116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
NewBo comes of age
A redevelopment project for decades, neighborhood’s significant investments in recent years has neighborhood at inflection point
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Czech Village and New Bohemia could have been RiverRun, Destination SouthSide, or Cedar Bend.
Those were names proposed over the past 25 years for projects designed to revive the neighborhood that’s become a leading destination for entertainment, shopping, gathering and dining. Various proposals included a casino at the old Farmstead Foods packing plant, a whitewater kayaking course, trails, and other attractions, all with some public funding.
While developers and consultants prepared proposals, a loose group of property and business owners came up with the name that stuck. Now, the neighborhood which saw big influxes of Czech and Slovak factory workers in the 19th and 20th centuries, is again seeing an influx of people — this time for art, housing and cultural activities.
“In the early 2000s we had a group of stakeholders and some of our tenants in the building were meeting regularly about what we could do to position this as an arts and entertainment area,” said David Chadima. “We had these regularly monthly meetings, and we said ‘We should name this district.’ That’s where New Bohemia came from. It was very organic.”
Chadima and his wife Lijun Chadima own the Cherry Building at 329 10th Ave. SE. Formerly a factory manufacturing equipment for the dairy industry, the building now counts artists’ studios and galleries and small businesses among its tenants.
Nearly 20 years on from the 2008 flood, what kind of neighborhood is NewBo-Czech Village?
“A lot depends on your goal,” said Coe College political science professor Bruce Nesmith, who studies urban design and is a founder of the Corridor Urbanists group. “Ten years ago, when I started hanging out down here, I hoped it would evolve in the direction of urban village — places for people to work, places for people to shop, places for people to live. It’s probably not done that. The direction now is economic development as a tourist destination, which is OK.”
Wave of construction has raised property values
A wave of new residential and mixed-use building construction over the past decade nearly tripled property value in the neighborhood, from $12.9 million in 2015 to $37 million last year, according to Jennifer Vavra Borcherding, director of The District: Czech Village and New Bohemia.
“That’s the highest and best used of the property,” said Jim Piersall, chair of the neighborhood’s self-supporting municipal improvement district. “People want to live in that area, I think because of some of them work there.”
A few properties remain to be developed, but some plans are paused due to tariff uncertainties.
“If you weren’t (already) under construction, you weren’t going to start until that settled out,” said Darryl High, owner of High Properties.
High and other developers report healthy occupancy in their NewBo buildings’ residential components, although ground-floor space intended for retail use remains open. At NewBo Ivy, 1113 Sixth St. SE, High converted first-floor units intended for retail to apartments “like English flats.”
“We converted them into (residential) units and leased them out right away,” High said. “This is a little off the beaten path, and we felt this had an opportunity.”
Vesnice, a six-story residential building and a four-story mixed-use structure planned for 116 16th Ave. SE, is on hold. High has submitted an application for state tax credits on the project.
“We’re also waiting to see what the Loftus Lumber result is,” said High. “We’re hopeful those will all be absorbed and rented and put us in a position to move our project along.”
Completion of GLD Commercial’s mixed-use Loftus Lumber development at 900 Third Street SE this fall will cap nearly $160 million worth of construction in the NewBo/Czech Village district since the 2008 flood, according to the city’s Economic Development Commission.
Colleen O’Hare, property leasing manager for GLD, said the Loftus building is scheduled to open in two phases on Sept. 15 and Nov. 20. The project includes 184 apartments, with first-floor commercial space, a rooftop patio, and an “art walk” along 10th Street SE.
All 34 residential units at Fulton Lofts, 1220 Third St. SE, were leased soon after its completion this spring, according to Chad Pelley, director of development operations for owner Twenty40 Building Concepts. The building’s first-floor retail spaces have been more of challenge.
“We have some leads,” Pelley said. “It’s tough for small business right now.”
Pelley is also part of Sinclair Development Group, which last September bought one of the area’s last large undeveloped parcels south of the 16th Avenue-Second Street SE intersection. The group plans another mixed-use building for the site.
“I want to have owner-occupied residential as well as more for lease and more commercial as well,” Pelley said. “We’ve got a good chunk of land in the most vibrant neighborhood in the city.”
A few city-owned lots remain available south of 16th Avenue SE along Second Street, according to Economic Development Director William Micheel.
“With a mix of city-owned and privately-owned properties, there are potentially more than five acres still left for development,” Micheel wrote in an email.
Conlon Construction plans a Marriott hotel for what’s now city-owned property along Second Street SE between 12th and 16th avenues and Lot 44 to the north.
