The Sycamore Mall in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

IOWA CITY – The owners of Iowa City’s Sycamore Mall offered Von Maur  discounted rent and the city may have provided financial incentives to get the store to stay, according to Iowa City’s economic development coordinator.

Iowa City was in contact with Von Maur for two years, ever since it first heard the department store was being courted by Coralville, Wendy Ford said in an email message to a resident who inquired about the city’s efforts to keep the store. That email exchange was included in a packet of information for the City Council released Thursday.

It was announced last month that Coralville is giving Von Maur $9.5 million, plus other incentives, to build a store in the city’s Iowa River Landing District.

Ford wrote that the owners of Sycamore Mall earlier this year offered to provide “nearly free rent initially and substantially reduced rent for a five year commitment at Sycamore.” The offer included financial incentives from Iowa City, which Ford did not specify and which would have required the OK of the City Council.

Von Maur never responded to that offer, she said. Company officials said several times they would only operate one store in the area, she said.