisa Fonseca felt good about the potential for increased housing in the community, and Hall, citing the success of the mall redevelopment, said developers were paying attention to council meetings to assess the council's appetite for taking on large projects such as this one.
"We've shown that we can do it," he said. "I think we look at the mall redevelopment is an example that's still unfolding right in front of us where that was a dying asset sitting in the middle of our community that could've been a real disaster for us. For a lot of years, it was maybe not a point of pride, but we avoided what could've been a truly major catastrophe with that asset and spun it into something that's a real positive for our community."
Councilor Jeff Schneider also indicated that he liked the plan and wondered what the next step would be, and Hall said that would ultimately depend on the council's direction and the pending appeal. Councilor Gary Thompson suggested keeping all avenues open until the ownership situation is secured, and he and Hall both agreed that they have a soft spot for historic buildings.
Fellow Councilor Marco Yepez-Gomez said he liked the conceptual drawings and asked if there were plans for a small building on the corner of the lot, to which Hall replied that the engineers didn't originally understand that it was part of the plans.
During the public comment period, Linda Clark opined that "the cart was being put before the horse" because the city does not officially own it yet, and Lonnie Hogeland expressed a similar sentiment.
"You don't own that building, none of it. You need to quit spending money on reviews. I'd like to wonder how I would do to a Chevy van, but if I don't own that Chevy van, don't worry about what I'm doing to it," he said. "You've gotta be doing stuff, but do stuff that doesn't cost you money... It ain't yours. You've gotta be doing stuff on the sideburner. I've wasted enough of your time, but you all know what I mean. Don't spend money on doing something that's not yours. But be ready on a way that doesn't cost money."
Because the item was only up for discussion, no official action was taken.
Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.