And the Winner Is . . .

The Chauncey
 

The best choice for the redevelopment of the old Wilson's Sporting Goods/Greyhound Bus Depot site is The Chauncey, a planned 20-story structure with a 150 seat theater managed by FilmScene; two six lane bowling alleys; a cafe; an art and sculpture gallery; a 35 room hotel; Class A office space and workforce housing units.  It makes sense financially, culturally and aesthetically.

The plan incorporates LEED certification, geothermal and solar power, and permeable pavers; and it would be a 100% local project – a big plus – led by Marc Moen who is known for his commitment to developing only in downtown Iowa City; and Moen has his private funding sources firmly committed.

There are two drawbacks to this exciting proposal: the planned use of Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) and the proposed height of 20 stories.  At the public meeting Moen stated that this development could be built at 16 stories, which would be more in keeping with the general height limits already in place.  Since we heard in a previous presentation by Moen that he needed TIF ($2 million) to put the top two stories on the Wells Fargo site building, it seems reasonable to posit that taking four stories off the Chauncy making it 16 stories instead of 20 would eliminate the need for TIF support for this project.

The Chauncey is clearly a project that would bring an exciting diversification of entertainment opportunities to downtown and without reliance on TIF would start returning 100% of tax dollars to the city, avoiding the strong citizens' objection regarding the use of TIF for private development that does not create affordable housing or other direct benefit to low and moderate wage earners in Iowa City and Johnson County.

Downtown Iowa City has a fine public library, the lovely Englert, unique stores, decent restaurants, banks, grocery stores, and just enough bars now to make the area attractive for many people. Developing the College/Gilbert Streets site with the attributes noted above would round out this area quite nicely. I think more people who come downtown are interested in going bowling or to the movies than in going grocery shopping.

Carol deProsse

Addendum:

One thing that could be done to make The Chauncy really top notch, would be to design a theater that had some old-fashioned atmosphere. It wouldn't have to be as elaborate as The Paramount in Cedar Rapids, but a little classic theater wall design, lighting, and a bit of velvet here and there with maybe a swag or two and a curtain that opened to reveal the screen would fit with the desire to collaborate with the University of Iowa and Film Scene. -- CP