.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 1-acre, triangular-shaped piece of land west of the Iowa Judicial Branch Building wasn’t big enough for the state to build anything there. At the same time, it needed the owner of a building near the entrance of the new West Capitol Terrace park to move so the next phase of the project can begin.

So the state plans to trade the property on Court Avenue to the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees, in exchange for the IACCT’s building and land at 707 E. Locust St. The IACCT hopes to begin construction of a 7,500-square-foot office building on the Court Avenue site within the next month.

Mollie Anderson, director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, said the transaction is a good deal for Iowa residents.

“Basically, we have traded a property that we did not have any use for in the master plan and used it to acquire property for a park that we are in the process of building,” she said. The state’s plans call for demolishing the IACCT’s current building along with two adjoining row houses, once all have been acquired, to complete a grand entryway feature in Phase II of the West Capitol Terrace project.

Last week, however, the Capitol Planning Commission delayed approval of the IACCT building’s layout and design after the Iowa Motor Truck Association expressed opposition to the project. The motor truck association’s building is located directly west of the Court Avenue site where the IACCT plans to build.

“We certainly felt that we should have been notified as an adjacent property owner,” said Scott Weiser, the IMTA’s president. Weiser said he is concerned how the project might affect drainage to his association’s building as well as issues about how the parking would be situated relative to its property.

“We think this has moved way, way fast,” he said. “We don’t think elected officials should sell off pieces of the Capitol complex.”

Anderson said the transaction, in which the IACCT provided $75,000 cash in addition to its building and land for the state property, was conducted in accordance with state law, including an independent appraisal and approval by the state’s executive council.

Anderson said her department hopes to arrange a meeting between IACCT and IMTA representatives within the next two weeks to try to work out differences before taking the matter back to the commission.

M.J. Dolan, who became executive director of the Iowa Association of Community College Trustees on June 1, said her private, nonprofit association would rather not have had to move, but is doing so in an effort to cooperate with the state.

“We are looking at a classic, timeless building that will be a good blend with the Capitol complex and our neighbors,” she said.