116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
NewBo a redevelopment idea long before 2008 floods
A redevelopment project long before flood of 2008, the recovery brought new possibilities
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The significant redevelopment and investments since the 2008 flood is a far cry from what happened for much of the 20 years ahead of the flood — when an era of failed redevelopments left factories sitting abandoned for years.
Multiple large abandoned factory sites sat vacant for years as city leaders looked for redevelopment projects -- like casinos -- to spur major redevelopments of the area. The city received several grants to help with demolition or redevelopment -- including some that had to be returned due to lack of needed local matches.
A priority for years before the flood was the reclamation of the old Iowa Iron Works and Iowa Steel industrial sites, nearly 50 acres flanking the 400 block of 12th Avenue SE. Fewer than two dozen worked there when corporate owner Raytheon closed the plants in late 1995. Those areas are the Geonetric and Depot developments today.
“Because nothing was happening with those sites we decided to take the initiative,” said Jim Piersall. As a member of the Southside Investment Board, a group of property owners, he helped broker a three-way trade to get the Iron and Steel properties under city ownership.
Piersall was a member of the Southside Investment Board, a group of property owners formed before the flood to guide recovery and development. Dale Todd, whose 3rd District City Council seat includes the neighborhood, was a member and served as its president.
The city acquired the property in a three-sided swap involving St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, and demolition began in 2001. Contractors funded through federal and state grants began excavating contaminated soil from the sites in 2009, clearing the way for what became the Geonetric office building and the Depot mixed-use development.
“We looked around and there was no plan,” Todd said. “The city was too busy, for legitimate reasons. They were in triage, trying to rebuild downtown.”
Historian Mark Stoffer Hunter, then with the History Center, credits those buildings’ architects for connecting with their history.
“They came to us at the History Center and said they wanted to build something that looked like the factory that was there,” Stoffer Hunter said. “It’s a good initial step, to set an example.”
Before the flood, the city had started acquiring and “banking” lots in New Bo and the adjacent Oak Hill-Jackson neighborhood using federal Community Development Block Grants. After the flood, city and state officials requested an increase in the program allocations to Iowa because of the disaster. FEMA then helped provide funding to acquire damaged properties and clean them up after the flood.
At the end of 12th Street sat the former meatpacking complex. Multiple large fires following the flood eventually led to the demolition. The stack from the old plant is part of what is being incorporated into the Alliant Energy LightLine Bridge, a pedestrian and bicycle bridge connecting the Czech Village and NewBo areas.
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