New Bo becoming model development

The Gazette

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Cedar Rapids' New Bohemia neighborhood has much to celebrate.

Three years after being inundated by floodwaters, the historic neighborhood south of downtown is bouncing back toward a bright future. “Everything is moving in every direction” said John Schnipkoweit, president of the New Bohemia Group.

And New Bohemia's progress is ready for its close-up, starting today.

CSPS Hall reopens today to show off its

$7 million renovations during an evening gala. The updated and improved 120-year-old former fraternal hall will retake its place among Iowa's arts and culture showpieces, attracting artists from around the globe.

Labor Day weekend will bring the NewBo Fest, a three-day festival and conference featuring live music, food, art and activities in the heart of the neighborhood.

The events present us with a chance to praise the public-private partnerships, investments and hard work that have put New Bohemia on a path to vibrant growth.

In the next several days, crews are expected to complete streetscaping work on Third Street SE through the neighborhood's heart. The spruced-up street and sidewalks, with new lights, planters and other features, were paid for with roughly $1.5 million in city funds matched dollar-for-dollar by neighborhood property owners.

Completion of the streetscape, according to neighborhood boosters, will sound the starting gun for more private business investment in the neighborhood, including restaurants and retail. Several popular, established and new businesses will welcome them, including Little Bohemia tavern, Parlor City Pub and Eatery, the Chrome Horse Saloon, Third Street Resale, Top Drawer, Capone's restaurant and small businesses clustered in the historic Cherry Building.

The planned NewBo City Market, a year-round farmers market, is on pace to break ground later this year and is halfway to its $3 million fundraising drive. A $1.5 million state grant request is under review.

New Bohemia serves as a successful economic development model - with modest public investments used to make a neighborhood more inviting for private and private non-profit investments. We're eager to see how those all of those investments pay off in New Bohemia over the next few years. “I think it's going to be a dramatic transformation,” Schnipkoweit said. We agree.

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