November 25, 2002

'One Renaissance Center' will be gateway to Bluffs

wo high-rise condominium towers along with two smaller apartment buildings will soon make up what will be known as One Renaissance Center in Council Bluffs. The $80 million project will serve as the city's gateway from the west. 

Situated on 13 acres north of I-480, the property is currently known as Playland Park. It will also be established as the eastern anchor for the new pedestrian foot bridge that will eventually cross the Missouri River over to Lewis and Clark Landing on the Nebraska side. 

The 12 and 14 foot towers will rise high along the riverfront. Original plans called for several shorter buildings but the cost of installing footings on the river sand persuaded developers to erect fewer but taller buildings. 

A zoning change and development plan were recently approved by the Council Bluffs City Planning Commission and will now go before the City Council on December 16th. The developers have an option to purchase the city-owned land. The option expires at the end of the year. If all goes well, ground-breaking for the first tower could happen this spring. 

The two towers will have 208 condos with a healthy starting price of $250,000. The two five-story apartment buildings would have 60 units each. The complex will be tied to riverfront trails that can be accessed on both sides of the river.

Earlier plans were to build a marina on the river to complement the complex, however, concerns about river management have since changed those plans. The next thought was to possibly build a lake next to the buildings but many people now feel it would be subject to flooding and difficult to maintain. The city has been meeting with a Denver-based landscape architectural firm called EDAW Inc. to work out a riverfront master plan. 

There is approximately 5.5 acres of riverfront land between the I-80 bridge to Exit 56 on I-29 that can be developed. Don Gross, community development director, would like to see some sort of public recreation feature in the riverside space. 

Signa Development Services is heading up the Renaissance Center project. Their parent company, DLR Group is the principal architect. A local company, Heartland Management will market the dwellings.