News Track: North Liberty’s Centennial Park transformation gaining steam

From 2000 to 2010, North Liberty was the second fastest-growing city in Iowa and even then featured sprawling undeveloped space, including along Forevergreen Road — attracting the University of Iowa in 2010 to buy 38 vacant acres “for future programming” at Forevergreen’s intersection with Highway 965.

That same year, perhaps with foresight of a development boom on the horizon, the city of North Liberty bought land for a 40-acre park. And three years later, in 2013, Centennial Park debuted on St. Andrews Drive west of Jones Boulevard as the community’s largest park — featuring on-site parking and three play areas.

But the park and its neighbors in the decade-plus since have seen more growth: a Hy-Vee opened down the road in 2018; a massive new UI hospital is emerging across the street; a second health care hub through Steindler Orthopedics is promised just west of the UI hospital site; and numerous eateries, car washes and other small businesses seem to be popping up daily.

To help drive the growth and meet its demand for entertainment and activities, the city in 2022 announced a Centennial Park evolution aimed at transforming it into a regional centerpiece for concerts, festivals, fairs and other events.

The $16.4 million project will feature a 13,000-square-foot indoor event center, a 2,700-square-foot outdoor stage, an open air pavilion, a 5,000-square-foot splash pad and other play spaces and pathways to connect the amenities and the people using them.

From the outset, project leaders have aimed to pay for the endeavor through a variety of public and private sources — with city communications director Nick Bergus in April reporting the project was half way to its $16 million overall goal.

The city has committed $6.5 million to the improvements. And — in addition to tapping federal American Rescue Plan dollars, along with state and federal grants — the city last year launched a “Building North Liberty’s Next Stage” campaign aimed at inspiring community contributions.

What’s happened since

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Donors of all types and at all levels have emerged — from individuals to private businesses to entities like the Linn County Rural Electric Cooperative and the Johnson County Board of Supervisors.

To date, $2.2 million has been raised toward a $3.5 million campaign goal — including a $900,000 “Community Attraction and Tourism grant” the Enhance Iowa Board awarded North Liberty in December.

That award was contingent on the city raising $100,000 in 90 days, or by March 6 — a deadline North Liberty bested by months, announcing Dec. 22 that Relion Insurance Solutions committed $100,000 to leverage the $900,000.

“This pledge allows us to give back in a manner that will enhance North Liberty and surrounding communities for years to come,” Scott Enyart, president of the Johnson County-based Relion Insurance Solutions, said in a statement.

For making the pledge, North Liberty will name the green space in front of its outdoor space — capable of holding audiences of 500 to 5,000 — the “Relion Insurance Solutions Lawn.” Other donor-recognized namings across the project to date include the “Washington County Riverboat Foundation Plaza” and the “Watts Family Play Yard.” Donors also can name limestone seat blocks, bike parking structures, picnic tables and the pavilion and event center.

The project will unfold in four phases.

“The new performance venue will offer easy access to the arts for rural communities along Interstate 380,” according to a North Liberty news release on the recent grants.

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Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com