AMES, Iowa --- State regents Wednesday approved a University of Iowa plan to enter into a public-private partnership for the construction of new student apartments to replace Hawkeye Court, despite one graduate students concerns that it will result in much higher rents.

The state Board of Regents, at a meeting in Ames, approved the UI agreement with Dallas company Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions to provide apartment housing for students. The vote also gives approval for the demolition of portions of the 45-year-old Hawkeye Court apartment complex.

The university will enter into a 41-year ground lease with the company, which will be responsible for construction and operation of 270 apartment units with 444 beds. The new complex will serve primarily students with dependents, graduate students and international students, as Hawkeye Court currently does, officials said.

UI graduate student Brian Prugh lives at Hawkeye Court with his wife and two children. He pays $435 per month for a one-bedroom apartment -- 30 percent of the salary he earns from a half-time teaching appointment. He told the regents he worries the new apartments will mean much higher rent for students who cant afford it, as the company will charge market rate.

What needs to be replaced is affordable housing, he said. The current plan may successfully replace the current buildings, but it does not replace the function these buildings serve within the community.

UI officials said its unclear what the rents will be, but they said a new one-bedroom on a bus line but not directly near campus might run $750 per month in the Iowa City market.

Its unfortunate there will be an increase for students living at Hawkeye Court, officials said, but this partnership is the best option available to the UI. The university would likely spend more money than a private company if the UI were to build the new apartments. Offering new housing with rates comparable to the current affordable levels of Hawkeye Court just cant be done, Vice President for Student Life Tom Rocklin said.

These apartments are cheap because they need a ton of work and theyre paid off, and we cant replicate that somewhere else, he said. Its something that pains me but I think this is in fact our best option now.

The university and Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions will establish a committee to review rental rates, officials said.

In other news from the regents meeting:

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Demolition means higher rent for U. Iowa students

GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK -- Steve Redding was upset Tuesday as a battering ram smashed into the concrete base of the Cyclorama building, which until five years ago housed a huge circular painting depicting Confederate Gen. George Pickett's "charge" against Union troops July 3, 1863.

"I'm not happy about this demolition at all. I was against it from the beginning," said Mr. Redding, 59, who lives a few miles west of here and visited the old Cyclorama building many times before it closed in 2008.

"I understand the Park Service says this is progress, but if they'd spent a few million on repairs to the old building, they wouldn't have had to spend $40 million on the new visitors center," where the painting is now housed.

Asbestos removal at the Cyclorama building -- a round structure that opened in 1962, in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the Gettysburg battle -- began in late February. Actual demolition began Saturday and will take another few weeks to complete.

On Tuesday, the structure appeared to be about 75 percent demolished, with bulldozers and heavy trucks hauling away large chunks of concrete.

The Park Service wants to restore the historic Civil War battlefield as closely as possible to the way it looked July 1-3, 1863, when thousands of Northern and Southern troops died or were wounded in what became the pivotal battle of the war. That meant the old, empty Cyclorama building had to come down.

It sits on North Cemetery Ridge, which was near the center of the Union army's battle line July 2-3, 1863. It's part of an area of high ground that formed a long, curving battle line called the "fishhook," where Federal troops set up their defenses and held off repeated Confederate attacks, finally forcing them to retreat back to Virginia that July 4.

The site looks down on what is known as the "high-water mark" of the battle, the closest the Southerners came to overrunning the Northern defenses.

Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had moved his troops into Pennsylvania in late June 1863, aiming for a knockout battle that he hoped would force President Abraham Lincoln to end the war and grant independence to the South.

Mr. Redding said, "I understand that federal officials want to restore the battlefield, but then why don't they get rid of the McDonald's fast-food place, and the Friendly's, and the Kentucky Fried Chicken," restaurants that are located nearby on Steinwehr Avenue, just 100 yards from the old Cyclorama?

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Demolition begins on Gettysburg's Cyclorama building

COLUMBIA SC An early stage of demolition already has started at the historic Palmetto Compress warehouse even as preservationists rally to save the structure. And owners said Tuesday they arent counting out a student housing project on the site, despite an Ohio developer recently withdrawing plans for one.

Edwards Communities Development Co. last summer proposed a $40 million project that would house 800 students at the site at the corner of Blossom and Huger streets. Columbias Design Development Review Commission shot down the plan in December but had granted the company a rehearing that was supposed to happen Thursday.

Meanwhile, the company withdrew its application as preservationists mounted a campaign garnering more than 1,000 signatures on a change.org petition to save the building on the site from demolition.

That does not stop (Edwards Communities) from going back with perhaps either the same plan or a modified plan, said John Currie, a Columbia lawyer and one of the buildings owners. Its not like you only get one bite at the apple.

So, I think it overstates it to say that they have determined not to pursue a student housing project. I think it means that they simply withdrew that particular application.

