(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
This story was originally published by Iowa Capital Dispatch and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
UNI taps community connections in development of Panther District project • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
['Brooklyn Draisey', 'More From Author', '- July', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width']
Date: 2025-07-10
The University of Northern Iowa is considering community wishes and studying successful development projects as it takes its first steps in creating its own mixed-use area to benefit both campus and the Cedar Valley area, university officials say.
The Cedar Falls university has launched the Panther District project with a search for a developer to help transform land close to UNI athletics and events centers into a pedestrian, bike and family-friendly space with restaurants, retail spaces and housing options.
Pete Moris, UNI director of university relations, said in an interview one of the goals behind the district is to boost already-growing development and provide additional amenities on the west side of Cedar Falls, benefiting both the city and the college.
“We did not want to compete with downtown or Cedar Falls if this project was simply going to draw dollars from one area to a different area,” Moris said. “We wanted to be able to help infuse Cedar Falls with a project that would benefit the entire community.”
The development will sit across the street from the UNI-Dome and McLeod Center, which hosts athletic and other events. UNI will continue owning the land where the development will be, according to the project website, with the developer leasing it to “implement, finance, operate, and maintain” the structures within the district.
As the project is still in its early stages, Moris said an official design of the district has not been decided upon, but the university and developer will work together on options once a company is selected. Once a developer is selected, Moris said the university will seek necessary approvals from the Iowa Board of Regents.
Aspects of the district the university wants to see put in place include restaurants, temporary lodging, housing and retail businesses, with open spaces to invite people in and bring UNI, growing neighborhoods in the area and the recently built high school closer together.
“Right now we’ve kind of got an idea, but I think that pedestrian, bike friendly, family friendly … those are elements we do feel pretty strongly about to anchor the project,” Moris said.
Housing for the project would be market-rate and aimed at people who work in the area, Moris said.
The consulting firm hired to determine whether a project like the Panther District could be viable had previous experience working with downtown Cedar Falls, Moris said. The firm found that with projected population growth and tourism, the city would be able to handle the district without fears of hurting or shuttering other businesses.
Katy Susong, president and CEO of Grow Cedar Valley, said the College Hill District that sits a few minutes away from the proposed development space could also see further investment and development, leading to general improvements to the whole area.
Excitement for more development can be found across the Cedar Valley region, Susong said, as well as a readiness for the community to be more closely tied to the college.
“I think this is a tremendous opportunity to really create an inviting corridor into Cedar Falls that shows all of the great things we have going on, but demonstrates that we are Panther Town,” Susong said. “We are a college community, and hopefully this development will make that abundantly clear.”
Grow Cedar Valley has had conversations with university staff about plans for the project, and Susong said there should be “opportunities to work together in meaningful ways” in the future as the process moves forward.
Other resources UNI has tapped in the creation of the proposed district include similar projects that have seen success, including Titletown in Green Bay, Wis. The community development, which boasts housing, a health clinic, restaurants, entertainment and a large park, was also scrutinized by Iowa State University in the early development of its multi-use district, CyTown, Iowa State University Research Park President Rick Sanders said.
Moris said UNI has looked at the CyTown project to see if there were any takeaways that could be applied to the Panther District, and Sanders said it looks like “they’re starting the process wonderfully.” He saw similarities between the two projects when he perused the Panther District Request for Qualifications, and he would be happy to work with the fellow Iowa institution to share what he’s learned.
In addition to ensuring partnerships are made and kept between the city and business communities, advice Sanders gave to the UNI staff working on the district is to make sure processes and people are prepared to face challenges, including when the university has to operate outside of its regular practices.
“The university is fantastic at doing what the university does, but this is not what the university is used to doing,” Sanders said. “So if you try to shoehorn a project like this into traditional university processes, I think you’re going to find some very real challenges.”
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/07/10/uni-taps-community-connections-in-development-of-panther-district-project/
Published and (C) by Iowa Capital Dispatch
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND-NC 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/iowacapitaldispatch/
