DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The state will spend nearly $250,000 on a consultant to help three Iowa cities find new tenants for empty, state-owned buildings.
The Des Moines Register reports the Iowa Economic Development Board voted Friday to hire a national company, Matrix Design Group, to help seek new tenants for recently closed facilities in Toledo, Clarinda and Mount Pleasant.
Governor Terry Branstad closed a Toledo juvenile detention facility in 2014. Branstad also opted not to fund state mental health hospitals in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant, causing their closures in June 2015.
The Clarinda facility has shown to be particularly tough sell as the building is 128 years old with entire floors that have haven’t been used in decades.
The money to hire the consultant came from a federal community development fund.