Demolition of the Ames Community School District administrative building at 120 S. Kellogg, also known as the Lincoln building, is well under way and is scheduled to be completed by July 1.

The land was purchased by the Story County Supervisor for $665,000, an amount well over the appraised value of $200,000 for both the building and the land.

Construction on a human services building will begin as soon as the county can take over the land.

The building’s condition is too poor to be used as it is, said Ralph Farrar, deputy superintendent of Ames Community Schools.

“It was in violation of every [American with Disabilities Act] rule there is,” he said.

The law requires all public buildings to comply with certain regulations to be handicapped accessible. The government gives building owners time to bring things up to code, but if someone files a lawsuit before changes are made, the renovations must be completed very quickly. It can also be costly.

“We were lucky we didn’t have anybody report us to the federal government during the time we were in that building,” Farrar said.

He said it would have cost nearly $1 million to bring the building to adequate condition.

When the school district moved into the building over 15 years ago, it was meant to be a temporary arrangement. The bid for the land was the perfect opportunity to get out of the building and gain some money for the school district as well, Farrar said.

The school district’s administrative services are currently located on the second story of Brenton Bank at 424 Main St. The curriculum and instruction division is in Willson-Beardshear Elementary at 920 Carroll Ave., and the printing and production division is at Meeker Elementary at 300 20th St.

The district has leased the Brenton Bank location for two years.

The school district is required to have the administrative building completely demolished and the land ready for construction by July 1.

The old Story County human services building on South Duff Avenue was destroyed in the flood of 1993 and the departments housed there were forced to move to temporary locations, said Jane Halliburton, member of the Story County board of supervisors.

“[Human services] is a state department, but each county is required to provide space for the department,” she said.

The new building will also house offices for the Story County juvenile court services, for community services and case management services, and for the Story County attorney juvenile division.

Some space will also be rented out to Mid-Iowa Community Action. The company is currently renting space in Colorado Junction Mall.

“It’s a lot better for citizens to have all of these services under one roof,” Halliburton said. “It’s not real frequently that Iowa State students utilize these services, but it will make it easier to access them when they do need to,” she said.

Halliburton said a couple of services that will not be located in the building are the city assessors office, now permanently at 515 Clark Ave., and Central Iowa Mental Health, also known as the Richmond Center, at 600 5th St.

Halliburton said they were able to make the bid on the land with assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Halliburton is also an authorized FEMA representative.

“Because we had the flood in 1993, the county has been working very hard with FEMA to develop suitable housing,” she said.

The county has been looking for a site for the new building over the past five years and has examined more than 20 locations.

With the help of Brett Shipper with Wells, Woodburn & O’Neil Architects at 1105 Grand Ave. in West Des Moines, the Lincoln building site was determined to be the best possible site that was available, Halliburton said.

They talked with the school district to see if it would be possible to have both buildings located on one site, but it was not large enough to accommodate the needs of both.

Halliburton said she was pleased with the agreement they reached.

“It gave us the space we needed to build on, and it provided some financial resources for the school district,” she said.

The school district was responsible for demolishing the building. Story county will complete the payment and receive the land on or before July 1, Halliburton said.

“The board of supervisors is very pleased to finally see this take place,” she said.