Moss Green Urban Village could cost $220 million

Updated: June 16, 2010

Appeared in the Daily Iowan June 10, 2010
By Tyler Harris

The new Moss Green Urban Village may cost around $220 million, said Wally Pelds, an engineering consultant for Eco-4 Partners LLC of Des Moines.

The goal of the new business park is to be designed and built in eco-friendly ways.

However, Eric Woolson, the president of the Concept Works, the communications firm hired by the Moss family, said the exact cost of construction will be determined over time as tenants appear.

The village, formerly Moss Dairy Farm, may get its final approval at the June 15 Iowa City City Council meeting.

Jared Vincent, a principal with Eco-4 Partners, said the first phase of construction will likely start in four to six weeks.

The Moss family hired the company to work with Moss Green Development Corp. LLC, the city of Iowa City, and Johnson County to construct the village and the road leading to it, Oakdale Boulevard.

The land is located around 2 miles from the Pedestrian Mall on 170 acres at the intersection of Interstate 80 and Highway 1.

Steve Moss’s grandfather bought the land in the 1920s before it was cut in half by the construction of Interstate 80. Now, unable to farm an acreage split by the interstate, the Moss family decided the land should be used in an environmentally friendly way.

“We’re trying to make a smaller footprint,” Moss said. “This is just being good stewards of the land.”

The idea for a “greenest of the green” is a combination of green concepts. They include parking ramps to reduce the space cars take up, walking trails to allow people to walk to their destinations rather than drive, and a European system of geothermal heating and cooling.

But green technology can often only good for business if it either costs less to use or raises the value of a product, said John Solow, a UI associate professor of economics.

“Consumers might place an extra value on products produced in environmentally conscious ways, but they still buy what’s cheapest if they figure others will buy the green products,” Solow wrote in an e-mail.

The heating and cooling system is one profitable application, costing 60 percent less to use than traditional methods, said Nancy Quellhorst, the president of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce.

The buildings and roads will be built above the floodplain and with the terrain, saving 85 percent of the area’s natural trees and minimizing the effect on the land.

Vincent said the excavation companies will use only biodiesel in their machinery.

“[The village] should have less impact than farming does,” Moss said.

Along with environmental impact, it is a priority to create jobs for residents of the village, with approximately 502 condominium units within proximity of job locations.

Quellhorst said the project has the potential to recruit businesses with an environmental ethic from across the nation.

Moss says it will take approximately six months of planning for the first company to come in, and 1.5 to two years of construction for the first building.

He and Woolson said the project has received wide support from city and government officials.

“I think a lot of people are anxious for us to try it,” he said. “If you can make a community like this, it’s going to make it better for everybody.”