IOWA CITY – In the summer of 2023, Iowa City City Council voted to purchase the vacant lot at 21 S. Linn St. in downtown for $4.5 million. According to a project webpage created by the City Manager’s office, the city is beginning a planning process for redevelopment of the lot. Planning will be conducted throughout this year and include community engagement, a request for proposals, and proposal review and selection. It appears the absolute earliest any construction would begin is sometime in 2026.
Site History
The site, located at the corner of Washington and Linn Streets within Iowa City’s original 1839 town plat, most notably hosted old City Hall until its demolition in 1962. The building was one of many casualties of urban renewal efforts in the mid-20th century. Urban renewal vastly altered Downtown through pedestrianizing College and Dubuque Streets and razing the traditional mixed-use block that preceded the Old Capitol Mall.
A drive-up bank and surface parking occupied the lot for several decades until a recent demolition. CA Ventures, the developer of Rise at Riverfront Crossings, planned to construct a 13-floor student housing project, even earning council approval of a site plan. After CA Ventures posted the property for sale, Iowa City purchased the property in July 2023.
According to council minutes, the staff felt direct action by the city was required to avoid negative development outcomes, including redevelopment expanding to adjacent buildings on Washington Street and an excess emphasis on student-oriented projects. Control of the property would allow the city to choose a development plan that would provide more balanced uses for Downtown than the private market. Previously, the City successfully led development efforts for the Chauncey tower and Rise at Riverfront Crossings.
The CB-10 Zone
21 S. Linn St. is zoned in the City’s CB-10 Central Business Zone, the highest intensity development zone under the current code. A summary of some relevant CB-10 requirements are in the table below.
| Zoning Category | CB-10 Requirement |
| Minimum lot size | None |
| Setbacks (all sides) | 0ft min / 12ft max |
| Height limits | 25ft min / No max |
| Floor to Area Ratio | 10 max / 15 max by exception |
| Bedrooms per unit | 3 max |
The CB-10 zone allows for a mixture of uses including retail, dining, entertainment, office, civic, and educational with multifamily residential provisionally granted if the units are located above the first floor. The CB-10 zoning requirements in the table above demonstrate that a development of up to 10 or 15 floors with majority lot coverage is allowable for the site at 21 S. Linn St. Any project would be able to include an ample amount of housing units, given that the CB-10 zone does not limit housing unit density. However, the feasibility and construction cost of housing units will be impacted by the zone’s minimum parking standards.
| Parking Category | CB-10 Zone Standard |
| Non-residential uses | None |
| Studio or 1 bedroom units | 0.5 spaces per unit |
| 2 bedroom units | 1 space per unit |
| 3 bedroom units | 2.5 spaces per unit |
While no parking is required for non-residential uses, the CB-10 zone does not allow surface parking lots and encourages underground parking structures. The city’s own code estimates that structured parking costs $24,000 per space in 2013 dollars. Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics general inflation tool would estimate the cost to be $31,996 in 2024. Requiring structured parking increases the cost of providing a large number of housing units; however, several special parking reductions are provided to the site through its inclusion in the Downtown And Riverfront Crossings Parking District. The key provisions include, but are not limited to the list below:
- A 50% reduction is granted for an in lieu of payment to the public district parking fund.
- Up to a 100% reduction may be granted by the Board of Adjustment if it is shown that site conditions would make providing the required parking infeasible.
Downtown and Riverfront Crossings Master Plan
Beyond the site’s zoning, 21 S Linn St is included in the Downtown District of the 2013 Downtown and Riverfront Crossings Master Plan. The “development opportunities” element of the plan is illustrative of city staff’s vision for the property at the time.
Labeled number 9 in the above rendering, the property is depicted as a 9 floor mixed-use building with 64 housing units in the plan’s yield analysis. Intriguingly the yield analysis projects zero off-street parking spaces for the building. Given the city’s lead on the development of The Chauncey and Rise at Riverfront Crossings, a midrise building of 9 or more stories is within the realm of possibility. The 2013 Plan further emphasizes that infill development should enhance the pedestrian environment of downtown while remaining sensitive to historic buildings.
“The taller buildings on the corners should have a lower base
consistent with adjacent historic buildings to make them ‘feel’
contextual with the rest of downtown”
2013 Downtown and Riverfront Crossings Master Plan (p. 55)
If the present planning effort follows the precedent of the above analysis, a mixed-use midrise building with an upper floor setback and a reduction or elimination of parking requirements would be expected.
Timeline and Public Input Opportunities
According to the project page, staff expect to collect public input through the end of May and then release a Request for Proposals Document in September or October 2024. The document will summarize the city’s ultimate intentions for the site and the criteria by which development proposals will be evaluated. Selection of a final proposal is not expected until 2025.
Members of the public wishing to provide comments can visit the project page to complete a survey, send an email to [email protected], or visit one of the upcoming open houses. The first open house will be held on April 15th from 6pm to 7:30pm at the Iowa City Public Library, with a second session at The Pheasant Ridge Neighborhood Center on April 23rd. We will provide an updated overview of the project here at The Prairie Urbanist once the document is released in the fall.