Iowa City and the local school district are partnering on a multi-million dollar project that will move the softball program at the district’s oldest high school to a city park.

City High’s softball program will start playing its home games at Mercer Park next year as part of an agreement between the city and the Iowa City Community School District. The softball program back will join its baseball counterpart at the park about a mile-and-a-half south of its campus.

City High baseball has used Mercer Park as its home base since 2020.

The city-owned park at 1317 Dover Street sits on 30 acres of land just southeast of Southeast Middle School off of S. 1st Avenue. City staff said the district and the city have a “long history of partnership” on athletic facilities.

The park, acquired by the city in 1966, is also home to the Mercer Park Aquatic Center.

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Project will provide facelift to baseball, softball facilities

The 25-year Mercer Park agreement will initiate several athletic facility renovations and other park improvements at a total cost of $3.3 million.

The City of Iowa City will contribute just over $700,000 for upgrades to the park’s common areas, including the concessions building, walking paths within the park and central gathering space. ICCSD will be responsible for the lion’s share of the costs, much of which will be dedicated to the athletic facilities.

The agreement will allow the Iowa City CSD to “exclusively use” Fields 1 and 4 at Mercer Park. The city will maintain Fields 2 and 3 for community use and plans to give preference to local youth sports organizations.

The city will not charge a rental fee for ICCSD’s use of their two fields, though the district will pay the city $5,000 per year. Those funds will be exclusively reserved for future capital projects at Mercer Park.

The city said it will lease out the two city-owned fields to the district if needed.

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The Iowa City Community School District is expected to hold a public hearing regarding the planned improvements during its next board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

Contractor bids are scheduled to open on March 11.

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Mercer Park’s pickleball, tennis courts were renovated in 2024

Iowa City facilitated the renovation of Mercer Park and City Park’s existing tennis and pickleball courts in late 2023.

Nine pickleball and two tennis courts were mapped out as part of the project. The courts sit just west of the baseball and softball fields.

The project included a complete revamp of the foundation for the courts which reopened in June.

The City High softball team is expected to make its move to Mercer Park in 2026.

Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.