(Radio Iowa) – The Board of Regents has given Iowa State University the approval to move ahead with a lease for an anchor tenant in its CyTown development project near Jack Trice Stadium. I-S-U attorney Michael Norton says the lease agreement is with McFarland Clinic. “McFarland is committed to building a comprehensive medical clinic in the CyTown development area. The services provided the clinic will include sports medicine, urgent care, family practice and pain management, physical therapy, occupational medicine, and imaging and lab services,” Norton says. He says it is a long-term agreement.

“The terms of the agreement include a 30 year ground lease with four five-year extension rights the initial ground lease will be 50-thousand per year escalating five-thousand per year through the life of the contract,” he says. Norton says I-S-U will not be involved in the construction. “McFarland will build the facility at their own cost and then convey ownership of the building to the university upon completion, and the building will then be leased back with the cost of construction being essentially prepaid lease for the use of the building over the term of the agreement,” Norton says.

I-S-U is tax exempt, and the agreement includes a provision to with the City of Ames dealing with the tax issue. “Under the agreement with the city I-S-U will agree to charge all tenants of the CyTown development, an amount equal to what they would pay if the development was developed on privately owned land as payments in lieu of tax,” Norton says. “This ensures that tenants are not given an unfair competitive advantage to locating their business in the CyTown development area.”

The area develop approximately between Jack Trice Stadium and the Iowa State Center is 40 acres and the University continues working to secure other tenants.