From endangered to enterprise

A historically endangered building in Newton may get a new lease on life.

Knowing the renovation of the Jasper County Annex Building would be an expensive undertaking given the structure’s deteriorated condition, the county board of supervisors accepted a $15,000 bid on May 26 from a private development group. The estimated value of the building is more than $1 million.

Brandon Talsma, chair of the Jasper County Board of Supervisors, said the low bid is likely due to the “overwhelming costs” of renovations.

“It’s not going to be a cheap fix,” Talsma said.

Paramount Development intends to transform the annex building into downtown housing units so long as substantial grant money is collected for the adaptive reuse project. On Tuesday, June 2, the purchase agreement with the developer was finalized and approved by the county board of supervisors.

This allowed the Paramount Development to meet its grant application deadline. Talsma said the developer wants to historically renovate the annex building’s exterior to meet its past appearance as much as possible. The interior of which would be constructed into one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Again, this is if the grant application goes through.

“If they do not receive that $2.7 million grant, they have already told us that they don’t want it (the annex building),” Talsma said, adding that Paramount Development has its sights set on other grants as well.

Typically, when the county wants to sell or get rid of a property, the sale is advertised in newspapers for about 30 days. The annex building was no different. The only bid that was collected by Jasper County came from Paramount Development, which had originally wanted the building to be donated.

Currently, a number of county department employees — veterans affairs, CICS, general assistance, human resources, JEDCO, etc. — work in the annex building and are due to move to a different office space at the former NewCare Health Services clinic. That area is also planned for renovation.

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed some of the renovation work, Talsma said the county is hoping to move in to the former NewCare building no later than December 2021. He also said the county was not expecting the sell the annex building this quickly.

“This kind of shocked all of us,” he said. “We really weren’t planning on doing it this quick, but we couldn’t let the opportunity to be able to get rid of that building — and keep that building from inevitably getting torn down — slip by us … They’ve been debating this four or five years before I came on to the board.”

Indeed, the status of the building itself has remained a talking point amongst supervisors and county staff for several years. In October 2017, Newton Daily News reported black mold spores were found in the basement, which prompted Jasper County Public Health to change offices. Foundation problems persist, too.

Talsma said the costs to update the annex building were approaching $2 million to $3.5 million. Moving to the former NewCare was going to be the cheapest option for the county, even with the associated renovation costs. The annex building also wasn’t maintained well over the years, he added.

“It’s simple dollars and cents. What’s going to get us the most bang for our buck? Is this building worth (the county) putting $3.5 million into or should we find a different location?” Talsma said, adding there is no more room in the annex building for county departments to grow. Unlike the new office space.

During the May 18 Newton City Council meeting, a group called Front Porch Development sought the council’s blessing in pursuing the project. Talsma said these Front Porch and Paramount are one in the same. With council’s support, the developers would receive additional points in its grant application.

Both the mayor and city council members were unanimously in favor of the proposed project. Newton City Council then approved a resolution offering its non-monetary support of the project if the developer acquires ownership of the county-owned building.

Newton Mayor Mike Hansen said, “I think that’d be fantastic if we could get that building repurposed. It would also add to council’s goal of downtown housing.”

The Newton Historic Preservation Commission also offered its endorsement of the project in a letter addressed to the mayor and city council.

Larry Hurto, chairperson of NHPC, said the annex building is a “major contributing property to Newton’s Historic Downtown District” and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. Earlier this year, it was added to Preservation Iowa’s list of endangered properties.

Ultimately, the board of supervisors want to do “what is most fiscally responsible for the county and the citizens,” Talsma said. By selling the annex building, the county is saving money in demolition or maintenance costs.

“Just by getting the NewCare building and the renovation on there we’re going to be saving over $1 million — hopefully closer to $2 million — than what we would have staying in the annex building,” he said. “I hope (citizens) understand we’re not frivolously trying to spend money.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com