The Knoxville City Council approved facade work for 203 East Main Street. The original bid for the site came back a little higher than expected, so work was done to lower the costs to get it closer to budget.

The facade costs came back at $519,465 and $500,000 was budgeted. This is a project that was awarded a grant through Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA). The project must be completed by May 2023 for the money to be available.

After reworking the numbers for the facade, the numbers were reworked to $503,000 and that cost was approved by the city council with the owner of the building taking on the extra $3,000.

Heather Ussery, Knoxville City Manager reports, “It was approved at an amount that was in addition to what was originally budgeted. It was our hope to work with the numbers, the contractor and building owner to get the number closer to what was budgeted. So, we spent the last week doing that. So, last night we provided an update to council to get down to the original amount to move forward on the project.”

The project needs to be completed by May to meet the deadline for the IEDA grant.