Developers target Kingston Village for two housing projects

Hobart Historic Restoration wants to start construction on the $9.2 million project by this spring

December 15, 2014 | 5:14 pm

CEDAR RAPIDS A push for more housing in the citys center is getting a boost from two building proposals in Kingston Village across the Cedar River from downtown.

The latest of the two proposals at the most visible of the two locations in the 400 block of First Street SW looking at downtown comes from Hobart Historic Restoration, which has told city officials it will construct a $9.2-million, six-story building with first-floor retail space, four floors of market-rate apartments and a fifth floor with two penthouse condominiums.

B.J. Hobart, an owner of Hobart Historic Restoration, said Monday that the river views that will come with the new project made adding the top-story penthouses to the project too good an opportunity to pass up.

She said the company hopes to start construction this spring.

The second proposal, called Kingston Lofts, features a four-story building with retail space on the first floor and a mix of 23 market-rate apartments and owner-occupied condominiums on floors two through four in the 200 block of Third Avenue SW. The developer, the Ahmann Companies, has put the project cost at $4.1 million.

The Ahmann project, which was first announced some months ago and is further along in the citys development process, is expected to start construction in April with a completion date in July 2016.

The City Council on Tuesday is slated to approve support for the two Kingston Village projects, both of which are slated to go up on city-owned land that the city acquired in its flood-recovery buyout program.

The City Council also is being asked to provide a 100-percent property-tax break for 10 years for the two projects, an incentive permitted by the citys economic development policy for projects that create more downtown housing.

More here:
Developers target Kingston Village for two housing projects