Utilities Are First Priority For Redevelopment Of Former GRC Campus

The Glenwood Redevelopment Corporation, a non-profit organization established to oversee redevelopment of approximately 250 acres of the former Glenwood Resource Center campus, has taken possession of the property. The transfer took place in mid April.

The first major objectives for the Glenwood Redevelopment Corporation, according to spokesperson Larry Winum, are getting utilities in place for Glen Haven Village and the 103 Central building, occupied by the Glenwood Community School District, and getting the remaining buildings on campus decommissioned.

“We’re working with the state to decommission all the buildings up there because they haven’t been shut down,” Winum told members of the Mills County Board Of Supervisors.  “We found out that the state can’t turn things off because they’re on ICM/FR (Intermediate Care Facilities for Mental Retardation), even though there’s nobody up there, so we could never turn anything off. Now that we’ve taken possession, we have to pay utility bills and it’s like $60,000 a month.

“The goal is to have all the buildings decommissioned by June 30.”

June 30 is also the deadline for getting new utilities hooked up to Glen Haven Village and the 103 Central building. Both facilities are still operating with utility services provided by the Glenwood Resource Center power plant, which is scheduled to shut down June 30.

“You should start seeing some activity in terms of ditches being dug, getting power in – electric, gas, water, sewer and the internet to both of those facilities,” Winum said during an address to the Glenwood City Council last week. “That’s kind of our main goal right now – to get that done before we shut the power plant down June 30.”

The long-term objective of the redevelopment corporation is to get the property “development ready.” 

Omaha-based HDR Engineering has been hired as the architect to orchestrate development. Winum noted that HDR has been involved in the transition process from the beginning so it makes sense to keep the firm on board.

HDR’s first task at hand is accepting RFQs (Request For Qualifications) to identify a master developer. Initial discussions have focused on bringing residential housing to the property.

“The key is to find somebody who knows how to do some things with those existing buildings,” said Winum.

There are over 100 buildings on the campus, including the residential cottages, but 85 percent of the structures will be demolished, under an agreement reached between the State Of Iowa and the redevelopment corporation.

“At this point in time, what people probably need to understand, the agreement we made with the state,” Winum stressed. “The state was going to tear every building down, every single one of them. They weren’t going to stay. When the redevelopment corporation  got involved, we said we think there are some buildings up there that could be maintained or kept. Whether it’s the fire station, for example, as something we’d like to keep, whether it’s the girls cottage to convert into a multi-family living unit - something like that. We were able to preserve some of the buildings, but not a whole lot.

“We think we did a decent job saving some of them. Hopefully, people understand that.”

Mitigation of asbestos issues played a major role in the state’s desire to tear down so many of the buildings on the campus. The demolition process will take time, Winum said.

“The agreement runs through 2028, but the goal is to get that done in a faster time frame,” he said.

Included in the agreement with the state, is the construction of two new entrances to the property 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. Construction of the new entrances could begin later this year.

Winum said the wheels are in motion to get the process moving.

“You’re going to get two new roads off of 34, you’re going to get a new utility spine coming in with water, gas and electric to do something with development and you’re going to see a lot of buildings coming down,” he said