Von Maur is going to anchor the new Iowa River Landing out in Coralville- no word yet on whether it'll affect the future of it's Sycamore Mall location in Iowa City. I'm really, really, really, really hoping NOT- as keeping Von Maur where it was is what saved Sycamore Mall to begin with. They showed the mall and the East Side of Iowa City a lot of love by staying where they were and if I move up a tax bracket overnight, I'll totally go on a spending binge there. (Seriously- I'll even buy a suit, penny loafers, whatever it takes! I'd totally go swank-wild to keep y'all on the East Side.)
Not to return once again to a point I keep making, but we need City Leaders to start being proactive about this. Am I arguing we should go all out and wallow in whorish capitalism like Coralville does? I am not- but we should try at least try and keep some retail in Iowa City. There's a hybrid model of local-chain retail that's out there for the taking that would work really well for Iowa City. We just need leadership with the vision to pursue it.
Or maybe we can just say f**k it and be the housing tract to Coralville's shopping mall. Which we'll probably end up doing anyway.
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