Cedar Rapids Downtown District director says summer activation efforts bring ‘something for everyone’ downtown

CEDAR RAPIDS — When Caleb Knutson toured downtown Cedar Rapids last year as part of a job interview, he could tell right away the city was something special.

“It was my second interview, and they brought me in to do a walking tour,” recalled Knutson, now executive director at Cedar Rapids’ Downtown District. “I remember walking around, past May’s Island, and thinking ‘This is a super fantastic space, just really neat, and what can we do to get more people to see it.’”

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Knutson is now working to answer that question after being hired last fall to work with the Downtown Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District (SSMID) — a mayor-appointed panel that decides how businesses’ tax dollars are spent within the core district — to attract, retain and expand downtown businesses.

In that role, one of his key charges is guiding implementation of the Downtown Vision Plan — a five-year outline of more than 70 initiatives aimed at improving downtown vibrancy.

Cedar Rapids City Council members adopted the plan in late 2023 in tandem with a group of downtown stakeholders united under the three-pronged umbrella of embracing the Cedar River, activating downtown and improving connectivity between the area and adjacent districts.

With several of those initiatives either kicking off or gaining steam this summer, The Gazette recently sat down with Knutson to see how things are going and what’s next for downtown activation.

Q: In your role with the Downtown District, how does the Downtown Vision Plan factor into your work?

A: The Downtown Vision Plan is our foundation — our guiding star. Whatever you want to call it, everything we do (as Downtown Cedar Rapids) has to be tied to it in some way.

Right now in Iowa, there’s a renaissance of downtowns, … and step one of that is that you need to have a plan. So step one, we have that.

Step two is having an implementation team. We’ve got an implementation team that meets monthly, and … we get together to talk about what is going on with the vision plan, how we’re moving that ball downfield and how we can support each other.

We’re in years two to three, … and for us, it’s not about just letting the plan sit on the shelf and collect dust. We want to make sure that we’re acting upon it and working toward those short-term, mid-term and long-term goals.

Q: A lot of the vision plan hinges on the idea of community vibrancy and revitalization, but what does that really mean?

A: For me, vibrancy is just the vibe you get when you walk around downtown in the evening or during the day, and there’s people around who are supporting the theaters, supporting the music venues, the restaurants and the different pop-up (events).

Not to sound too over the top, but as downtown goes, so the corridor goes. (As a downtown area), we are the heart of the community, and we are a huge economic driver. It’s important to make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward in all of our core districts.

All those districts — Downtown, MedQ, Czech Village/New Bohemia — they’re all fantastic districts, and we need to make sure that we’re moving that forward. For us, the Downtown Vision Plan is a way to achieve that.

Q: What are some of the ongoing efforts to bring that vibrancy downtown this summer?

A: Downtown is popping off this summer. There are so many things that are going on right now, and that’s indicative of the work that has been done before I got here and how in-tune the downtown SSMID board is in making sure downtown has something for everybody.

You look at 5SeasonsFit — that’s a weeklong health program that we’re doing (June 22 through June 28) in partnership with Big Grove and just so many other organizations. You have the activation of May’s Island and (the business innovation competition) Race for the Space.

Even things like (the city’s) Summer in the Square — that’s not a SSMID initiative, but we’re still supportive of it. There’s something every weekday for all age ranges in Green Square Park, and that’s so important … to make sure downtown has something for everyone.

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Q: You mention May’s Island. How does the island and the Cedar River factor into the overall vision plan?

A: There’s a couple things. One, it’s a really unique space. There’s only three places worldwide that a municipal entity (has governmental buildings on an island). So when you look at that space, it’s not just unique for this corridor or for Iowa. It’s unique to the country.

We want to get more foot traffic there because it’s a beautiful place. You can sit on May’s Island and see the river on both sides, see the beautiful buildings and the downtown skyline. … May’s Island isn’t the heart of the Downtown District, but you can sit there and see the city’s growth.

If you look at May’s Island today, we’ve got the new sign that says “Cedar Rapids” and that was one of the ideas that came out of the Downtown Vision Plan and thinking about how we can activate May’s Island.

(Now), we’re working with the city and working with partners to see what’s next — what does it look like to have a sculpture park there, to have more art installations? When we think of how to drive foot traffic there, art is a great way to do that.

Q: In general, what’s next for downtown activation?

A: So yeah, there’s a lot going on downtown this summer, but we don’t want it to end there. We’re making sure we’re looking forward to how we continue to activate downtown during the fall and winter. And since we set the bar so high for this summer, we’re already thinking about what next summer is going to look like.

We go year-by-year, but for this winter we’re talking about bringing the trolley back. We had a great pilot run, and we had great feedback. So now we’re talking about what that means for long-term sustainability and what makes the most sense.

In the fill, it could be hosting a block party or an outdoor tailgate for a Hawkeyes game, things like that. It’s important to be willing to try new things and see what sticks, see what works and learning from it.

We’re very fortunate to have partners in the city and with other SSMIDs (we can work with on those projects). I’m a big proponent of best practices, so I’m focused on what we can do to improve what’s working and what we can do to make things better overall.

Q: Do you see any challenges in making that happen?

A: The biggest thing we have to overcome is not unique to downtown Cedar Rapids or to Cedar Rapids in general. For everyone, the COVID-19 pandemic really flipped the script.

Pre-pandemic, all these downtown businesses would have had most of their employees — if not all — working in person. But that’s changed now. The workforce has changed, and we’re still figuring out how to work with that.

I don’t believe we’re ever going to get back to where everyone is going to be 100 percent in person, but getting back to 70 or 80 percent would be fantastic. To do that though, we need to make sure there are things to do downtown.

Even if their lunch is only half an hour, people want places to eat or to visit or to just take a walk. That goes back to the (improvements included in the vision plan).

Q: As work continues to see those improvements come to life, what are you personally most excited to see?

A: I’m looking forward to expanding the demographics of downtown and expanding our reach. So right now on our marketing and PR subcommittee, we have a Kirkwood student. We started small with that one student, but I want to make sure that we always get that youth engagement.

That’s twofold: We get to hear from them — what they think about how they do things — but also in the back of their mind when they graduate they know that they were able to engage with downtown stakeholders that cared about their opinion.

I’m excited to figure that out more and be able to grow our reach, … because we want to make sure we can serve everybody (who visits downtown).

Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com