A second location for Cedar Rapids Prep, a local charter school, is being planned for the former GoDaddy building in Hiawatha.
The Hiawatha City Council voted unanimously to approve a rezoning request for the new school at its meeting Wednesday night, May 17. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the request at their meeting Dec. 15.
James Troupis, chief of schools for Opportunity Education, the company that operates Cedar Rapids Prep, said plans call for a new school facility for grades 3-8, with a capacity of about 600 students and 30 staff members, in the 74,000-square-foot former GoDaddy building at 1 Parsons Drive in Hiawatha, which was vacated when GoDaddy moved its operations to downtown Cedar Rapids in 2023.
The current Cedar Rapids Prep opened for classes in fall 2025 on two floors of one of the former Transamerica buildings, at 4515 N. River Blvd. NE. Together, the two former Transamerica buildings are known as Edgewood Pointe.
Mr. Troupis said Cedar Rapids Prep is running out of room at its current location – the school has already enrolled more than 260 students in grades 6-8, and several more are on a waiting list.
The school has been in negotiations with the current Edgewood Pointe owner regarding expanding its footprint there, but with enrollment pressures continuing to grow, he said Cedar Rapids Prep needed to move forward quickly.
In fact, Mr. Troupis said the school hopes to open its Hiawatha campus by August 2026, following renovations of the facility.
“It’ll be fast,” Mr. Troupis said. “We have students starting in August, so our goal is to have the first day of school the last week of August (in the new facility).”
For the first year, Mr. Troupis said Cedar Rapids Prep plans to use the first floor of the building for grades 6-8 and complete a 10,800-square-foot addition for a gymnasium and storm shelter. A football and soccer field will be added down the road, as well as classroom spaces on the second floor.
Ninth graders will remain at the current Edgewood Pointe site next year, as part of CR Prep’s high school. More high school grades will be added in future years, and CR Prep still has a purchase agreement for a 17-acre tract south of the Edgewood Pointe towers for a new high school building, though those plans haven’t yet been fully developed.
Mr. Troupis said GoDaddy completed a $6 million remodeling of the building in 2017, including several appealing features such as a “speakeasy” – which Cedar Rapids Prep hopes to use as “one of the nicest teacher’s lounges you’ll find” – a fully-equipped kitchen and cafeteria, several huddle rooms and meeting rooms that can be repurposed into offices, an indoor relaxation area with swings and a slide that connects the building’s two floors.
As a result, remodeling will mostly consist of “adding a few walls” to create classroom spaces, Mr. Troupis said. The remodeled building will accommodate students in grades 3-5 starting in the 2027-28 school year, he said.
Mr. Troupis also noted Cedar Rapids Prep considered another vacant commercial building in downtown Cedar Rapids for the new location, but found the GoDaddy site to provide a simpler transition.
“For an existing building, it’s almost an ideal setup for a school,” he said.
The GoDaddy building is attractive for a variety of reasons, Mr. Troupis said, including modern interior spaces “with a fun aesthetic we know students will get excited about and works with our STEM focus;” the necessary land for the new gym and football/soccer field; and close access to CR Prep’s existing campus.
“Though the outside currently leaves a lot to be desired, we believe we can make it a special building with our proposed exterior changes,” he added. “Ultimately, we want any campus of Cedar Rapids Prep to be different in quality from every school in the region – that includes academic performance, student opportunities, teaching talent, and facilities. GoDaddy allows for this.”
In a Dec. 4 letter to Hiawatha city officials, FGD Investments, the owner of the GoDaddy property, outlined the plans for the new school facility and requested a rezoning from CPR-3 (Center Point Road 3 District, a commercial designation) to C-ORS (Office/Research/Service District), which will allow “schools up to and through grade 12 without boarding” as a permitted use, while maintaining the site’s existing Mixed-Use Overlay District designation.
Schools are not allowed under the CPR-3 zoning designation.
According to the letter, the school’s operational model does not include bussing or district-provided transportation services.
“As a result, all student arrivals and departures will occur exclusively through parent-managed drop-off and pick-up,” the letter says. “This approach has been incorporated into the site planning process to ensure safe, efficient, and well-coordinated daily circulation.”
The site will include two access points off Robins Road and an existing access point off North Center Point Road.
Hiawatha City Council member Ben Fiedler asked about potential traffic concerns with the site, with numerous parents dropping off students in the absence of a bussing option.
In response, Nicole Neal of Civil Design Advantage, the civil engineer for the project, said her firm’s “stacking mapping” doesn’t show significant traffic concerns, but that the firm continues to consult with neighboring property owners on the issue.
The letter also notes that the planned use of the site is “intentionally limited” in scope, and will include at least one parking spot for each staff member as “a baseline for the project’s parking strategy.”
“There are no plans to host large-scale events, including athletic tournaments, or other high-attendance activities that could generate substantial traffic or require additional parking,” the letter says.
Mr. Fielder also asked about fencing between the athletic field and nearby Robins Road, and Ms. Neal said fencing options are being evaluated.
In response to a lighting question from council member Jeff Cater, Ms. Neal said the fields will be lit, but lighting will comply with city code, which requires zero foot-candles of light at the property line.
Developers are also evaluating a range of site design options and potential modifications, according to the letter.
“These efforts focus on optimizing on-campus traffic flow, ensuring sufficient parking availability, enhancing safety for pedestrians and vehicles, and planning for long-term operational needs of the campus,” the letter says. “Through this process, the design team aims to create a functional, efficient, and community-compatible campus that meets current educational requirements while maintaining flexibility for responsible future growth.”
The project also aligns with Hiawatha’s comprehensive plan, which identifies a need for additional educational facilities, according to the letter.
Mr. Cater said the plan will make use of a building that hasn’t been occupied for several years.
“Buildings sitting empty aren’t necessarily a good thing for the city or anybody else, or from a police perspective,” he said. “While we don’t want to put just anything in a building, the fact that the building is sitting empty is also an equal concern.”
Hiawatha Mayor Steve Dodson agreed, saying the project “will help support new businesses, whether it be retail restaurants or whatever, in the area. So I think it’s going to be a boost to whoever decides to do more future developments in our core area.”
Opportunity Education has two charter schools in Iowa, Cedar Rapids Prep and Des Moines Prep, and plans to open Davenport Prep in Davenport in 2026. The company’s education network also includes two private Quest Forward High Schools in Omaha, Nebraska, and Santa Rosa, California, and has four partner schools in Florida.
