‘A beautiful addition’
Electric gateway arch serves as a 'welcome' to downtown Marshalltown
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Drivers on South Third Avenue might notice a brand new addition arcing over Main Street – an electric "Downtown Marshalltown" gateway arch with acrylic panels which will light up at night.
Marshalltown Central Business District (MCBD) Executive Director Danielle Lekin is excited to see the sign over Main Street, west of the Orpheum Theater.
"The design was part of the original streetscape project when my predecessor was here, but that is considered the gateway to downtown," she said. ". . . When you're talking about downtown development, you want an 18-hour downtown. It's dark at 5 p.m. now. So, we need a downtown that is lit up and is welcoming if you want people here in the evening. It's a beautiful addition to our downtown. I'm very excited about this project."
The sign is meant to serve as a "welcome" to downtown Marshalltown and to encourage people traveling on Highway 14 to explore.
"People really enjoy beautiful spaces," Lekin said. "If you want people to linger, shop and spend money in your community, you need to create a space that's welcoming for them. There are a lot of people spending time researching that, into how to make people want to invest in your community."
Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce Event & Tourism Coordinator Brittany Sichra, who does the marketing for the ongoing downtown revitalization efforts, said the sign was designed by Bolton & Menk.
"This is in the multi-year project in the downtown master plan for the city," she said.
Lekin said the streetscape project, starting with reconstruction of State Street, then Center Street, is in the middle of the Main Street project portion, where the sign has been placed.
"We are planning to take a break and then will continue," she said. "There has not been a date set for the reopening of those blocks, yet."
Even though some residents have been inconvenienced by the closing of downtown roads since the streetscape project began, Lekin said seven new businesses have opened up downtown.
"It's doing what it is supposed to be doing," she said.
The response from the Marshalltown residents to the gateway arch was what Lekin and Sichra expected.
"Twenty percent of the people don't like what you're doing, 20 percent do like what you're doing and then there's the folks in the middle," Lekin said. "The downtown business owners are very excited about the sign. Everybody I talked to in the business district was excited. I've talked to some citizens, city leadership is excited, but there has been some negative feedback."
A lot of the negative feedback focused on how the gateway arch was being paid for. She said the cost is already part of the City of Marshalltown's construction budget.
Lekin said there was some criticism of the vintage look of the sign, which is a modernization of the Third Avenue sign from decades ago.
"Downtown Marshalltown is on the National Register of Historic Places," she said. "Part of our work here at the MCBD is historic preservation, and so we try to design things so one foot is grounded in the past, honoring what came before us, while trying to adapt to a modern way of life. The decisions made about the project really took that into consideration, so we have things that are new with modern amenities and still paying homage to our history."
Sichra said she tries to explain the point of the arch from the perspective of the Chamber and the MCBD.
"It's not just a sign," she said. "It's more of a gateway to the downtown district."
However, Sichra stressed that the gateway arch was not placed to make the downtown district better than others in Marshalltown.
"The misconception is that there is more praise about this district than others, and at the end of the day, it's a walking district compared to others," she said.
With the gateway arch installed, the next downtown aesthetic projects to be tackled in 2027 will be the alleyway next to 7 Rayos and the completion of the pocket park.
"Those are the next big projects we will see," Lekin said. "As far as the streetscape, there are no more planned at this time."
They both thanked everyone who has worked on the downtown projects.
"I always say downtown is the living room of a community," Lekin said. "And you don't invite people to your house when it's a mess. You want it to look nice."
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.