The downtown RiverWalk is real; City Hall committee readies to pick from five design consultants

City Hall has seven different committees studying various pieces of downtown revitalization, committees that might not be in the limelight, but that, nonetheless, are marching ahead.

The committees are looking at issues related to downtown housing, train noise and congestion, an amphitheater, an event center, two-way versus one-way streets, a new Intermodal Transit Facility and the RiverWalk or riverfront park.

Steve Hershner, who is team leader of the RiverWalk task force, reports that his group in recent weeks received entries from 18 firms presenting their qualifications to help the city come up with a new definition of the Cedar River through downtown with trails, riverfront park and other enhancements.

The first phase of the work, expected to cost $150,000, Herschner said, will, among other things, identify the best place for a RiverWalk, a small outdoor amphitheater, trail connections, a trail bridge across the Cedar River at the base of May’s Island and open space.

According to the city’s proposal, the consultant also is expected to present a plan, to be built in phases, that can coordinate with a river feasibility study to be prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps’ study will involve both sides of the river from the Time Check Neighborhood to the city-owned Sinclair site.

The RiverWalk one day is intended to reach 7.5 miles in length on both sides of the river and reach to the city’s new urban fishery on the east side of the river. One idea is for a pedestrian/bicycle bridge from the popular Cedar River Trail to leap the river at the urban fishery downriver from the Sinclair site, Doug Neumann, president/CEO of the Downtown District, has said.

The five firms now in the running for the first phase of the RiverWalk work are:

– Bonestroo, St. Paul, Minn.

– Close Landscape Architects, Minneapolis

– EDAW Inc., Denver

– Hargreaves Associates, Cambridge, Mass.

– Sasaki Associates Inc., Watertown, Mass.

Interviews of the five firms will take place over the next two weeks, Hershner said.

City funds approved by the City Council for the budget year beginning July 1 will pay the $150,000 contract, Hershner noted.

This next week is slated to be the last for this session of the Iowa Legislature, and local leaders will be watching to see what money or opportunities to compete for funding might be available for Cedar Rapids’ downtown and riverfront revitalization.

RoughRiders and City Hall ready to formalize 2-year lease extension at city’s Ice Arena

Upcoming on Wednesday, the City Council is expected to formally approve a 2-year lease extension with Rough Riders Hockey LLC, the owner of the local United States Hockey League team and the principal tenant of the city-owned Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

The extension of the existing lease is an acknowledgment that the parties — the hockey team owners and the city through its Five Seasons Facilities Commission and arena manager, Venuworks — could not agree on the details of a new long-term lease.

According to a memo to the council from city staff, the parties will agree as part of the proposed lease extension to work to negotiate a new long-term agreement or the city will commence such negotiations with a new owner should the team be sold.

As part of the lease extension, the RoughRiders agree to pay an annual lease payment of $158,000 plus an additional $7,200 for rent on office space. The team also pays a 50-cent-per-ticket facility fee on most tickets, which generates an estimated $15,000 for the city, Patrick DePalma, chairman of the city’s Five Seasons Facilities Commission, reports.

DePalma said the city also gets a share of food and beverage revenue, while the team gets the revenue from tickets, advertising and arena suites.

He called the lease “fair and reasonable.” Some teams in the RoughRiders league pay less rent, but those teams often get less for advertising and suite revenue, he added.

The current lease was set to expire April 30. The parties in recent months indicated that they would extend the current lease while the owners pondered the sale of the hockey team.

“I am told,” DePalma said, that the RoughRiders’ owners are seeking potential buyers of the team.

He said he had “every expectation” that the Cedar Rapids arena would be home to a team in the years ahead.

The lease-extension proposal has been placed on the routine part of the council’s Wednesday agenda called the consent agenda. Items placed there typically are approved without discussion.