“It would be an urban-type feel, something that really fits into the district,” said Conlon vice president Bryan Kubik. “Business travelers during the week, it’ll attract family travelers on the weekend. We think this is a great location for a hotel. It’s the last missing piece.”
Nesmith isn’t so sure, noting the city was forced to buy what’s now the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel for $3.5 million in 2011 to keep the 275-room facility open. Meanwhile, construction is underway on another Marriott at Kingston Yard, the mixed-use development west of the Cedar River, adding 123 rooms to the area’s inventory.
Conlon is working with Marriott to identify which of hotel chain’s brands best fit its plans, Kubik said. Design work is underway and the firm hopes to break ground next spring.
Sinclair on 16th, 475 16th Ave. SW, opened July 1 with 75 percent of its 52 luxury apartments leased, according to Gary Watts, president of Watts Group.
The recent projects were built on property the city acquired through post-flood buyouts, replacing dozens of single-family homes that were swept away. The shift to high-density apartments and town houses has altered NewBo’s historic aesthetic.
“Historically, the core of the NewBo neighborhood prior to the flood was the eclectic mix of small scale commercial and residential (properties),” said historian Mark Stoffer Hunter. The elements that made the area unique were the historic anchors — the Cherry Building and CSPS and the others.”
Grocery store in NewBo could be turning point
Nesmith looks for three things for a successful urban neighborhood that meets residents’ day-to-day needs within walking distance: a grocery, a pharmacy, and a hardware store.
“It seems we’re having to work very hard to get normal daily needs satisfied here,” he said. “There’s lot of bars, a lot of hair salons, a lot of coffee.”
NewBo City Market hopes to address the grocery need with its $5.5 million expansion Next Level Local project, which includes a grocery store, more shopkeeper space, an indoor stage, and a new mezzanine level. Construction has been pushed back a few months from an intended fall ground breaking, according to Julie Parisi, NewBo City Market executive director.
“When those costs were coming in a bit too high, we thought we’ve got to dig into this plan and find some savings,” said Parisi. “Rather than starting in September we’re going to be looking at the first of the year.”
A grocery store wouldn’t have been feasible without the nearly 500 new apartments built within an easy walk of the Market over the past 10 years.
“We really thought now is the right time,” Parisi said. “Thirteen years ago when the Market opened, it probably wouldn’t have taken off. But now that we’ve got this new activity, new business, all that stuff will be coming down to this neighborhood, I think this is a really good time.”
The grocery will occupy about 2,000 square feet in what’s now the Market’s Culinary Kitchen, which will move to the mezzanine. Parisi said the store, to be operated by the Iowa City-based Field to Family nonprofit, will be dwarfed by a standard Hy-Vee, but will stock must-have items.
“Is it going to have aisles and aisles of cereals?” Parisi said. “No, but we’re going to have fresh produce, milk, dairy, meat, baked goods, and as many dry goods staples as we can get.”
Chadima thinks the grocery could be a turning point for the neighborhood.
“You need to have people before you can support a grocery store, but then you need a grocery store before you can attract more people,” he said. “We’re hitting that point know where we’re achieving that critical mass.”
Artists commuting in, workers commuting out
NewBo’s galleries, performance spaces, and art-themed shops draw visitors, but the artists live elsewhere — commuting into NewBo as its new residents commute out to work elsewhere.
“We can’t afford to live here,” said Missa Coffman. “They’re not calling it ‘affordable’ housing anymore. They’re calling it ‘attainable’ housing.”
Coffman and Marios Liolios own Tree of Liminality, 1301 Third St. SE, opened last summer after Coffman’s term as artist in residence at NewBo Market. In addition to a gallery, they host regular classes at one of the neighborhood’s few surviving houses, often partnering with artists at the Cherry Building and CSPS.
They’re getting to know some of their new neighbors.
“We go walking, and people are starting to come in,” said Liolios. “We do meet the neighbors.”
“We’re happy there’s housing around, and people will come to live here,” said Coffman.
“As much as we promoted the place as an arts and entertainment district, artists didn’t settle here,” said Mel Andringa. “People with art-adjacent sensibilities moved in. Affordability down here is gone.”
Andringa and F. John Herbert started the arts organization CSPS in 1990. The organization continues to host live music and gallery shows in the old Czech and Slovak Prudential Society building.
“When it comes to arts and culture, it’s easy to miss opportunities for a variety of reasons,” said Jason Zbornik, CSPS’ executive director. “Is it the city, the community, a combination of both? That’s the mystery. There’s been a lot of forward movement in the past 20 years, but in arts and culture I’d say there hasn’t been any leaps and bounds, and that’s OK.”
