Work has started on the Downtown Facade project!

Work has started on the first phase of  the Downtown Facade project. Workers started at the South end of the downtown area and have begun work on three buldings on the East side of the street.
Right now, workers are repointing the existing masonry. Repointing is the process of placing mortar into damaged mortar joints (the areas between bricks). Decayed or cracked joints can allow water in and cause damage to the masonry, so workers are repointing damaged joints. The photos below show workers repointing two buildings.

Storm Lake's Historic Downtown!

The Historical Survey is in!

Drumroll Please.......

Jennifer Price with Price Preservation Research has finished her historical survey on the Storm Lake Downtown and has found an historic district!  Of the thirty-five buildings within the target area for the grant, twenty-seven buildings contribute to an historic district.  The historic district within the Storm Lake Downtown is eligible to be on the National Register of Historic Places.  Jennifer also reviewed the areas surrounding the downtown facade project target area and found some expansion possiblity for the historic district.  The historic district could potentially expand on the south side of E 5th Street until Cayuga Street and also expand north to include approximately half of the 700 block of Lake Avenue.  These buildings would need to be surveyed and evaluated to determine if these buildings would also help contribute to an historical district.

 

Jennifer also concluded that two buildings within the downtown may be individually eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.  These buildings include the Boathouse at 502 Lake Avenue and the old Masonic Temple at 615 Lake Avenue.  These two buildings are eligible because they have retained most of the historical character from the year they were built until the present day. 

 

Congrats Storm Lake Downtown We Are Historic!

 

To Be Historic Or Not To Be Historic...That Is The Question

Jennifer Price from Price Preservation Research came to town in January to review the buildings within the downtown to determine if certain buildings were historic and eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.  She also reviewed the buildings within the Downtown to determine if an historic district exists. 

Jennifer's January visit included a field survey where she took photos of all buildings in the downtown and also conducted some research.  The research included reviewing the Storm Lake Centennial book and other material found at the Storm Lake Public Library, reviewing historical photos found at the Buena Vista County Historical Society, accessing the public records at the Buena Vista County Courthouse, and other additional online research.


Jennifer Price completing field survey research for the Historical Survey.

 

After her on-site visit, Jennifer could start work on the Iowa Site Inventory Forms.  These forms would need to be completed for every building and would help provide documentation for the historic contexts, typologies, and eligibility criteria for determining if a building is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. 

 

Recently the City has received the Final Report for the Historical Survey from Jennifer Price.  The Final Report along with all the site inventory forms have been submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office to be reviewed for the Downtown Facade Project.

 

What buildings within the Storm Lake Downtown are deemed historic or not historic?....Does the City of Storm Lake contain an historic district or not?  Stay tuned for the next blog post where we will reveal the results of the Historical Survey completed by Jennifer Price!

Architect Meetings

On January 8th Scotney Fenton and Michelle Sacco from RDG came to town to hold the second meeting with the downtown facade owners.  During this meeting the owners were able to see potential drawings of what their building could look like once construction would occur.  This was a great way to judge if the Architects' ideas and the building owners' ideas were on the same page.  Various improvements that were discussed included new windows, new transom windows, rehabilitate existing windows, new signage, new awnings, masonry repair, staining masonry, repointing masonry, and new doors.

  

The Architects (left) from RDG discuss improvements to a downtown building
with two building owners (right) for the Storm Lake Downtown Facade Project.

Since the meetings, Scotney and Michelle have been diligently working on the building drawings.  They have incorporated the input they received from the building owners and still tried to keep the historic aspects of our downtown in mind.  These drawings will be submitted to the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) with the historical surveys for each building to make sure that any building that is deemed historic will have improvements that preserve and enhance the historical characteristic of the building. 

The drawings are still in the draft phase but it is awesome to see what some downtown buildings could look like with a little improvements!

If any building owner in the Storm Lake Downtown would still like to participate in the grant please contact Emily Haselhoff at 712-732-8002 or e-mail Haselhoff@stormlake.org!

What kind of impact could this grant make in the Downtown? Check out Woodbine

Many people like to visualize the impact the Downtown Facade Project could make for the Storm Lake Downtown but since that is difficult to imagine until official construction is completed or the construction documents are finished, we can show examples from other towns that have received the same grant and completed their project.  Below are two images from the City of Woodbine's Downtown with before and after shots for some of the buildings in their Downtown Facade project. 


 Woodbine, Iowa

What a change between the before and after!  The City of Storm Lake is excited and can't wait to see a positive impact in our Downtown!

Meet the Architects

With the Downtown Facade Project under way, the City of Storm Lake has some key players on our side making sure the project will be successful!  The Architects!  RDG Planning & Design out of Des Moines is helping with the design portion of the project.

After having two meetings with the architects, the building owners have started to become acquainted with them on the work for the project, but here is a little more information on them and their architectural background:

Scotney Fenton

Scotney has many years of experience when dealing with historic preservation and restoration.  In fact, he received his Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1992 from Iowa State University and then went to get his Master's degree in Architecture from Ball State University with an emphasis in Historic Preservation!  He is also a member of the American Institute of Architects, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Iowa, and Historic Preservation Commission for the City of Des Moines. 

Scotney has been involved in many restoration and rehabilitation projects while he has been at RDG including: Iowa State Capitol, Iowa State University - Morrill Hall, Iowa Transportation Museum, St. Ambrose University - Ambrose Hall & LeClaire Hall, Terrace Hill Governor's Mansion, Woodbury County Courthouse, and many other projects.



Michelle Sacco

 

Michelle has years of experience with historic preservation and restoration as well.  She received her Bachelor's degree in Architecture with a Minor in American History in 2005 from Iowa State University.  In 2009,  Michelle received LEED Accredited Professional.  She is also a member of the American Institute of Architects - Associate Member and Iowa Chapter, Architecture in Schools Committee - Co-Chair, NCARB Intern Development Program, Salisbury House and Gardens - Properties and Collections Committee Member, and National Trust for Historic Preservation Member!

 

Michelle has been involved in many restoration and rehabilitation projects while she has been at RDG including: City of West Des Moines - Historic City Hall, Spaulding Center for Transportation, Clay County Courthouse Renovation, Des Moines Brewery, Iowa State Capitol, St. Ambrose University - Ambrose Hall & LeClaire Hall, and many other projects.

 

 

It is great to have them here in Storm Lake working on the Downtown Facade Project!

 

Downtown Facade Grant...What is it?

The Downtown Facade Grant is a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funded through the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) that is awarded annually based on funding available.  Mainly the funding comes from other state projects that did not use all the funding received from other grants. 

To be eligible, communities, like Storm Lake, that applied for the grant had to demonstrate that the downtown area needed improvements to the outside facade of buildings.  As best stated by IEDA, the projects intentions include "Transformative projects that have long-lasting benefits for the downtown and contribute toward a comprehensive downtown revitalization effort."

The grant specifically works with the exterior facades of buildings and does not go into the interior of the buildings.  The grant is a $500,000 award to aid in revitalization costs for the participating buildings.  Building owners are asked to contribute 30% of their building construction costs to the project. 

Architects will sit down with building owners to determine the exact improvements that could be made within the building owners budget.  From this discussion the Architects will create drawings for all the proposed improvements that will be submitted with an historical survey for the downtown facade project to the State Historical Preservation Office.  Once all documents have been reviewed and approved, it will be time to put the construction documents out for bidders.  The contractor will then be selected from the bids received and construction will be under way!