116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids looks to unlock ‘potential’ of First Avenue corridor with new plan
A redevelopment plan has been drafted to complement the micro-area action plan prepared last year
Feb. 1, 2026 5:30 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — In its ongoing effort to revitalize a core area along First Avenue, the city of Cedar Rapids is zeroing in on the redevelopment of existing building stock.
City staff this month will release the First Avenue Corridor Redevelopment Plan, a strategic reinvestment plan that focuses on strengthening, identity and promoting business success within the corridor.
The plan is a companion and continuation of the First Avenue E. Micro-Area Action Plan that was adopted last year to promote reinvestment in the area.
Background
The city of Cedar Rapids in 2024 took a magnifying lens to a roughly 60-acre parcel between 12th and 16th streets SE to identify the area’s strengths, weaknesses and improvement opportunities.
The area was selected for more thorough review because of its emerging struggles with business retention, pedestrian safety and lagging community sentiment.
The result was the creation of the First Avenue E. Micro-Area Action Plan, a community-based planning document was formally adopted by the Cedar Rapids City Council in February of 2025.
The plan included 16 action steps toward five goals under the umbrella of improving land use, connectivity and/or placemaking. Each of those action items was given an implementation timeline that ranged in scale from within one year up to five.
What’s happened since
Since the plan’s adoption, city planner Noah Zecker said city staff have been working to implement its “foundational steps” through continued engagement with community stakeholders.
That included the creation of a working group of city staff, area business owners and representatives from the College District to identify remaining or additional barriers to business recruitment and retention.
Zecker said preliminary conversations showed excitement and interest from group members in how best to achieve that goal, but they also exposed lingering questions about how best to do so.
“It was indicated that a little more in-depth description of the micro-area action plan was going to be needed to emphasize the area’s potential,” Zecker said. “That’s the one word we kept hearing during the planning process: potential, potential, potential.”
To do so, city staff opted to create the First Avenue Corridor Redevelopment Plan to put a more dedicated focus on the physical structures found within the study area, market demand and potential redevelopment opportunities.
The redevelopment plan was not made to replace the microarea action plan, Zecker said, but to further expand on some of its recommendations.
“The microarea action plan is more policy focused. … The redevelopment plan is more of an exploration of the possibilities,” Zecker said. “It’s a kind of ‘yes, and’ situation.”
The redevelopment plan was drafted and revised over several months in collaboration with area residents, local landowners and economic development leaders from the College District, MedQuarter and more.
City staff will soon present that draft publicly at a community open house scheduled for Monday, Feb. 9, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Coe College Clark Alumni House, 200 Center Point Rd. NE.
All interested parties are invited to review the plan and provide feedback. Those comments will then be taken into consideration by city staff ahead of the plan’s presentation to the Cedar Rapids City Council.
“It really does take everybody to get involved,” said Community Development Director Jennifer Pratt. “What we’ve seen with this type of plan is that it really does spark interest from the development community, … and that’s what we’re hoping will happen here.”
Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com
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