Iowa City Community School District, Coralville outline $58M natatorium plan; district share about $14.5M

Iowa City Community School District administrators and Coralville officials presented a joint plan for a new natatorium and recreation center that consultants estimate could cost about $58 million to build and that would assign the school district roughly $14.5 million of the construction cost, district and city representatives said during a board work‑session discussion.

The proposal would place a new facility adjacent to the district’s middle school campus, add a 10‑lane competition pool (the district’s current pool is an eight‑lane facility), and divide use and costs between the district and the city. "This is simply about the construction share for the new facility," Chase, deputy superintendent, said during the presentation.

The plan grew from a multi‑year engagement and consultant process led by Newman Munson Architects and local partners. Dave Zirodnick of Newman Munson described a two‑phase concept that either adds to the existing building or builds a new facility next to the current site; the team favored a new build that would allow programming to continue during construction. The consultants and contractors provided baseline cost ranges of $50 million to $55 million; applying an estimated 5% annual escalation for a potential 2027 construction start pushed the estimate closer to $58 million.

Consultants and district staff described the method used to allocate costs to the district: assign school and city use…