Hiawatha Wants Developer for Mobile Home Park Site

By John Schweitzer, Correspondent

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By Aaron Hepker

Story Created: Mar 21, 2010 at 7:56 PM CST

Story Updated: Mar 21, 2010 at 7:56 PM CST

HIAWATHA — The city has agreed to buy Oakbrook Mobile Home Park, a 12-acre piece of land, for $750,000 and expects to see a multimillion-dollar development there in the near future.

The mobile home park at 155 Robins Rd. has 29 mobile homes, and the owner has agreed to remove them before closing the sale in three to four months, city administrator Gary Rogers Jr. said.

The parcel is in the middle of Hiawatha’s Town Center development area, and city officials are preparing requests for proposals for mixed-use development on the site.

The site “has been a tax consumer, and with development, it will become a tax contributor,” Rogers said, noting that the mobile home park has had some compliance issues with the city. He said the owner came to the city proposing the sale several months ago.

“We don’t expect to hold it very long,” he said. The city plans a “bond anticipation” issue to pay for the site, with bond payments taken over by the successful developer.

The site, which has two of its 12 acres in a flood plain, is just north of the intersection of Robins Road, Emmons Street and North Center Point Road — an intersection the city plans to realign as part of its Town Center downtown development.

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