Waterloo, Iowa Manufacturing Reuse and Downtown Rebuilding

This is Waterloo anew…

In the last two decades the City of Waterloo, the WDC, and Vandewalle & Associates have achieved a remarkable transformation of this mid-sized city–and in so doing have invented processes that can be applied to retool many manufacturing-driven Midwestern cities. Vandewalle & Associates’ roles have included helping to identify economic opportunities, shaping a powerful vision, devising catalytic projects with great added value for the region, managing implementation, forging public-private partnerships … and helping procure over $20 million in project funding to make it happen.

Repurposing former John Deere Manufacturing: TechWorks, a new business incubator and co-working center. In 2004, Vandewalle & Associates helped to prepare an application to the State of Iowa for the rehabilitation of former John Deere buildings into the Cedar Valley TechWorks to be used as a national showcase for emerging industry. Leveraging the massive Deere-donated land and structures, the project was ultimately awarded $3.2 million in IEDA funding to renovate the existing buildings and pursue new industry tenants and exhibitors.

The new John Deere Tractor & Engine Museum opened its doors on the TechWorks Campus in 2014. Nearly seven in the making–from site planning to Experience design,  building reuse/construction to exhibit fabrication–the John Deere Tractor & Engine Museum engages visitors of all ages with a number of unique, interactive exhibits.

In 2018 an extensively renovated Tech 2 building opened as a new Courtyard Marriott Hotel.