Marissa Payne

A new Cedar Rapids plan looks to create a “Wrigleyville” vibe around Rockford Road SW, where the city’s three sports facilities are located. It calls for increased connectivity, stronger branding that plays on the area’s sports identity and redevelopment to attract new dining, entertainment and other uses.

Local developer Steve Emerson is seeking state support for his $30 million mixed-use redevelopment of the Guaranty Bank and Strand Theater property that will transform the long-vacant historic property downtown.

Renters can learn about their rights as tenants through a free workshop being held Thursday featuring local experts. Here’s what you need to know about the event.

The Cedar Rapids City Council awarded incentives this week to a developer to build a $21 million Airport Commercial Park in southwest Cedar Rapids that would bring new warehouses online in a part of town where industrial development is booming. Corridor Construction Network also received incentives fora $5.4 million expansion.

Developer Steve Emerson got the green light from the Cedar Rapids City Council to take ownership of the old Ambroz Recreation Center, demolish it and repurpose it into multifamily housing potentially leveraging federal disaster recovery funds.

While Iowa communities grapple with property tax reform state lawmakers passed last year, Marion’s fiscal 2025 budget bumps staff pay and invests in infrastructure improvements.

Also, North Liberty’s new city hall will open to the public this week.

Casino backers’ long-held dreams to build a gambling facility in Cedar Rapids stayed alive early Saturday after the Iowa Senate did not take up a five-year extension of a moratorium advanced by House lawmakers that would have blocked new casino licenses.

A $7 million rehabilitation project is now complete on a once-blighted building in Wellington Heights that Cedar Rapids transformed into 25 new affordable rental units, adding sorely needed housing stock for low-income residents.

Residents of Cedar Rapids and small businesses will soon be asked to pitch in to “Grow the Love” and get the city’s $37 million fundraising effort across the finish line to replenish the tree canopy lost in the 2020 derecho.

Marion-based nonprofit Trees Forever announced Thursday it has tapped Michelle Beisker as its next chief executive officer

Construction soon will begin on the multiyear revitalization of the Shakespeare Garden in Cedar Rapids’ Ellis Park, a space that honors the works of English playwright and poet William Shakespeare.

After cutting more than $1 million in proposed spending to keep up with the fiscal toll of state tax reform, the Linn County Board of Supervisors will adopt a fiscal 2025 budget that scales back community grant programs and other discretionary items but bumps elected official and staff pay.

After completing a plan guiding Cedar Rapids’ transition to lower-emission vehicles in the city’s quest to be carbon free by 2050, city officials are opting to seek federal funding to add five hybrid electric buses to its fleet.

A Linn County panel devoted to raising awareness of stigma surrounding mental health and resources for support recommended the county explore changes to county worker benefits and improving communication about mental health to employees.