Hunter
06/10/23
The University of Iowa will be asking the Board of Regents next week to terminate its lease agreement on the Iowa Research Park in Coralville.
The Gazette reports the university wants to make a 185-acre portion of the research park more attractive to companies by removing the Regents as owner and allow prospective developers to either by or lease land directly from the UI, as is done at Iowa State University’s research park.
The UI says developers and lenders are hesitant to invest in the area because of ground and sub-ground lease agreements keeping the underlying ground as State of Iowa property.
The request asks the Regents to transfer ownership to the UI Research Park Corporation at no cost.
The Oakdale Campus is nearly 500 acres; the State Hygienic Lab and the Kirkwood Regional Center are located there. Among the businesses on the 185 acre portion are Higher Learning Technologies and Firefly Photonics. 14 available lots covering over 40 acres of that are still available.