GRC Redevelopment Expected To Begin After Completion Of Archaeological, Historical Studies

Findings of historical and archaeological studies taking place on the Glenwood Resource Center campus will determine how fast the property is turned over to the Glenwood Redevelopment Corporation (GRC) redevelopment actually begins to take place.

The GRC is a non-profit organization established to oversee redevelopment of approximately 200 acres on the 1,100-acre campus. The remaining 900 acres is designated as a state preserve.

“I’ve had some folks think that this new organization (GRC) has been created as a money-making organization,” Glenwood Redvelopment Corporation board member Larry Winum said. “It’s a local organization. The reason it was created is the state said, ‘If the local community would like to have control on this property, we’re OK with that. We’re not going to go out and sell it to just anybody.’ As a group, we think that’s the best thing for the community to have local control, at least at first.”

The non-proifit board is made up of a combination of city and county officials and members of the community. They’ve  been in negotiations with the state for several months regarding transfer of the property, which is tentatively scheduled to take place June 30, 2025. Winum said the state is committed to providing dollars to getting the campus ready for redevelopment.

“We can get dollars from the state to do the things that need to be done up there – like demolition and getting a couple roads up there off of Highway 34,” he said. “That was the most critical thing. If you’re going to develop that place, you can’t be coming through those old tunnels.

You’ve got to have access off of Highway 34 and the state committed to that.”

The primary entrance onto the campus from Highway 34 will be near 240th Street and the existing road that goes under Highway 34 to Campbell Lake and Park. The second entrance, Orchard Drive, is aligned across Highway 34 with Levi Road on the southwest corner of the campus.

Additionally, the state has agreed to bring major infrastructure lines onto the campus, including water, sewer, electricity and Internet.

The corporation has been working with HDR, an architectural and engineering design firm hired by the state, to assist with coming up with a plan for redevelopment of the property.

“Their role was to go up on that property and determine the best use,” Winum said. “They brought in several groups – developers, historical building people, an engineering firm – to walk around the campus, see the campus and say, ‘What would be the best use up here?”

A 116-page redevelopment plan created last winter calls for the establishment of a residential neighborhood, reaching 900 living units over an extended period time. The 900 units would be a combination of apartments and single-family dwellings. The neighborhood would be mixed use with the potential of light commercial and light retail businesses down the road. Recreational areas and walking trails are included in the plan.

“They’re giving us dollars to be able to create a shovel-ready residential development site,” Winum said. “It’s a long-term plan. It’s not going to happen quickly.

“One of the things we’re sensitive to is we don’t want to affect people in town. We don’t want to compete with other retail in town so we’re kind of staying away from retail.”

The historical and archaeological studies are being conducted by the State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO). The office identifies, preserves and protects Iowa’s historic and prehistoric resources. It also administers state and federal historical preservation programs and maintains a survey and inventory collection of historic properties in Iowa. Winum said the studies should be completed soon.

“We’re hoping the report comes back and says, ‘You know, you’ve got no issues up there. You’re fine. You can do whatever you want. You can run your utilities wherever you want and you can tear down whatever buildings you want to.”

The campus has nearly 100 buildings, which all have to be decommisioned. Some will be torn down and some preserved. For example, Winum said there’s been discussions of the historic Girls Cottage building being preserved and turned into living units and the fire station being turned into an attraction like a winery or brewery.

Once the property is turned over to the corporation, the non-profit will likely hire HDR to assist with finding a development partner to invest in the project. Winum said HDR has provided good guidance up this point.

“We’re a local organization that needs assistance and we believe entities like HDR, who have done this around the country, know how to do RFPs and to pull in a development partner whose done these kind of projects, either in Omaha or somewhere else in the country, can assist and give us plan,” he said.

Winum said the development partner gets with utility companies and comes up with a cost estimate.

“He determines which buildings should be torn down and which buildings should be kept,” he said. “He tries to start getting people to have an interest to come in and do a building.”

Getting main infrastructure onto the campus will be a top priority as the GRC’s power plant is phased out

“That campus up there has its own power plant,” Winum said. “Water and sewer was brought in by GMU (Glenwood Municipal Utilities) to a point, and then everything else was handled by that power plant.”

Utilities is a major issue for the Glenwood Community School District, which currently houses its central office, THRIVE alternative school and Kids Place daycare in the 103 Central Building on the campus. The district’s lease of that building expires June 30, 2025. The district recently expressed interest in turning the former Meyer Building into a multipurpose facility that could house the GCSD’s central office, food service and technology departments, THRIVE alternative high school, a planned career academy, innovation center and Kids Place childcare center. However, getting utilities to that building from a main line would be costly.
Winum said because the school district was not intending to have a future presence on the campus when the financial agreement between the Glenwood Redevelopment Corp. and state was being negotiated, dollars were not included to bring utilities to the Meyer Building. The immediate concern for the school district, however, is finding a way to stay in the 103 Central Building past next June.

“The biggest issue right now for the school system is their current building,” Winum said. “Assuming this real estate gets transferred, come June 29, 2025, we need to figure out how to keep them going.”

Getting the building hooked up on the existing power plant has been discussed but would  likely be very costly.

While questions linger about the school district’s presence on the campus, Glen Haven Village will be hooked up to utilities after the property transfer takes place. Costs associated with the hook-ups for Glen Haven Village were included in the agreement with the state.

Winum noted that it helps that Glen Haven Village is located on the north edge of the campus, close to existing utility lines.

Once results of the SHPO studies are known, the redevelopment of the campus will begin.

“We understand, we need to get this going today,” Winum said.