Nancy Bird reflects on past 10 years leading the Iowa City Downtown District

IOWA CITY — Nancy Bird, executive director of the Iowa City Downtown District, is celebrating a decade leading the organization.

Bird, who was hired in 2012, helms the nonprofit organization that represents property owners and stakeholders in the downtown and northside neighborhoods of Iowa City.

The district reported its highest recorded annual visitation this year, according to the organization’s 2021-22 annual report.

Iowa City Downtown District was established in 2012 after a successful petition to create a self-imposed tax levy, referred to as a self-supported municipal improvement district (SSMID). Revenue from the tax is reinvested in the area.

“Having that base of funding and the partnership that came together on the board of directors amongst the city, the university and the number of community partners was a really huge piece of the transformation that was to come,” Bird said.

Bird spoke with The Gazette about the start of the organization, how downtown has changed over the last decade, recovering from the pandemic and what’s next. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

“I think over the past 10 years there's been a tremendous transformation downtown due to a large community collaboration and a lot of care to make sure that downtown Iowa City is a vibrant, healthy place for the region,” Bird said.

Q: What were some of the highlights early on after the SSMID was created?

A: There was a focus from 2012 to 2014 on working with various partners to address some the early challenges, Bird said.

It took several years to work though some of the health and safety components of downtown, she said. Various regulations were applied and a collaboration was formed to change the environment of the district to allow new businesses to enter an area that was previously dominated by restaurants and bars.

“There’s where the retail strengthened,” Bird said.

“The hiring of a downtown police officer, like a local beat cop (in 2013) was another big piece to help support and really work with the homeless population and those experiencing homelessness,” Bird said, adding that partnerships were also formed with Shelter House and other nonprofit agencies.

Q: What steps were taken to strengthen retail early on?

A: “I think with some of the early campaigns to really support retail and understand how it's a very important part of any downtown mix was a turning point for the downtown district.

“When you're tasked to support a better merchandise mix downtown, how do you do that?” she said. “So around 2014, we established a retail strategy to understand how do we move forward? What actions can we make? What investments can we do to make sure that we're going to hit our goals? We grew our staff through that, and it's been really positive.“

Q: Visitation downtown peaked this year with the highest recorded annual visitation. What does this mean as recovery from the pandemic continues?

A: “We have had more visitation here now in 2022 than we've ever had that we've been able to measure, which is pretty phenomenal for coming through the pandemic,” Bird said.

The organization’s annual report, released earlier this year, reported 7.5 million visits to downtown by 775,500 unique visitors. The 2021-22 mission report also includes a recap of the decade.

“A lot of downtowns are really suffering. There's a lot of remote working nowadays, and a lot of that remote working for downtown is harmful to the restaurants and places where people are spending money. That's been a real challenge for a lot of places across the country, and it has impacted downtown Iowa City for sure.

“But fortunately, with the kind of systems that we've set up and the really close relationship that we have with the University of Iowa, we've been able to kind of buoy up other opportunities for sales for restaurants.

“And it's been really helpful to help get us through to where we are now, which is really, I would say, back to pre-pandemic times, with the exception of a couple areas.“

Q: What are some of the challenges from the pandemic that downtown still is facing?

A: The first of two challenges Bird spoke about is workforce.

“We're still pretty challenged there. … I think we're seeing businesses really be mindful of how they support their employees, so that's the silver lining of it, but it's going to take some time to get back to that employment level.”

The other is getting people back out and attending the downtown cultural venues, including music, film and theater.

“The programming that's out there right now, it's just phenomenal. The attendance for that programming has not returned to pre-COVID levels. We're hoping that by really encouraging people to get back out there, that will change.”

Q: What’s next for the downtown district that you can share right now?

A: “We were designated as a new cultural entertainment district, so we're now identified by the state. … We're working with a committee of those who lead venues on the university side and also downtown to think about some of the messaging around that cultural district.”

Bird said there is more to come on the retail front, including support for business owners and potentially more retail space as new developments in the area move forward.

“We do have some workforce challenges, but the market seems to be fairly hot right now that people are really coming out to eat and shop. So this is the time to find that new interest and see how we can help support their entry to downtown.“

Q: The annual report highlighted enhancing winter activities downtown. What is on the horizon with that?

A: The plans are still in the works, but Bird said the downtown district is working on a new lighting installation after the holidays in early 2023.

“We're hoping it's really dynamic and the community loves it because when it gets dark, something's got to call you out. We're hoping that community has fun with this one.”

Comments: (319) 339-3155; izabela.zaluska@thegazette.com