Des Moines Register
07-21-07
Mounting budget costs delay Asian garden from taking root
By TOM BARTON
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Engineering requirements by the city of Des Moines, Iowa Department of Natural
Resources and Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding along the Des
Moines River have pushed back development of the Robert D. Ray Asian
Garden.
Officials with the Chinese Cultural Center of America said plans to complete the
garden were temporarily put on hold while the foundation regrouped to find more
money for a price tag that increased tenfold.
"We had to overcome some bureaucratic hurdles, but finally we are ready to
charge ahead," said Paul Shao, Iowa State University architecture professor
and the center's president.
Shao said plans called for construction to begin in April on a pond with a series of
waterfalls, stone pagodas, lanterns, rock formations and sculptural vegetation.
The gardens would complement the $1.6 million Chinese pavilion that opened in
August on the east bank of the Des Moines River near the Botanical Center.
But concerns by Des Moines officials about flood control and potential logjams
along the river forced the center to find ways to increase its budget to meet the
new building criteria.
"They wanted us to make sure the gardens and its structure would not trap debris
from upstream during flooding and needed to be parallel to the angle of river
flow," Shao said. "We also wanted to make sure the gardens would not wash
away during flooding."
Forty-foot steel pilings had to be installed underneath the pavilion to connect it
with the river bedrock, increasing the cost of construction for the project from
$800,000 to $2 million.
"It's not entirely unreasonable, but finding money is always an obstacle," Shao
said. "Fortunately, we have a good project that people are willing to invest in."
So far, the center has raised $1.9 million of the $2 million needed; construction
began at the beginning of the week.
Some residents were concerned that a drooping snow fence surrounding the
pavilion, preventing access to the public, and knee-high weeds around it made
the cultural attraction an eyesore.
The weeds are now gone, and crews with Regency Commercial Services are on
site excavating underneath and around the pavilion to create the pond and
waterfalls.
Shao said a grand opening may be held in October.
"We see this as a way to offer a more vibrant and diverse quality of life for Iowa,"
he said. "These gardens will not only highlight the importance of diversity in our
community and acknowledge the significant contributions that Asian Americans
have made to Iowa, but will also serve as lasting monuments honoring Governor
Ray's visionary moral leadership and humanitarian outreach."
The city of Des Moines provided the 1.7-acre site south of the Des Moines
Botanical Center, across the river from the Iowa Events Center, to serve as a
destination attraction for the Principal Riverwalk and supply a natural link
between the Principal Center Street Pedestrian Bridge and the botanical center.
"It's like acupuncture; if you puncture the right place, the whole space becomes
alive again," Shao said.
The gardens are being paid for with public and private sources, including leading
Iowa businesses such as Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Wellmark Blue Cross
and Blue Shield, Wells Fargo Bank, John Deere-Des Moines Works, Kemin
Industries and Ruan Companies.
Robert Ray's "work to bring Southeast Asians to Iowa has made our state a
better place to live. This opportunity to honor him is important," said G. David
Hurd, honorary chairman of the Chinese center and chairman emeritus of the
Principal Financial Group, which gave a $240,000 pledge to the project. "Further,
we have become convinced that efforts to build understandings of other cultures
are fundamental steps towards world peace. The Asian garden does that."
Reporter Tom Barton can be reached at (515) 284-8065 or tbarton@dmreg.com