Fewer workers coming downtown, but Cedar Rapids skywalks still ‘for utility as opposed to entertainment’

CEDAR RAPIDS — Around the lunch hour on a recent Wednesday, Mariah Obiedzinski stepped out of her office building for a quick walk on Cedar Rapids’ skywalk system.

Obiedzinski, 39, works at marketing agency Stamats, which moved into a new downtown office space this fall. She’s worked downtown for about 10 years off and on.

“I love it,” Obiedzinski said of the skywalk. “It’s nice and connected and keeps you out of the elements. I found that I’ve discovered businesses in different places that I didn’t realize were here … It’s a nice way to clear your head. It’s safe, warmer than outside.”

When she needs a break from her desk, she can get a cup of coffee from Coffee Republic, grab a bite to eat from Keto Kitchen or easily access the MAC during the day to get a workout in.

But the system could use more signage, Obiedzinski said, that tells users what businesses are situated along the skywalk system.

Recognizing this need, the city of Cedar Rapids’ newly adopted Downtown Vision Plan, which offers a five-year guide to revitalize the city center, suggests improving wayfinding signage in the skywalk system to improve navigability.

Around the U.S., skywalks in some cities offer a climate-controlled way to connect with shops, event centers, housing and other destinations. Cedar Rapids’ skywalk system was constructed starting in the 1980s to connect many downtown office buildings on their second floors.

Downtown worker traffic has been slow to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, with fewer employees coming into the urban core. With the vision plan calling to transform downtown into a mixed-use district — in part by turning office spaces into housing and reviving ground-level retail — it’s unlikely the skywalk system will see a massive expansion any time soon.

While the skywalk’s purpose is to keep downtown pedestrians safe from the elements, others see room for improvement in the system. It snakes its way through downtown, winding through office buildings on its way from the Ground Transportation Center on the southern end to the Alliant Energy PowerHouse complex in the north.

Jon Rouse, regional manager of Park Cedar Rapids, which manages the public skywalk segments and city parking ramps, said the system’s mostly-worker users “want it open when they show up to work, they want it open when they're leaving work to get to and from their vehicles.”

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Wayfinding signage recommended

Overall, current wayfinding signage points to parking ramps, major downtown office buildings or public destinations such as the downtown Cedar Rapids Public Library. A walk through the system reveals where improved wayfinding signage could help users.

At certain points, it can be confusing to navigate to a specific destination. Take a trip from the Third Avenue parking ramp to the U.S. Bank building, for example. Starting at the ramp’s third floor, signage points to the skywalk, roughly over the Map Room and into the Armstrong Centre.

That bridge spits people into the office hub, where there’s little signage pointing users to the next turn they’d need to take to reach the U.S. Bank building. After walking through an unfamiliar maze of offices, the user hits a point near Coventry Lofts that had the lights off on a recent workday and could be confused for a dead end.

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Cathy Hill, who owns Coffee Republic and is a skywalk user, said she and her husband use the system during cold weather.

She said she has noticed some customers come from the attached businesses in the Armstrong building on the other side of Third Avenue SE, but otherwise she’s unsure how much traffic the skywalk has drawn to her fairly new business.

Like Obiedzinski, Hill said it’d be nice if there was more wayfinding signage that could promote adjoining businesses.

“I think people get confused because there’s not a good map or a way to let people know how many buildings it’s connected to,” Hill said.

Because the vision plan was only adopted earlier this month, Rouse said there are no firm plans for the signage improvements. Besides, Rouse said, there’s enough capacity in the parking system that when visitors park downtown, they are already within a short walking distance of their destination and it’s less likely they need signage to get from one end of the system to the other.

“It’ll encompass probably a refresh and new design, potentially some more signs and just getting really strategic in where and how we place those signs to make sure that we're communicating, ‘this is the direction to the library,’ or ‘this is the direction to the event center’ or whatever it might be,” Rouse said.

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Workforce focus

Cedar Rapids’ new vision plan identifies a need to attract more retail downtown and sees opportunity to activate Third Street SE with the hopes that will spur more activity over time.

With that focus, Rouse said city officials want to lure visitors onto the street level to see the restaurants and businesses and spend their money there.

“That’s the strange dynamic in my mind, is when we have visitors that are coming in from outside — although we would certainly encourage them to use the skywalk — we really like them to use that street level because it just generates more traffic and thus would help businesses,” Rouse said.

The publicly managed skywalk segments’ hours are roughly 5 a.m.-9 p.m. weekdays. Private businesses have different — typically more limited — hours for their bridges, and in some cases key card access is required to access those areas. As more office spaces are converted into residential units, Rouse said those hours could change for residents coming and going at all times of day.

New segments aren’t in the works to connect the system to newly built or converted apartments.

In comparison, systems in other cities may have more broad appeal, connecting to a wider variety of uses such as Des Moines’ system.

Calvin Miller, the city of Des Moines’ skywalk facility manager, said the first bridge of the system was built in 1978, connecting citizens with retail and some new development downtown at a time when there was a lot of urban sprawl. It’s grown into 53 bridges spanning about 4.2 miles.

Des Moines stakeholders have activated the system with events and other activities, including skywalk mini golf, Miller said.

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While Des Moines’ system more comprehensively connects users with key destinations, it’s not without challenges. The Des Moines Register reported “skywalk visitors can see broken ceiling tiles, leaking roofs and often, a putrid odor resembling urine.”

Des Moines’ skywalk association — a group made up of business managers who own property or manage property downtown and those connected to the skywalk — is in charge of security. The association pays for two security guards to patrol the system 24/7, and a uniformed police officer works during the day.

Recently, the Register reported seven doors are now locked from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. as a trial run to improve safety and cleanliness conditions. Already, Miller said these changes have “improved some of the vandalism and other undesirable situations at night.”

In Cedar Rapids, a utility staff member patrols the skywalks and there’s a partnership with Cedar Rapids police to monitor the system.

Similar to Cedar Rapids, Miller said Des Moines is working to make its wayfinding signage cleaner and more user-friendly. Striking the balance of attracting skywalk users to ground-level businesses has been a challenge since the system’s inception, Miller said.

“That's one thing we're going to work on with the wayfinding system is engage that street level to skywalk level access and exit points,” Miller said.

Des Moines has more restaurants and storefronts at the skywalk level, but at this time, Park Cedar Rapids General Manager Ryan Baack said that’s not the purpose of Cedar Rapids’ system.

“Ours is more for utility as opposed to entertainment,” he said.

Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com