Efforts to reach Edwards Communities officials about their plans Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Regardless, Currie was adamant that the nearly century-old, 320,000-square-foot warehouse that currently serves as a storage facility will be demolished.

We have a contract with a demolition company, he said. They have begun to do work in there. The building is being emptied, probably as we speak, as the tenants are moving out. Were moving forward with the demolition of the building. However, Mayor Steve Benjamin said Tuesday afternoon that hes confident the warehouse will be saved.

Were close to a resolution, Benjamin said, declining to provide specifics. I fully expect that this community will come together and work to keep our historic treasure.

Benjamin slowed the project last year when he interceded as a member of City Council to have the building declared a city landmark.

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Palmetto Compress demolition process under way

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Demolition is under way at Gettysburg National Military Park on a building situated at the centre of what were once the Union Army's battle lines.

Work to tear down the Cyclorama Building began a month ago with asbestos removal and is expected to last until late April, park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said Monday.

The removal is part of the National Park Service's longstanding efforts to restore the park to conditions more closely mimicking 1863, when the property was engulfed by a pivotal battle in the American Civil War.

"Anyone who studies the Battle of Gettysburg learns about the Union fishhook, and it's the shape that the battle lines of the Union Army took," Lawhon said. "This building was right in the middle of the fishhook, and it blocked people's ability to kind of connect the dots."

The nearly $600,000 cost of the repairs is being paid by the Gettysburg Foundation.

The Cyclorama Building opened in 1962 as the park's headquarters and visitor's centre, though the visitor's centre later moved to another building which has also been torn down.

The building, designed by architect Richard Neutra, housed a 377-foot circular painting of Pickett's Charge by Paul Philippoteaux. The painting was restored and moved to a new visitor's centre in 2008.

A legal battle over the fate of the building led to a court-ordered analysis of the structure and alternatives to demolition. In January, the Park Service announced the results of that study had cleared the way for a decision to tear it down.

A 1999 Park Service report called for restoring more of the battlefield to 19th-century appearances. That has included removal of structures such as a large observation tower and work on fields and fences.

Eventually, the park plans to remove a parking lot from the area by the visitor's centre that was torn down in 2009 and reduce the size of the lot by the Cyclorama Building.

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Demolition begins at Gettysburg Cyclorama Building, site of Union Army's battle lines

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) Demolition is under way at Gettysburg National Military Park on a building situated at the center of what were once the Union Army's battle lines.

Work to tear down the Cyclorama Building began a month ago with asbestos removal and is expected to last until late April, park spokeswoman Katie Lawhon said Monday.

The removal is part of the National Park Service's longstanding efforts to restore the park to conditions more closely mimicking 1863, when the property was engulfed by a pivotal battle in the American Civil War.

"Anyone who studies the Battle of Gettysburg learns about the Union fishhook, and it's the shape that the battle lines of the Union Army took," Lawhon said. "This building was right in the middle of the fishhook, and it blocked people's ability to kind of connect the dots."

The nearly $600,000 cost of the repairs is being paid by the Gettysburg Foundation.

The Cyclorama Building opened in 1962 as the park's headquarters and visitor's center, though the visitor's center later moved to another building which has also been torn down.

The building, designed by architect Richard Neutra, housed a 377-foot circular painting of Pickett's Charge by Paul Philippoteaux. The painting was restored and moved to a new visitor's center in 2008.

A legal battle over the fate of the building led to a court-ordered analysis of the structure and alternatives to demolition. In January, the Park Service announced the results of that study had cleared the way for a decision to tear it down.

A 1999 Park Service report called for restoring more of the battlefield to 19th-century appearances. That has included removal of structures such as a large observation tower and work on fields and fences.

Eventually, the park plans to remove a parking lot from the area by the visitor's center that was torn down in 2009 and reduce the size of the lot by the Cyclorama Building.

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Demolition begins at Gettysburg Cyclorama Building

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SIMS 3 HOUSE DEMOLITION! #sims3 - Video

The mood was festive as more than 50 people stood outside the old Cyclorama building on Saturday morning to watch a part of the major demolition of the circular building, taking photographs and recording videos of the gray building falling to the ground.

The crowd held cameras and cellphones to document the moment as workers destroyed about a third of the building. They said the demolition will continue Monday morning and is expected to take the entire month to complete.

Mary Luquette was one of the many snapping pictures with her cellphone, planning to send the pictures to her brother in Maryland. He would be jealous he missed the demolition, she said with a laugh.

For the Gettysburg resident, the building is a part of the town's history. But Luquette was also excited to see it fall.

"It's cool to watch a building being torn down - that's part of the thrill," Luquette said.

The building, which overlooks the ground where Pickett's Charge reached the Union line, was built in 1962, as part of the national Mission 66 initiative that opened visitor centers in parks across the country in recognition of the Park Service's 50th birthday. The building housed the painting depicting Pickett's Charge until 2008, when the painting was moved to the new visitor center and the Cyclorama's doors were closed.