“The concentration of all types of artists makes The District a vibrant area,” Vavra Borcherding wrote in an email. “We continue to hold arts and culture as a focus as we welcome new businesses and develop experiential opportunities.”
Drawing in visitors is crucial to vibrancy
NewBo businesses can’t depend solely on their new neighbors and must draw visitors.
“There’s been a few coming in,” said Jeff Melsha, since 1983 the proprietor of the iconic Little Bohemia Tavern. “But there’s a lot of (dining) places down here. All the houses are all gone, and the locals who lived there have died.”
A lack of walk-in trade prompted Kenyon Thorpe to shift her Ideal Theater and Bar to an event space from regular bar hours.
"I was a bit surprised by the lack of walk-in business, particularly with so many new residential units going in,” Thorp wrote in an email. “In the hospitality industry, residents living nearby usually supply a fairly reliable stream of regular walk-in business, supplemented by visitors coming in for events and on weekends. That has not been the case with this business or location.”
More visitors will arrive by bicycle upon completion of the ConnectCR project that’s now underway. In addition to improvements at Cedar Lake near downtown, the $20 million project includes the LightLine bridge carrying the cycling and hiking trail over the river, linking NewBo and Czech Village.
Projects should work to honor the neighborhood’s history
Stoffer Hunter hopes future projects respect the neighborhood’s history.
“It’s just respecting that and keeping that scale,” he said. “I’d rather see them get back to some of that earlier development. Let’s be aware of what’s there, and not do a wall at the intersection of Second Street and 16th.”
Stoffer Hunter said the six-unit, two-story town house development in the 1000 block of Second Street SE, built in 2015, could have been a model for the neighborhood’s residential redevelopment. An existing home was moved to the 11th Avenue corner as part of that project.
“It was what I’d hoped for the pattern for NewBo,” he said. “To me, great urban redevelopment combines the best of the classics with the new.”
Built in 2017, NewBo Station also “preserved the environment down there and the four-story scale worked because it’s next to the Cherry Building,” Stoffer Hunter said. “This first effort worked pretty well. Everybody was being kind of sensitive when they did that.”
That’s especially important at the intersection of Third Street and 16th Avenue SW, the District’s last “intact” corner with buildings that survived the flood.
“That’s probably going to be the next thing that comes up,” Stoffer Hunter said. “I’d rather see them get back to some of that earlier development. There’s no need to be destroying anything that survived the flood. There’s plenty of empty land over there.”
“I’ve heard some of those comments about scale” of some new projects, Piersall said. “There has to be some diversity. We treasure our historic buildings, and we want to be sure they remain.”
Micheel noted the corner is part of a national historic district, “which doesn't necessarily prevent demolition of the buildings, but they are contributing structures and I think it would be unlikely that demolition would be proposed for any of these structures.”
Across the river, Stoffer Hunter likes what’s happened in the Czech Village.
“I’m so proud of the people who brought every building back along 16th Avenue,” he said. “The vibe and the feeling of Czech Village still is intact. People love going over there because the favorite places they’re going to are in the historic buildings.”
Sisters Lindsay McGrath and Jamie McGrath Hobson are staying involved with the seven Czech Village properties owned by their mother Mary Kay Novak McGrath, who died of cancer in February 2024.
“She was not done,” said Lindsay McGrath. “She had so much more she wanted to do. My sister and I felt inspired.”
The sisters’ current priority is converting the former Hospoda Tavern, 62 16th Ave. SW, into a bookstore and coffee shop for a Dec. 1 opening.
“We wanted to make sure there was a business going in there that was going to attract people to spend a morning or an afternoon and meet up with other people,” McGrath said.
“It’s going to continue to grow,” McGrath said. “There’s so much potential.”
Down 16th Avenue at the D Street SW corner, three three-bedroom apartments are under construction, each with a two-stall garage. New construction in Czech Village is limited to three stories, a rule requested by neighbors to keep development in scale with nearby single-family homes.
Work began this spring on the LightLine Loop project that will include a “roundhouse” event space in what’s now green space south of 17th Avenue, improved gateways, parking, and a pedestrian promenade. The area fronting C Street SW is designated for future development. The project, which complements the Lightline Bridge, is set for completion by fall 2026.
Meanwhile, development continues at two new entertainment districts, Kingston Yards and the planned casino in southwest Cedar Rapids. Vavra Borcherding doesn’t see those as competitors to NewBo/Czech Village.
“Kingston Yards has a lot to offer and so does The District: Czech Village & New Bohemia,” she wrote in an email. “There is space for both of us. When both areas succeed, we all succeed.”
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