Senior Center Facilities Plan

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In a continuing effort to provide quality public facilities and opportunities for older community members, the City of Iowa City has developed a Senior Center Facilities Plan for the building located at 28 South Linn Street. The purpose of the plan is to provide direction to the administration, the Senior Center Commission, and the City Council for future development, Capital Improvement funding, and facility planning and modernization over the next five years and beyond.

Facilities plan development process (Part 1)

The City released a Request for Proposals for Consultant Services for a Senior Center Building ADA Assessment and Facilities Plan Project in February 2020. Iowa City Architecture firm, Rohrbach Associates, was selected and was contracted to review and develop the plan in June 2020. The Rohrbach Associates team had meetings with staff and spent the early part of the review investigating, researching, and field verifying the site, building, systems, and operations before developing the proposed concept plans. This was followed by a public input process.

Community input is an important component of facilities planning. In an online presentation by consulting architects Rohrbach Associates, three building plan alternatives for the current structure were detailed. A web-based survey was distributed in the fall of 2020 to gather community input regarding the three building plan options. The data collected was analyzed and used to help develop objectives, goals, and next steps in the building planning process.

View the recorded presentation here.
Review the three plan alternatives here.
Facilities Plan Input Survey Data here .
Facilities Survey Executive Summary here .
New south entrance design exploration here.
Additional conceptual views can be found here.

Facilities plan development process (Part 2)

Due to unexpected changes with the original architecture firm, the planning process was delayed and OPN Architects ultimately assisted in finalizing the facilities plan. The Senior Center Assessment and Master Plan was presented to the City Council in April 2022. View the plan and appendices:

2022 Senior Center location survey

City Council inquired about the desire of Iowa City Senior Center Members, participants, and community members to explore the options to either maintain the current location at 28 S Linn St or considering moving to a new facility in another building location. This inquiry came after the presentation by OPN Architects which showed the potential cost of the two phases (interior, exterior) would exceed $12 million over time with inflation.

The Iowa City Senior Center worked together with the University of Iowa Public Policy Center to develop a survey and five public input sessions to determine the desired location, whether to continue usage of the old Post Office as a Senior Center or to look at a new building location. The survey also looked at programming needs and barriers to utilizing the current building location.

After gathering nearly 1,000 responses, we concluded that 73% of respondents supported staying in the current location. Senior Center staff reviewed the data and comments from the public and set up a presentation to the Senior Center Commission. The University of Iowa Public Policy Center presented the results of the survey and public comment sessions to the Commission on March 17, 2023. The Commission requested a letter be sent to City Council to share the results with elected members. City Council received a memo in their April 13, 2023, information packet.

Staff will continue to move forward with implementation of the Senior Center Facility Master Plan at the current location of 28 S. Linn St.

Executive Summary of 2022 Senior Center location survey

Exterior Work

Phase 1:

Bids for the first phase of exterior work occurred in late 2023. TnT Tuckpointing and Building Restoration, LLC won the bid. This project includes exterior limestone repair and restoration, dismantling and reconstruction of existing parapet piers and parapet balustrades, and repair of the existing roofing system. Work began in late January 2024. The project will be completed in May 2024.

Phase 2:

The second phase of exterior work will be the replacement of windows and some exterior doors. Bids for this phase will occur in 2024. Anticipated timing of work will be 2025.