City Councilwoman Christine Hensley, businessman Jim Cownie and others are attempting to find a way to preserve in some form murals from the north and south exterior walls of the eight-story Riverfront Y.

Local preservationists attempted to have the Riverfront Y property declared a historic landmark but that effort failed, and Hensley then launched the effort to preserve the murals on exterior walls.

Estimates to remove the murals and move them to Justin Mandelbaum’s DesMoinesArts building at 900 Keosauqua Way carry a price tag of up to $250,000, a cost that is considered excessive.

An alternative could be to photograph the murals or duplicate them in some fashion.