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Economy

New Apartments Planned for DeWitt

the Iowa Mutual building in downtown DeWitt
Bush Development
the Iowa Mutual building in downtown DeWitt

With help from the state, a vacant historic office building in downtown DeWitt will be converted into apartments. The Iowa Economic Development Authority has approved tax credits for Bush Development of Davenport and its plans for the Iowa Mutual Lofts.

Vice President of Project Development, Bryce Henderson, says the building has been vacant since the Iowa Mutual Insurance Company was sold to another company. And Bush plans to use its recent project in Muscatine as a model - the Hershey Lofts.

"And so we are using that project kind of as the baseline for what we're doing in DeWitt as well. That project has been 100 per cent leased on the residential side and very well received by the local community. They really hadn't had any new downtown housing ever."

One section of the building in DeWitt dates back to 1924, while others were added on in the 1940's and 50's, and the 1970's.

"If you were to build a brand new building, you would not spend nearly the amount of money that we're spending here on a per unit basis. But the state historic workforce and brownfield credits all help mitigate those costs so that we can charge a reasonable rental rate for the apartments and meet the expectations of our investors."

The former Iowa Mutual building will be converted in to 53 rental units, plus a lounge, fitness center, storage units, and garages.

Henderson says once construction starts this project will take about one year to complete and cost 14.3 million dollars. A market study showed a strong demand for rental housing in DeWitt.

Economy
A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.