Free to a Good Home: Iowa City Hall
By Tovah Pentelovitch | From Preservation | Feb. 8, 2007
If you've got the means and motivation, you could be the next owner of Hawarden City Hall. What's the cost of the 8,500-square-foot building in downtown Hawarden, Iowa? Free.
Built in 1918 by Sioux City architect William Steele, Hawarden City Hall is a two-story, red-brick building in need of a purpose.
"We are looking for three things in plans for the building," says Jason Metten, Hawarden's city administrator. "It should have a positive use that the community can be proud of; it should provide jobs; it should maintain the aesthetic beauty of the downtown, which is historic in and of itself."
After serving as city hall and a community center for more than 60 years, most of the city's offices relocated to another building in 1980. "The facilities haven't been used to their full capacity for about five years," Metten says.
The building, which is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has a raised entry, ceilings as high as 24 feet, and original wooden floors.
City officials estimate that it would cost about $100,000 to tear down the structure. Instead of using the money for demolition, the city will put it toward a rehabilitation. For an approved plan for either commercial or residential use, "the city will fund one-third of the rehab costs up to $100,000," Metten says.
"Everyone asks me what it will take to rehabilitate this structure," Metten says. "The answer varies greatly by its use. We have estimated that it will take $200,000 to make the building into a basic, usable shell."
Metten will eliminate any plan that does not meet the city council's criteria or does not stay within the limitations of the building itself: "Cold storage, for example, is not conducive to the building—the top floor has a weight-load limit," Metten says.
Preservationists hope the winning plan will maintain the integrity of Steele's original architectural intent and also improve the community.
"It shouldn't become a bar," says Jane Seaton, the state coordinator of Main Street Iowa.
The city is asking that interested buyers send their plans for development, rehabilitation, and use to Metten by April 2. After he passes on viable plans to the planning and zoning commission, the mayor and city council will have final approval.
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