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Police search shuttered nursing home, independent living center

Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier - 2/7/2023

Feb. 7—WATERLOO — Police searched a former care facility after someone broke in Monday morning.

Neighbors coming home for lunch slowed as they gawked at the half a dozen squad cars parked around the former long-vacant building at 310 Upland Drive. Inside, a police K9 team was going room to room.

Dawn Lee has lived across the street from the building — which briefly housed a veteran's center after the nursing home closed down — since June.

She said problems with the vacant property became obvious in the winter when wheelchairs, books and other items from inside began appearing on the lawn.

"When you see random footprints in the snow, you wonder what's going on," Lee said.

Police said the last time they were called to the address was in early December. That time, intruders had climbed a radio antenna to get on the roof where they shredded an industrial air conditioner looking for scrap metal.

An officer manning the perimeter recounted Monday how the last time it took about an hour to sweep the interior. The building is 45,000 square feet.

This time it took about as long. Officers detained one person who was found inside. Juan Carlos Perez, 26, of Waterloo, was arrested for third-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools.

Lee's landlord, who drove past the building, said a former owner had proposed turning it into a storage facility. The plan was turned down.

Built in 1966, the building had been the Parkview Gardens Care Center for about 45 years before it was closed in 2013 with the operation moving to NorthCrest Specialty Care.

Americans for Independent Living, a veterans' services group, bought the property in 2017 with a plan for a transitional living space for homeless veterans, according to Courier archives.

Delphina Land Holdings acquired the property in 2021 and sold it to Cassius Investment Group LLC.

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