Anamosa is a small Northeast Iowa community of approximately 8,000 people, located within 35 miles of the growing Cedar Rapids area.  The downtown area has suffered from a lack of reinvestment and an inability to distinguish itself from other competing commercial areas in the city and surrounding region.

The City of Anamosa retained Downtown Professionals Network to facilitate the creation of the Downtown Anamosa Strategy Plan. The city commissioned the strategic planning effort to explore possibilities for the downtown’s future and to identify planning and policy directions that could enhance its economic performance.

DPN worked with the community to define a vision for Downtown Anamosa, to analyze current market conditions, to identify and explore various redevelopment scenarios, and to chart a course for strategic actions and initiatives that will help Anamosa achieve its vision for the downtown.

More than 500 Anamosa area residents, business people and community leaders participated and offered input throughout the course of the planning effort. Participants’ input, along with findings from an in-depth market analysis, provide a sound basis for the plan’s business development, marketing, management, upper level housing development and leadership strategies.

Findings from the market analysis and related research were used to define the downtown’s trade area, identify its position in the trade area, and to formulate consumer marketing strategies that will help the downtown establish a strong presence in the marketplace. Investor marketing strategies were developed based on business development and clustering strategies designed to re-establish the downtown as a vibrant mixed use commercial district.

An inventory and assessment of the current supply of downtown upper level housing revealed opportunities to improve existing housing and create additional upper level units. Downtown resident and property owner surveys provided direction for potential policy initiatives and incentives to catalyze redevelopment for upper level housing and to profile the potential downtown housing market.

The process behind the planning effort was marked by renewed interest, enthusiasm and intrigue. Community leaders, business people and residents worked together to devise leadership and management strategies designed to initiate and sustain a long-term downtown redevelopment and revitalization effort.

Market analysis findings indicate that consumers doing errands and business at a bank, office or other service business frequent the downtown most often. Business clustering strategies recognize these non-retail establishments as key downtown activity generators – “anchors” – and seek to create a heightened sense of activity and retail synergy.

Land use, business development and upper level housing development opportunities are key components of the Downtown Anamosa Strategy Plan

More than 500 residents, business people and civic leaders played an active role in creating the Downtown Anamosa Strategy Plan. 

The articulation of the community’s vision for Downtown Anamosa, developed through teamwork and consensus-building, provided a basis upon which possible development scenarios were explored and priorities were established.

Business recruitment, the maintenance of buildings and beautification were selected by consumer and business survey respondents as the top priorities for downtown Anamosa revitalization and business development efforts.