Iowa City Elks Lodge 590 receives $2 million renovation

The more than 700 members of the Iowa City’s Elks Lodge 590 will soon enjoy a nearly $2 million renovation of the 637 Foster Road location. 

The capital improvement project began on Sept. 13, when the building was stripped to its bones with plans to add 4,700 square feet to the lodge. The project is an investment into the future of the club that was made by current members, said Brianna Wills, exalted ruler of Lodge 590.

“We knew this had to be a member-led initiative,” she said. “We asked early on if members would be willing to personally donate or invest in this project. Our members were interested in personally engaging with the changing and evolving (plans), which was really critical to the project. The vision we had fluctuated with what we could afford. So we started with a lot of really great ideas, and obviously we had to be very realistic about what we thought we could raise. Financially, we settled around between $2 (million) and $3 million would be probably the most that we thought our members would be interested in.”

The two-story structure will now be equipped with a sports bar on the first floor and a restaurant with more fine dining options on the second. The first floor was completed in time for a limited opening Memorial Day weekend, when the pool opened. The majority of lodge operations, however, are still run out of an on site trailer. The golf course opened for members in April. Neither the pool nor the golf course were part of the renovations that will be fully completed by the end of June.

Investing in the future of Elks Lodge 590 and breaking ground

At the inception of the improvements, some members were hesitant to change a lodge they’d loved and invested in for decades, Ms. Wills said.

“There were some pretty substantial bumps in this process, and there were even people within our membership who weren't necessarily supportive of the project,” she said. "The love for the current entity was so deep that they didn't necessarily join in the vision of changing the space. Since then, particularly since we're so far along and people can see the vision now, they understand that it's actually going to work. Even some of those people that were kind of the naysayers are now starting to donate to the project and starting to get engaged.”

Lodge Trustee Chairman Brian Kirschling said more investments of varying sizes have continued to pour in as a vision came together as the project continued.

He said the lodge worked with the City of Iowa City to ensure everything was on board and up to code before breaking ground on the project. The members, however, played a crucial part in the project, he said.

“We started defining our vision and then went to our members and asked if our vision coincided with theirs,” he said. “The project really did rely on the generosity of our members to get us across the finish line. We wanted as much buy-in as possible and needed their input.”

He said the older generation of members who have been members longer are the ones who have donated the most to the project.

“The folks who have been here the longest and seen other renovations or changes are the most supportive,” he said. “They remember what it was like to move the needle, to push the boulder uphill. They know it’s not easy, that there’s always going to be dissenting voices, but they are also the ones that have been the quickest to embrace this vision.” 

Steve Wilson, general manager of the construction project and president of Wagner Construction Services in Iowa City, said the design changes were approved in the summer of 2022. 

Mr. Wilson said the project luckily has not seen any supply shortage issues from COVID-19 or other issues and has stayed predominately on schedule over the past nine months without many pauses in construction. 

The cost of material supplies is a little higher than pre-pandemic rates, he said, but the lodge has benefited from having members of all trades participating in the construction.

“We kept things pretty standard and they look nice, but that’s the beauty of a design build – you select things that you know you can get your hands on and that fit your budget,” he said. “... We were lucky that we had members in flooring, painting, and all the trades, so we went to them and relied on their expertise, on a price point, and on availability.”

Elks Lodge 590 is the one of the largest lodges in Iowa by membership and is one of only three Elks properties with both a pool and golf course. It is also the only private pool and course in Iowa City, which draws families in, Mr. Kirschling said.

“Those are advantages, and the dining has traditionally been excellent,” he said. “We have high standards and those are going to continue with these changes.”

Lodge construction continues as membership shifts

While the first floor and the physical lodge were completed at the end of May, construction on the restaurant will continue into the summer, Mr. Wilson said. 

Before opening the bottom floor of the lodge, he said some of the construction crews were working 50 to 60 hours a week to ensure the process continued to run smoothly. 

One of the goals of the building transformation, Ms. Wills said, is to diversify the offerings of the lodge and, in turn, its membership.

“It began as an all male, fraternal organization and it was founded as such,” she said. “It wasn’t until the early '90s that women were admitted nationally for membership. For us, here in Iowa City, we knew the building needed to be renovated for mechanical reasons, but we wanted to be somewhere people wanted to come and rent space and enjoy. We need that kind of cash flow to keep ourselves alive, so we needed a facility that appealed to people who want to have a wedding reception or graduation party.”

Ms. Wills is the first woman to hold the position of exalted ruler at Lodge 590. In recent years, she said the Iowa Elks president position has been held by a few women.

Randall Payne, the general manager for the Iowa City lodge, said the continued alterations being made to the physical structure will allow the organization to continue evolving with the culture in the city and surrounding areas.

“The most important thing to me in this process is understanding the cultural shift,” he said. “We have really moved toward families. We’re becoming a family organization, and we really want to target that and make this place a great space for families of all ages.”

Once the renovations are complete, Ms. Wills said she believes the membership of the lodge will continue to grow and diversify. The capital improvements, she said, are likely to continue a history of expansion at the lodge.

“We’re trying to cater to a huge swath of people, from those who want slow dine with white tablecloths all the way to single people or people who have small children,” she said. “That’s why we went from having a restaurant and adding a sports bar … There’s a more family-friendly atmosphere where people are going to come to the snack bar for pool food while we can still host tailgates and things for the golfers. That's kind of the evolution we’re working towards.”