City OKs improvement at DMACC Maytag campus

To support the progress at the DMACC Maytag campus and its efforts to bring retail opportunities to the former headquarters, city council approved the addition of parking on West Fourth Street North.

Kim Didier, executive director of DMACC Business Resources and project manager of the Maytag Campus spoke to the council about the parking request along with two additional reimbursement requests from a 28E agreement the organization entered into with the city in March.

“As we have worked with the city and the planning staff and looked at options for the campus, you will know that Iowa Telecom had invested and created some retail space on the first floor of building 18,” Didier said. “There had always been some designs done of diagonal parking into that area to allow easier entrance into the store fronts.”

Approximately 22 diagonal parking stalls will be installed on the west side of the 300 block of West Fourth Street North. The stalls will be located partially in the street right-of-way and partially on DMACC owned property.

The city has assessed the area and found the street width of 39.5 feet is adequate for on-street parking in the area, especially considering part of the stalls will be on DMACC property and off of the roadway.

“We are currently in conversation with a couple of different businesses and we are hoping by the end of May to have three separate lease agreements for about 5,000 to 6,000 square feet,” Didier said. “We see some real momentum building there and would like to make sure they have access to their store fronts as soon as possible.”

DMACC will be responsible for the bidding process and construction of the parking stalls.

“I think it is great. As I was walking and looking at these locations I could definitely see the retail possibility and I am very excited that you have potential candidates already in mind,” councilwoman Miranda Kulis said.

City council also approved the reimbursement of two projects within the DMACC campus totaling more than $111,000. The reimbursement is a part of an inter-governmental 28E agreement between the city and DMACC to assist with improvement to the former Maytag headquarters.

The first reimbursement is for roof and elevator repair and an Ethernet switch at $76,749. The second is for concrete repair in the parking lots and sidewalks on the campus.

“We were very fortunate that for over 100 years, Maytag invested quite significantly on the facility as did Iowa Telecom,” Didier said. “As we took possession we became aware of some significant delayed repairs that needed to happen. One of those, the most significant was for the roof repair on the building where all electrical comes in for the campus.”

The second large project was the elevator repair which will bring several of the elevators back online after only having a few in operation when DMACC took over the property.

The repairs will be paid for using funds from the North Central TIF District, utilizing the gains in valuation from past projects in the area. The city, in total, pledged up to $1.5 million toward the costs of capital improvements, repairs, remodeling and infrastructure at the DMACC Maytag campus.

“The city has an ongoing interest and a working relationship with DMACC to connect DMACC to the downtown as part of the downtown revitalizing efforts,” city administrator Matt Muckler said.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com