A few of The Loo

[DMRyan]

I went to Independence, Iowa for a wedding a few days back and took just a few shots of the area, including Waterloo since you pass by the city on the way. The weather really didn't lend itself to better photo conditions with off and on showers and drizzle. Downtown Waterloo is looking remarkably better and I wish I would've stopped to get some of the new developments and beautification efforts, including the riverwalk project. I still feel sorry for Waterloo with much of the older part of the city in pretty bad shape. It's still the weakest of the bigger Iowa city downtowns IMO.

The east skyline of Waterloo taken from a bridge just south of downtown:




The west skyline of Waterloo:




Cool, but rough row home:


Independence-Wapsinicon Mill in downtown on the mighty Wapsie river. I'm a sucker for old mills like this since they're fairly rare in these parts anymore:







A new office building on the outskirts of town and on Highway 20. This is a pretty nice building for a small town of 7,000-8,000.

[BenRoethig]

Actually I would give that dishonor to Council Bluffs.

[mustang84]

Waterloo is one of the few large Iowa cities that I really haven't experienced. I grew up on the west side of the state so I was very familiar with Council Bluffs, Sioux City, and Des Moines, but I hadn't even visited Cedar Rapids until my sophomore year in college. I've only seen Waterloo from Highway 20...sometime I need to venture up there again since it's only an hour away.

As far as weakest Iowa larger city downtowns go, I would say Ames is the weakest of all. Ames and Council Bluffs are about the same size (if you count the student population), but Council Bluffs' downtown easily trumps Ames. If downtown Ames and Campustown were merged, there might be a little more competition, but I would say Council Bluffs still one-up's Ames' hastily built apartment towers in Campustown and ho-hum old downtown area.

[DMRyan]

I made a trip to Cedar Falls for something recently, and thought I would check on the progress in downtown Waterloo, including the new riverwalk area. Downtown Waterloo has much work to do, but is feeling so much more active than in other time I can recall.

The view of the east skyline from the John Deere works north of downtown. The area near the current Tech Works was definitely built for an era of the city when there were thousands more workers in the area. There are little-used four lane streets that used to get all of the workers between the factories and downtown that are virtually empty today.


I had thought the Tech Works project was a little further along than this, and that these buildings were largely renovated in and in use, but not yet. A lot of this periphery of downtown has been cleared out and is ready for development. With the recently announced hotel/museum project, this area will be ripe for additional redevelopment.






The newer Winterbottom Loft apartments near the John Deere Works is an early precursor to what could be in store for the area.


The new public market/farmer's market project and surrounding area.






Public Market area looking towards the downtown library.


On to the riverwalk. Here's the progress on new ampitheater.






View of the east skyline from the ampitheater




These interpretive signs giving the history of the city are great. I wish the riverwalk in Des Moines had implemented these as well.


I really have to give the Cedar Valley a major compliment on their extenstive trail network, which goes through downtown.










Around downtown:
West skyline


Revitalized 4th Street




Black's Department store


Waterloo Courier Building


Too much purple up in Panther country




Russell-Lamson Apartments, newly renovated.






There are several pieces of artwork and new streetscape pieces that have been installed in the entrances into downtown.




This old hotel was vacant the last time I was up there, but has since been renovated into senior housing.


I wouldn't mind checking out the new Sullivan Brothers/Veterans Military Museum sometime in the future.






Historic Grout House Museum


The Isle of Capri Casino and adjacent Lost Island Water Park. There are the early makings of a tourist/entertainment district in this area to tie it all together. Adventureland is making strides, but Lost Island still looks to be the best water park in Iowa.






The Single A baseball stadium is located in a nice riverfront park on the east side of the Cedar River. The settings are different for a ball park, but I think a new park may be warranted over the coming years. Perhaps it could be moved closer to downtown.

[casbern]

Too much purple up in Panther country

There is never too much purple.

[BenRoethig]

I don't see a new ballpark anytime soon, it's actually pretty well off compared to the rest of the parks in the Northwoods league. One of the reasons its hosting a collegiate summer league team instead of a minor or independent league team is because Waterloo would pay for improvements back in the early 90s.