The now-former Garfield and Arthur elementary schools in northeast Cedar Rapids officially have new owners.
The Cedar Rapids Community School Board voted unanimously in a special meeting June 24 to sell the Garfield Elementary building, at 1201 Maplewood Dr. NE, for $160,000 to local developer Steve Emerson, and the Arthur Elementary building, at 2630 B Ave. NE, to the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy for $130,000.
The two schools are both more than a century old, with Arthur opening in 1914 and Garfield in 1915.
Both schools were closed at the end of the 2023-24 school year. Students from both schools will attend the new Trailside Elementary School at 320 27th St. NE, just across the street from Arthur, which is slated for completion in late July.
Both purchase agreements were announced earlier this month.
The Arthur purchase was approved without debate, but the Garfield purchase generated more discussion and public comment.
In particular, the board declined to consider a competing offer from the private Isaac Newton Christian Academy to purchase Garfield for $375,000 – more than double Mr. Emerson’s offer.
The competing offer was presented to the board in writing by Amy McDonald, board president of the Linn Christian Education Association, the governing body for Isaac Newton Christian Academy.
Ms. McDonald said the Isaac Newton offer would “preserve the legacy of Garfield Elementary School” as an educational institution, noting that the school purchased and preserved the former Adams Elementary School in 1989.
She also cited Senate File 2368, a bill approved by the Iowa Legislature this session and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds in May. Under that law, if an “educational institution” – public or private – submits the highest bid for real estate offered for sale by a school district, the district “shall sell the real property to the educational institution for such purchase price.”
However, that new measure doesn’t become law until July 1.
Some objections at the meeting centered on what’s been perceived as a secretive process to negotiate the purchase agreements.
Bob Mosey, a member of the Linn Christian Education Association’s board of directors, said he objected to the sale of Garfield to a “for-profit developer” in a “rushed, no-bid deal made behind closed doors.”
While the new Iowa law on school property sales isn’t yet in force, he said “the actions of (of the school district) are inconsistent with the intent of that law, and the timing of your no-bid deal with the developer has at least the appearance of being a race against the clock, with the developer possibly even getting a sweeter deal as a result.”
While Cedar Rapids School District finance director Karla Hogan admitted the Garfield sale amount is well below the property’s assessed valuation, other long-term factors will tip the financial scales in the school district’s favor.
Mr. Emerson said he plans to convert Garfield into 18 to 20 market-rate apartments – similar to his renovations of the former school district administration building and a district warehouse after the 2008 flood.
“My goal is to provide additional workforce housing,” he said. “The state has identified a need for about 20,000 houses in the state of Iowa, and Cedar Rapids has been struggling to replace the housing need because of the derecho. There’s been derecho grants from the state that clearly just can’t be fulfilled because of the cost of construction. So workforce housing, market-rate housing, is what I do.”
Mr. Emerson said his offer includes consideration for preserving Garfield’s historic significance.
The purchase agreement with Mr. Emerson includes a provision that two apartments in the building will be reserved for rent-free use by district employees, student teachers or others affiliated with the district. Those tenants will only be required to pay for utilities. The cash value of that agreement, Ms. Hogan said, “is greater than the combined assessed value of that building.”
Also, under a 28E agreement with Mr. Emerson, students in the school district’s building trades program will work on the building’s renovation for a minimum of two semesters, offering real-world construction experience to those students.
And Ms. Hogan cited a more direct financial impact from Cedar Rapids School District students enrolling in private schools. As of fall 2023, she said, 643 Cedar Rapids students were receiving Educational Savings Account (ESA) funds to attend private schools, representing a “diversion” of $6.5 million from the school district’s budget.
In total, 2,006 students in the Cedar Rapids School District enrollment area attended private schools in October 2023, costing the district more than $15 million in state education funding, she said.
“Losing a kindergartner in the (2024-25) school year who never returns to the district diverts $122,224 from our district over the 13-year school span of that student,” Ms. Hogan said, “an amount that could significantly impact us when multiplied by hundreds of students.”
In particular, Ms. Hogan said the district lost 196 students to Isaac Newton Christian Academy last year, representing “a loss of $1.5 million from our general fund.”
“Considering the potential for Garfield to double (Isaac Newton’s) student count, our financial losses could also double,” she said. “It is not a sound business decision to sell these properties to organizations that will affect the overall financial health of our district.”
District superintendent Tawana Grover said as part of the district’s overall strategic plan, Ms. Hogan’s “insightful breakdown of enrollment statistics is a glimpse of our current reality.”
Declining enrollment figures, she said, represent a loss not only of students, but of staff and financial resources, and that the purchase agreements will help the district attract and retain qualified staff.
“When we are looking at how we ensure that the Cedar Rapids Community School District is the leading choice for our families, we must think about innovative solutions that give our families one more reason to say yes to the Cedar Rapids Community School District,” she said.
Board president Cindy Garlock said the purchase offers for both Garfield and Arthur “provide the best learning opportunities for our students.”
“There’s a tendency to look at the dollar signs,” she said. “And I think (Ms. Hogan) outlined for us that even if we do look at the dollar signs, this is a win-win for our community and for our students. We are preserving the two buildings. We’ve heard previously from our community that they’re very interested in making sure that our buildings stay intact, so we achieve that goal.”
Ms. Garlock also noted that the district’s agreement with the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy, founded in 2007 by local music teacher David Griffin, includes an agreement to deliver 10 years of school-based instruction for district students at no fee, an agreement with a minimum value of $275,000. And Mr. Emerson’s plan brings needed housing options to the city, helping the district “to better attract and retain staff.”
“Selling to another educational institution would redirect our taxpayer dollars away from public education,” board member Nancy Humbles added. “In our decision-making process, we remained steadfast in our commitment to prioritize the needs of our students and our community.”
The district will now work with the Eastern Iowa Arts Academy and Mr. Emerson to finalize purchase agreements for the Arthur and Garfield buildings. Mr. Emerson said due to historic preservation considerations, construction on the Garfield building won’t begin for another 12 to 18 months. He also said he plans to preserve the five acres of green space around the building, rather than building “a ton of townhomes.”
Eastern Iowa Arts Academy leaders say they plan to consolidate their three current locations into a single building at Arthur, and that the “transformation” of Arthur will comprise a three-year process, including the sale of their three existing facilities.
