Iowa City Synagogue Set to Move to Coralville Later this Year

An Iowa City Synagogue that has been in Iowa City since it was first incorporated in 1916 will be moving to Coralville later this year.

Rabbi Jeff Portman said the , which has been in its current location on East Washington Street since 1951, is moving to the former Gold's Gym building at 401 Oakdale Boulevard for the additional space it will provide.

"We've been cramped for awhile now," Portman said. "We found that it wasn't economically feasible to stay where we're at."

Portman said the 200 family congregation needs more space, most notably an onsite school, than the current 10,000 square foot building provides them. He said the Gold's Gym building, which has already been purchased, will provide 17,500 square feet.

Portman said this, combined with the fact that the current synagogue is in both a flood plain (it flooded in 1993) as well as a historical district, made it much easier to move rather than to attempt to expand the current building.

"Everything sort of really nicely pointed toward Gold's Gym," Portman said.

Portman said it was still a tough decision to make, as "pretty much everyone" wanted to stay in downtown Iowa City, the hurdles were just too high. He said he doesn't expect the synagogue will lose any of its membership from the move.

"We may lose a few students, but most of them go to the for services," Portman said. "We'll be fine."

It still remains to be seen what will happen to the old building when the congregation departs for their new location, likely in August or September Portman said. Many in favor of saving the across the street were also in favor of more smart development of what is still a historic building.

Portman said there will be an open house at the new location on Jan. 29 from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Correction: The original version of the story referred to Rabbi Jeff Portman with the wrong last name.