Heartland AEA to move into DMACC space used by NDC

A change of venue for one organization will add a new neighbor for another.

Since the Newton Community School District is reopening the Emerson Hough building as a regular school, the tenants who have been using it as sort of an administration center need to find destinations. As the only outside agency that had an office at Emerson Hough, the Heartland Area Education Agency had to search for new office space in Newton.

Fortunately, the Heartland AEA has found an arrangement that might be a great fit. The AEA will soon move into the large room that has recently been known as the Newton Development Corporation’s conference area, using it for offices of about five employees, on the second floor of the main Newton DMACC building on North Second Avenue West.

NDC will continue to have its front-desk area used by Tanya Michener and Executive Director Frank Liebl’s office. It will also gain a classroom-type meeting space, Room 248B, across the hall, while the AEA will have a smaller meeting room next to the NDC main entrance doors.

Liebl said some steps of the move could start happening in March. The main practical deadline involves the AEA and the summer period when the school district will begin moving furniture and making changes within Emerson Hough.

“I think it will work,” Liebl said. “The big main room we have now seats 20 to 30 comfortably for a meeting, and we’ve seen 50 or 60. The room we’ll have across the hall (248B) only seats 25, but it will work great for most of our meetings.”

Liebl pointed out that Room 210, the large, dividable second floor room, and the Maytag Theater are nearby if anyone wants to host a larger event.

Chris Pierson, Heartland AEA Region 8 director, handles the agency’s support efforts for the Baxter, Colfax-Mingo, Lynnville-Sully, Newton and PCM school districts, as well as Newton Christian and Sully Christian. He said there is probably between 30,000 and 35,000 square feet of library-type, high-ceiling space the AEA uses at Emerson Hough; the total space at DMACC will be closer to 25,000 square feet.

From assistance with professional-development training to testing data to bulk printing and supply purchasing, the AEA has drawn much praise from teachers and administrators alike.

“Our space at Emerson Hough is more than we really need,” Pierson said. “We really like being in the same building as the preschool and administration, but by staying in town, we’ll continue to be in touch with, and support, all the same districts and campuses.”

Pierson said Heartland AEA personnel have a “drop-in” office used to make copies and other small tasks at Delaware Elementary School in northeast Des Moines, near Altoona, but the Emerson Hough is the agency’s only full office in the Region 8 part of its territory. Heartland reaches as far west as Carroll and as far southwest as Winterset, and its Region 8 covers the Jasper County districts, plus Southeast Polk, North Polk and Bondurant-Farrar.

There are 23 workstations and employees at the AEA’s Emerson Hough office. Pierson said there will be slightly fewer workstations at the DMACC office, with a few employees who are not in the office much sharing stations.

NDC and the AEA will be considered separate DMACC tenants.

The lease for the AEA office at Emerson-Hough with NCSD is $3 per square foot for 3,790 square feet or $947.50 per month ($11,370 annually).

The lease for the relocated AEA office at DMACC is $21,106.80 annually for 1,804 square feet. Additionally, Heartland can use the Conference Center Rooms 210A-D three times each year without setup fees and also have access to rooms 248B and 213 on an “as available” basis without charge. The AEA also has rent-free storage space in a common storage area.

Liebl said NDC has had its DMACC space at low cost for some time, but the rent it will be paying to DMACC now will enable it to stay put.

“It’s a good deal for us to be here,” Liebl said.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com