What's Up in Uptown Marion? (II)

1000 block of 7th Avenue, taken across City Square Park

 Five years ago this winter, Your Humble Blogger spent part of a day helling about downtown Marion, Iowa (officially branded and hereafter called "Uptown"). Having heard at this month's Corridor Urbanism meeting there were more exciting things going on there, I hurried back for an anniversary look-see. Despite damage from the August 10, 2020 derecho and the persistence of the coronavirus pandemic, things are definitely happening.

Center and path: City Square Park lost trees in the derecho

In our last exciting episode, it was noted that (1) Uptown Marion makes great use of its city square and historic commercial buildings, and was planning some interesting alley projects as well as a new library; (2) the urbanist part of town is really, really small, but seemingly growing and capable of serving nearby residential neighborhoods; (3) Uptown commerce has a high frou-frou-to-practical ratio, and only one coffeehouse; and (4) part of the plan was to divert through traffic from 7th Avenue to 6th Avenue.

(1) Thriving historic commercial district.

City Square Park: The historic depot got hit hard

11th Street: historic buildings, new buildings that blend in,
and east entrance to Art Alley

7th Avenue: south entrance to Art Allley

Art Alley: Back patios of Uptown Snug, Brick Alley Pub, and Short's
create charming synergy (when it's not January)

7th and 12th: What used to be Irwin's Clothing is now a dental office

1100 block of 6th Avenue: Construction of the new public library,
one block east of the current building

First United Methodist has moved, replaced by
Pentecostals of Greater Cedar Rapids.
Historic building suffered much storm damage.

Where the bus stop used to be: Leftover from Christmas?

(2) Expanding urbanism.

1200 block of 7th Avenue, north side:
urbanist foothold increases

1200 block of 7th Avenue, south side:
this strip mall will soon be replaced by a multi-story, mixed use project

800 block of 6th Avenue, south side: a new urbanist foothold,
with a diner and tiny shops including a gift shop, book store,
and jeweler

Longer view of the same space from 9th Street: Your development here?

(3) Drive-to urbanism. The Walkscore for this charming district is 72, but you'd still have to drive a ways for groceries and hardware, for example. Walgreen's at 1225 7th Avenue is both a positive and negative: a positive because you can get prescriptions and some groceries right downtown, a negative because it's a wealth-sucking chain big-box store with a huge footprint right downtown. This cannot possibly be the highest, best use of that land. More changes are coming with new developments on the site of Marion Square Mall and the current public library.

With regard to coffee, Uptown Snug (760 11th Street) has opened a coffee house in the front of the bar, which fills a definite hole because the only coffee last time was at Wit's End (630 10th Street) which has closed--temporarily?--due to storm damage. Kettel House Bakery (945 6th Avenue) and West End Diner (809 6th Avenue) also serve coffee, but are restaurants not coffee houses.

(4) Traffic diversion? As of the last traffic counts, in 2017, 7th Avenue continued to be the main thoroughfare in this area, drawing 12,800 cars per day compared with 6100-6200 on 8th Avenue and 2670-3370 on 6th. Twenty years ago, traffic on 7th was 18,500 per day, with the decrease probably due to the Marion Bypass (IA 100) south of town. The roundabout at 7th Street (pictured above in August 2016) was added in 2015,  intended to divert traffic onto 6th Avenue and make 7th Avenue more pedestrian-friendly (see Kasparie 2016). This morning traffic still seemed heavier on 7th Avenue, and the highway designation (BUS 151/IA 922) still attaches to 7th Avenue as well. It will be interesting to see the next round of average daily traffic counts, but that goes without saying, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, the Marion Fire Department is moving its headquarters from Uptown out to Tower Terrace Road, and the YMCA of the Cedar Rapids Metro Area has just opened a new facility out there. The Police Department's already at another edge of town. Marion's center of gravity clearly has been heading away from Uptown for a long time; the city's growth to an estimated 40,359 in 2019 from 20,479 in 1990 has largely been fueled by suburban expansion. 

 

So where does Uptown fit into Marion's future? Maybe a viable residential option for people who choose not to live in a 20th century auto paradise, and another hotspot of drive-to urbanism for the rest of us.

12th Street south of 7th Avenue: Someone needs to up(town) their snow removal game!