UI continues planning on $73M medical clinic

CORALVILLE – The University of Iowa will ask the state Board of Regents next week for the OK to move ahead with a $73 million medical clinic in Coralville.

The UI is seeking approval for the schematic design, project description and $73 million budget for an ambulatory care clinic in the Iowa River Landing district southeast of the Interstate 80-First Avenue interchange, according to documents released by the regents office Thursday.

The clinic would allow for outpatient services to be performed away from the busy, and landlocked, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics on campus.

Plans call for a five-story building with two partial lower levels and a rooftop penthouse totaling 154,928 gross square feet. Construction would begin this fall and be completed no later than July 2012, according to information supplied to the regents by the UI.

The regents also will be asked to approve the sale of up to $60 million in hospital revenue bonds to help pay for the project. The rest of the cost would be covered by hospital funds.

The regents also will receive a presentation about the status of negotiations for a project labor agreement with the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Building and Construction Trades Council.

In June, a split Board of Regents told University Hospitals leaders to pursue such an agreement for the ambulatory clinic project.

It is a collective bargaining agreement, negotiated between a project’s owner and local unions, that defines the terms and conditions of employment. Gov. Chet Culver issued an executive order directing state agencies to consider using such agreements for construction projects of more than $25 million.

The agreements are typically used on large projects, with the goal of minimizing labor strife and work stoppages and assuring timely completion. 

The regents will meet in Ames Aug. 4 and 5.