Glen Haven Village, School District 'Hooked Up' With Utiliities Before GRC Power Plant Shuts Down

The Glenwood Redevelopment Corporation has met its goal to get utilities in place for Glen Haven Village and the Glenwood Community School District’s 103 Central building before the closure of the power plant on the former Glenwood Resource Center Campus.

“We were trying to get all the utilities to the school and Glen Haven done before Monday (June 30),” said Larry Winum, spokesperson for the non-profit redevelopment corporation.  “As of Thursday, Glen Haven and the school system are now on their own permanent utilities.

“Our No. 1 goal was to get the school and Glen Haven hooked up before they shut the power plant shut down and we’ve accomplished that. We’re happy about that and we think Glen Haven and the school are pretty happy with it.”

Getting Glen Haven Village, a skilled nursing care facility, and the 103 Central building, hooked up to utilities has been the top priority for the redevelopment corporation since it assumed ownership of the GRC property earlier this year. The non-profit organization is responsible for overseeing the redevelopment of around 250 acres of the campus that previously served as the Glenwood Resource Center, a state-owned and managed facility that served individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities.

The GRC closed a year ago, but the power plant remained operational until Monday (June 30), allowing just enough time to get utilities to Glen Haven Village and 103 Central,
which will continue to house the school district’s central office, it’s THRIVE and APEX programs and the Lakin Child Development Center of Glenwood (formerly Kids Place).

“We had three days to spare,” Winum said.

With the utilities now in place, the next step in the redevelopment process is selecting a master developer. Omaha-based HDR Engineering has been hired as the architect to orchestrate development of the property and the firm’s first tasks are accepting RFQs (Request For Qualification) to identify a master developer, hire an environmental company to do a thorough assessment of the buildings and complete a topographic survey.

“(With the RFQ), people will get the opportunity to convince our committee that they’re the best one for the job. HDR will also have to hire an environmental company come in and do a more thorough environmental assessment. That’s important, because when we start getting into buildings, whether we keep them or get rid of them, we have to know what’s in there in terms of hazardous materials that need to be mitigated.

“The topographic survey, we did one preliminary, but you have to get more details on contours and where good places to build might me and where not to build – all of that kind of stuff.”

Winum noted that 85-90% of the more than 100 buildings on the former GRC campus will be demolished over the next few years.

“A large portion of all those buildings are going to get torn down and we don’t have any control over that because the agreement we signed with the state said we had to tear them down,” he said. “We were able to convince them that we want to save some – we kind of designated some.

“Which buildings come down and which will stay will be determined after the master developer is able to do an assessment.”

The redevelopment of the property involves a lot of moving parts, including the state-funded construction of two new entrances from U.S. Highway 34. The primary entrance onto the campus from Highway 34 will be near 240th Street and the existing road that goes under the highway to Campbell Lake and Park. The second entrance, Orchard Drive, is aligned across Highway 34 with Levi Road. Winum said the Iowa Department Of Transportation is expected to accept bids from potential contractors this summer.

“It’s possible you could see some construction starting this fall, but more than likely, it’s probably going to start taking place in the spring (2026),” said Winum. “You could see those roads completed by mid or later summer next year.”

Winum noted the transformation of the property has been and will continue to be a long process.

“It’s taken a whole year to get to this point. It’s not a fast process and I know people get frustrated, they want to know what’s going on.,” he said. “There’s a lot of red tape. Everything we do has to go through a bidding process - it has to be approved by the state.

“They can say we own it - we’ve got the title to it - but the state’s still controlling funds – what we can do, what we can’t do. It’s fairly restrictive, but the ultimate goal at this point is get that site development ready for what we believe will be residential, but maybe that changes. We’re certainly going to get the site development ready.”