.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} The possibility that some physicians may buy clinic property adjacent to Mercy Capitol hospital has added a new twist to the state’s efforts to purchase the nearly 10-acre medical complex north of the Capitol. If an agreement is not reached soon with the hospital, design work on a new state office building to be built adjacent to Mercy Capitol could be delayed, say state officials.

State officials have been negotiating with Mercy Medical Center for more than a year for the hospital and clinic property, which is bounded by Des Moines Street on the north and Grand Avenue on the south, between 12th and 14th streets. Legislators earlier this year approved funding to construct a new state office building west of the hospital to replace the Henry A. Wallace Building.

As part of that plan, the Iowa Department of Administrative Services wants to purchase the Mercy Capitol hospital building to use as an administrative annex. Mercy has announced it plans to close the hospital in late 2009 when it opens its new hospital in West Des Moines.

At a meeting on Aug. 21, DAS Director Mollie Anderson told the Capitol Planning Commission that Mercy, which originally had been negotiating to sell the entire 9.5-acre parcel to the state, is now willing to sell approximately 4.7 acres including the hospital land, the hospital building and a parking lot, but not the land beneath the building that houses the physicians at 1300 Des Moines St.

“(Mercy officials) have not said who they are selling (the clinic land) to, they have just said they are not selling it to us,” Anderson said following the meeting. “They have said there is the potential for more doctors to want to serve the East Side, and they want to preserve the ability to do that. So in other words, until they determine (the doctors) are not interested, they are not willing to sell it to us.”

Mercy spokesman Gregg Lagan said the hospital’s policy is to not comment about ongoing negotiations.

Ladco Development Inc., which owns the clinic building, has not been approached by anyone about purchasing the building, said owner Jon Garnaas. “It’s our intent to continue to own the building,” he said.

Dr. Jose Angel, a Mercy physician who operates La Clinica Medica for Spanish-speaking residents in the clinic building, said the building “is a great location,” and that he plans to keep the clinic there after the hospital closes. He said he’s not aware of which doctors may be interested in the land or building, but “there are a lot of doctors who say they don’t want to move.”

The state had offered Mercy $6 million for the entire 9.5 acres earlier in the negotiations. During last week’s meeting, Anderson told the commissioners that the amount Mercy is now asking for the 4.7 acres is “unacceptable to the state.” She did not disclose the amount of the offer.

“I am hopeful that we can have an agreement by the next time we meet (Oct. 17), or it will push back the design work [for the new state office building],” she told the commission members.

Anderson said she has asked Substance Architecture, which is designing the building, to prepare a revised design in case an agreement can’t be reached.

In a related matter, Anderson told the planning commission that the DAS is evaluating whether to renovate the vehicle fleet maintenance building into additional office space after that operation moves to the Mercy Capitol building in late 2009. The DAS has approached the Iowa Division of Banking, which currently leases private office space at 200 E. Grand Ave., about moving to that building on the west side of the Capitol complex.

Also, Anderson raised the possibility of enclosing the State Historical Building’s southeast patio area with a glass structure to create a Capitol Visitors’ Center. The state has been exploring several possible locations for a visitor’s center that would be used primarily by students visiting the Capitol. The patio, which provides a view of the new West Capitol Terrace Park and the Capitol, is currently used by Café Baratta’s restaurant.

“It only takes one visit (to the terrace) to realize that is the right location for the visitors’ center,” Anderson said.