Lang
1/20/21
The Iowa City city council has unanimously approved a $56 million plan to revitalize buildings on the Ped Mall.
The Tailwind Group’s proposed project for restoring and revitalizing historic buildings on the south side of the Ped Mall includes the former sites of the Union Bar and Fieldhouse nightclub. It includes storefront spaces as well as an 11-story LEED Gold certified housing unit with one, two and three bedroom apartments and a courtyard.
One part of the plan includes moving Riverside Theatre into one of the buildings after the group had been without a home since not renewing its lease at its North Gilbert Street location at the end of June.
The project includes $12.25 million in tax increment financing for the project over 15 years.
The Tailwind Group has agreed to pay $1.8 million to the city’s affordable housing fund in lieu of adding affordable housing units to the project. That part of the deal brought out project opponents, who argued that by approving the plan without Tailwinds including mixed income housing, city officials were just postponing how soon more affordable housing will be made available.
Construction is expected to take three years.
