The University of Iowa is looking to lease 65,760 square feet of warehouse, office and support space on ACT Inc.’s former Iowa City campus for use by UI Health Care’s pharmacy services group.
The agreements, going next week before the Board of Regents, would be for two adjoining facilities owned by ACT Circle Holdings of Bettendorf.
The first 20-year lease would allow UIHC’s pharmacy group to use 47,760 square feet of warehouse space at 2100 ACT Circle in Iowa City for “specialized pharmacy operations and mail order prescription fulfillment.”
The second 20-year lease would enable the pharmacy group to use 18,000 square feet in an adjoining building at 2101 ACT Circle for office and support space, according to regent documents.
Combined, the two facilities would house 95 UI employees — including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, business managers and other support staff.
“UIHC would relocate staff to these new facilities from both an existing leased facility (which ends its lease term in 2024) and from within the UIHC main hospital campus,” according to regent documents, reporting the facilities together would support UIHC pharmacy operations, other health care facilities in the area and “provide mail order prescriptions to Iowans across the state.”
The proposed leases would have UI paying $31,442 a month for the warehouse space and $18,750 a month for the office space — or a combined $602,304 a year, which amounts to $12 million over 20 years.
That $12 million is without consumer price index escalations the parties have agreed would increase rent for both buildings at years four, six, nine, 11, 14, 16 and 19.
News of UI intentions for the property come less than a year after ACT — an education testing company with a long Iowa City history — announced plans to lay off 106 employees and start selling more of its property off Scott Boulevard in east Iowa City.
That main Iowa City campus spans 93 acres. ACT Chief Executive Officer Janet Goodwin last year told The Gazette the company was selling due to changes in how employees work — with many preferring remote work from home.
In 2022, ACT sold its Tyler Building on the Iowa City campus for $8.7 million to the Iowa City Community School District to use as professional development space for educators, online learning support and possibly career and technical education.
As part of the UIHC lease agreement, ACT has agreed to make facilities improvements over the term of the lease. UIHC will be responsible for snow removal, landscaping, building maintenance, janitorial work, insurance and real estate taxes, while ACT will be responsible for the overall building structure.
The lease, should it gain regent support, will compound UIHC’s explosive growth — signing leases for clinics on both the far west and far east ends of the state and buying Mercy Hospital in Iowa City through a $28 million bankruptcy sale.
With that purchase, UIHC added nearly 1,000 former Mercy employees, 192 licensed beds and 10 clinic locations across the region — including the main Mercy campus in Iowa City.
UIHC also is constructing a $1 billion inpatient tower on its main Iowa City campus, a new $525.6 million hospital in North Liberty, a $95 million expansion of its existing inpatient tower and a $37 million upgrade to its main emergency room — among many other projects.
www.thegazette.com
The agreements, going next week before the Board of Regents, would be for two adjoining facilities owned by ACT Circle Holdings of Bettendorf.
The first 20-year lease would allow UIHC’s pharmacy group to use 47,760 square feet of warehouse space at 2100 ACT Circle in Iowa City for “specialized pharmacy operations and mail order prescription fulfillment.”
The second 20-year lease would enable the pharmacy group to use 18,000 square feet in an adjoining building at 2101 ACT Circle for office and support space, according to regent documents.
Combined, the two facilities would house 95 UI employees — including pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, business managers and other support staff.
“UIHC would relocate staff to these new facilities from both an existing leased facility (which ends its lease term in 2024) and from within the UIHC main hospital campus,” according to regent documents, reporting the facilities together would support UIHC pharmacy operations, other health care facilities in the area and “provide mail order prescriptions to Iowans across the state.”
The proposed leases would have UI paying $31,442 a month for the warehouse space and $18,750 a month for the office space — or a combined $602,304 a year, which amounts to $12 million over 20 years.
That $12 million is without consumer price index escalations the parties have agreed would increase rent for both buildings at years four, six, nine, 11, 14, 16 and 19.
ACT changes
News of UI intentions for the property come less than a year after ACT — an education testing company with a long Iowa City history — announced plans to lay off 106 employees and start selling more of its property off Scott Boulevard in east Iowa City.
That main Iowa City campus spans 93 acres. ACT Chief Executive Officer Janet Goodwin last year told The Gazette the company was selling due to changes in how employees work — with many preferring remote work from home.
In 2022, ACT sold its Tyler Building on the Iowa City campus for $8.7 million to the Iowa City Community School District to use as professional development space for educators, online learning support and possibly career and technical education.
As part of the UIHC lease agreement, ACT has agreed to make facilities improvements over the term of the lease. UIHC will be responsible for snow removal, landscaping, building maintenance, janitorial work, insurance and real estate taxes, while ACT will be responsible for the overall building structure.
UIHC expansion
The lease, should it gain regent support, will compound UIHC’s explosive growth — signing leases for clinics on both the far west and far east ends of the state and buying Mercy Hospital in Iowa City through a $28 million bankruptcy sale.
With that purchase, UIHC added nearly 1,000 former Mercy employees, 192 licensed beds and 10 clinic locations across the region — including the main Mercy campus in Iowa City.
UIHC also is constructing a $1 billion inpatient tower on its main Iowa City campus, a new $525.6 million hospital in North Liberty, a $95 million expansion of its existing inpatient tower and a $37 million upgrade to its main emergency room — among many other projects.
UI Health Care eyes former ACT property for pharmacy services
The University of Iowa is looking to lease 65,760 square feet of warehouse, office, and support space on ACT Inc.’s former Iowa City campus for use by UI Health Care’s pharmacy services group.
www.thegazette.com