But the Park Service has planned to demolish the building since 1999. Legal issues set the demolition planning back over the last several years, but now the Park Service hopes to have the demolition completed by the 150th anniversary celebration.

The Saturday morning demolition of the Cyclorama was a day Barbara Finfrock sometimes thought would never come. The Gettysburg resident, along with her friend Jerry Coates, has been fighting to tear down the Cyclorama for almost 20 years.

Without the building, the battlefield will go back to the way it should be - the way it looked when the soldiers fought and died, Coates, of Littlestown, said.

"It's an exciting and historic day," Coates said.

Read more:
Mood mostly festive at Gettysburg Cyclorama demolition

The demolition of the Insights El Paso Science Center began Monday. (Ruben R. Ramirez / El Paso Times)

Photos: Insights El Paso Science Center demolition

Just after lunchtime on Monday, a backhoe began tearing into the Insights El Paso Science Center, paving the way for a $50 million Downtown ballpark.

At about 1:30 p.m., the first wall of the 22,000-square-foot museum on Santa Fe Street was knocked down, sending debris to the ground and dust skyward.

Once the wall was knocked down the backhoe began to gut out metal framework for scrap.

"It's not going to take them very long to tear the building down," said City

There were only about 10 spectators with their cellphones out. A couple dozen more watched later as the backhoe continued to hollow out the building, but most of them were city employees returning to the old City Hall building, which will soon be demolished, too.

"I was curious to see them take down the building," said Omar Farfan, a resident. "I was excited to watch. I just wanted to see how they do it."

Another spectator was Cesar Lopez, who works for FALC Enterprises, a local trucking company.

Lopez said he hopes his company is one of those that will be subcontracted to carry away

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Demolition of Insights El Paso Science Museum begins

There has been no ice in the old Central Illinois Public Service Co. icehouse in Springfield for more than a decade.

Now, the more-than-100-year-old structure, last used as a paintball court, is coming down.

We want to get this cleaned up, owner Joe Chernis said Monday. Were looking across the street and we have the Lincoln (Home) National Historic Site. Theres just so much that could be done with that area.

Chernis, who was the only bidder on the property at 918 E. Edwards St. at a 2009 bank auction, said he concluded the site would be more attractive to potential developers minus the aging icehouse.

The property is actually four buildings on 1.2 acres. It was built in about 1909, according to newspaper archives. CIPS privatized its ice sales in 1940, the archives showed, and the building was owned by a series of ice companies through the decades.

A paintball business operated in part of the building for a time after the last company, Polar Ice, moved out in 2000.

Route 66 tie-in?

Midwest Demolition, operated by Chernis and his son, Joey, should have the site cleared in a couple of weeks, Joe Chernis said Monday.

He said there is little salvage value in the property, adding that there has been more interest in the site than in the building the past couple of years.

Chernis said he has had discussions with city and tourism officials about possible uses for the property, including the on-and-off idea of a Route 66 visitor center and museum. Ninth Street is among the routes followed by the historic route through Springfield.

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Demolition begins on former icehouse

More then 400 homes deemed public nuisances by Canton City Council Monday may be torn down this summer, as the city spends $2 million on a massive demolition program.

Council unanimously approved on first reading the demolition list, which has been built over several months by the Canton Building Department, and gave permission to the administration to enter into contract with one or more wrecking company to complete the tear-down work.

It was yet another step taken by the city to move the program forward. The city received $1 million from the Moving Ohio Forward Grant fund, which requires it to contribute a match of an additional $1 million.

Property owners can appeal the decision and/or clean up their properties to bring them up to code. The number of structures the city tears down depends on the bids submitted by local contractors. Chief Building Official Angela Cavanaugh recently said that the average cost for demolition is $8,000, which means the city would be able to demolish 250 blighted structures.

Councilman Frank Morris, D-9, asked if all of the properties on the list would be torn down as part of the program, noting that it included a few commercial properties. The program is geared at residential properties only.

Law Director Joe Martuccio described it as part of another in a continuation of buildings already declared nuisances.

This ordinance was written to be the ordinance of the first 200 buildings to come down, Martuccio said.

Councilman Edmond Mack, D-8, said that while it was not the end-all, be-all list, it is indicative of the Herculean task it took to move the demolition program forward. Mack said Cavanaugh and her staff deserve recognition for their efforts

In other business, council extended the Downtown Canton Special Improvement District (SID) for another four years, from Jan. 1, 2014 through Dec. 31, 2017. Its the fifth time the city has renewed the SID, which is a non-profit agency that uses revenue on special assessments of downtown businesses for marketing, economic development and to improve aesthetics.

Among SIDs projects is an update to the 2003 downtown master plan, which is due out this spring. In 2012, the district added 2,100 feet of new street-scape sidewalks.

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Canton declares 400 homes blighted, adds them to demolition list