Community Support

Always a staunch supporter of Downtown, the Nelson's once again joined in and supported the revitalization of Downtown Waterloo with a $4 million investment. They renovated the Black's Building three-story addition interior and exterior into lofts. They also added a restaurant and event center including an upgrade of Life Safety features and other infrastructure within the building.

Downtown Location

Downtown is composed of a variety of retail shops, restaurants, banks, legal offices and government offices, including the Black Hawk County Courthouse and Waterloo City Hall, Public Library, Post Office, Museum District, Art Center, Young arena, Waterloo Community Playhouse and Parks. Any service a tenant could want exists within walking distance or very close driving distance.

Varied Retailers

Downtown Waterloo includes many multi-storied buildings, some of which are mixed use, such as the Waterloo Building, National Building, Marsh Place Building, Russell Lamson Building and Park Towers. These buildings house hundreds of professionals including accountants, attorneys and architects. Convenient banking is available with multiple major banks in the downtown area.

There are many restaurants located in downtown including the famous Galleria De Paco, Doughy Joey's, Brown Bottle, Screaming Eagle, CU, Roux Orleans and many family owned ethnic restaurants. Additionally, there are two hotels, The Ramada Inn and Quality Inn Suites near the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center. There is a variety of shops such as beauty shops, barbershops, apparel shops, bridal shops and antique shops as well as many ethnic retail shops.

Walkable Community

There are sidewalks in all areas of downtown and all properties are within walking distance. Walkable communities are held in high esteem not only for their beauty and safety but being a healthy place to live.

Main Street Community

Waterloo is also a Main Street Community. The National Trust for Historic Preservation created the Main Street Program 30 years ago to save the heritage of America's traditional commercial districts. Main Street Waterloo has helped preserve historic buildings but has also promoted downtown Waterloo as a gathering place. Social events such as parades, festivals, a weekly farmer's market and Fridayloo attract a growing number of people to downtown.

People can enjoy Waterloo's history, which they have worked to preserve. The city has carefully chronicled the locations of its historical properties, many of which are eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

Waterloo created its Historic Preservation Commission in 1985. The Commission consistently reviews historic properties and encourages their renovation to bolster economic development. Donna Nelson received the first award ever given by the commission in 1989 and since that time has received several additional awards for other projects.