by Marianne Gasaway
The Clear Lake City Council took “a critical step” to enter into a future loan agreement for purposes of undertaking and financing the Destination Iowa Surf District Creating Placemaking Urban Renewal Project Monday night.
Following a public hearing during which only supportive comments were heard, the Council voted 5-0 to proceed.
In December, the City of Clear Lake was awarded $4,370,000 toward its Clear Lake Surf District project. Representatives of the Surf Ballroom and the North Iowa Cultural Center & Museum, the group that oversees the facility’s operations, partnered with the City to propose a boutique-style hotel within district. The Destination Iowa program uses funds from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act to help communities move forward on “transformational, shovel-ready attractions. Chief among the qualifications for the grant was that both public and private investment must be demonstrated. In Clear Lake’s case, that was accomplished with the City acting as the lender to the non-profit 501c3 to provide the necessary capital to build and own a 45-room boutique hotel. The nonprofit will then contract with a third party manager to operate the hotel.
With the hotel representing private investment in the area, not eligible for any grant funding, State grant money will be used for other aspects of the overall Surf District project. A new Music Enrichment Center for the Surf will be constructed immediately west of the ballroom, replacing smaller buildings east of the ballroom which are currently used. A waterfront component of the plan is considered very significant. The new Surf District plan uses the yard of the Fox home across from the ballroom which the Surf already owns, and expands it by acquiring a residential property next door. Other components of the plan include a Surf District Lighthouse Visitor Center at the site of the current Surf-owned restaurant known as the Legacy Grill. The lighthouse would be a nod to the A&W Light House Drive Inn which was located in the Surf’s parking area in the 1960s. A new lighthouse would hold a welcome center, exhibit space, restrooms, and possible food service and small theater.
“There are a lot of steps along the way and this is one of them — and it is a critical one,” City Administrator Scott Flory told the Council. “We haven’t crossed the Rubicon yet, but with this move I think we’re in the water. There’s a long way to go and it’s a formidable project ahead. The wheels can fall off the bus a thousand different ways, but this is a big step.”
Council members Mike Callanan and Gary Huge noted that as children of parents who experienced the Depression era, they are generally conservative when it comes to financing large projects. However, both men said they believe work in the Surf District will be a huge influence on the rest of the community and they support it 100 percent.
Mayor Nelson Crabb called it “a positive transformational project.”
Chad Shreck, director of the North Iowa Corridor Economic Development, applauded the City for “a bold move and big investment.”
“You are building on an asset that is so important to Clear Lake and vital to the area,” said Schreck. “It’s a great way to leverage state support with community support.”
“This project is about peacemaking— making people want to come here and live here,” Jeff Nicholas, president of the Surf Ballroom, told the Council. “It’s testimony to a lot of things— the Snyder family, leadership, Scott Flory, the mayor and all Councils through the years that there is so much positive about this. This community trusts you. There isn’t any negativity out there. We stand as an organization ready, willing able and excited to get started.”
