Local Cedar Rapids developer positions new office building

By Rick Smith, The Gazette

November 8, 2014 | 12:01 am

CEDAR RAPIDS There is a little fuss at city hall these days over how prolific local developer, the Ahmann Companies, is going to position a new office building on the former site of the Corner House Gallery, 2753 First Ave. SE.

The developer initially had planned to construct the three-story building so one of its sides, not its front, faces busy First Avenue SE. That orientation would be similar to the companys two new office buildings, which face one another and a parking lot in between them in the 1800 block of First Avenue SE.

But the city is changing its thinking. How a developer situates a new building along one of Cedar Rapidss busier streets matters more than it used to.

City Council member Scott Olson, an architect and Realtor, said this week that the city is starting to embrace a nationwide trend of planning and design that calls for new buildings to be placed close to the sidewalk on busier streets, with parking in the rear.

Such a design is thought to encourage people to walk, talk and get to know each other in both commercial and residential neighborhoods, Olson said.

The idea, he noted, is a throwback and is on display in many of Cedar Rapidss older neighborhoods where porches are in the front of houses, close to the street, garages are in the back and commercial buildings sit along sidewalks and hug the corners of blocks.

So its really going back to a design principle that happened in the past when we were more pedestrian-friendly versus car-friendly, Olson said. Were trying to encourage that type of neighborhood congeniality and pedestrian-friendly commercial development.

City Council member Monica Vernon, chairwoman of the councils Development Committee who spent a decade on the City Planning Commission in the past, has been the strongest city hall proponent of moving new buildings to the front of the property and to orient them to face the busy street.

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Local Cedar Rapids developer positions new office building