From a new veterans monument rising downtown to a major lake project coming to a halt, Grinnell’s development landscape is shifting on multiple fronts as city leaders advance new housing, business expansions and public works across the community.
The contrast captures the moment Grinnell is in — new construction rising downtown while one of the city’s most ambitious projects collapses just outside its borders. With housing shortages, commercial demand near I-80 and public investment shaping what’s to come, here’s where the city is headed next.
Progress continues on the Central Park Veterans Monument
Grinnell’s new Veterans Monument is taking shape at the southeast corner of Broad St. and 4th Ave.
The monument, made of perforated steel and lit from the inside to look like an unfurling American flag, is expected to be open by spring 2026.
Groundwork and footings are underway at the site, said Joe Tuggle Lacina, artist and design consultant for the project, with the concrete, landscaping, pavers and planting all expected to be completed sometime this fall. The monument itself, which is currently being constructed in Chicago, is expected to be finished by winter, but not installed until sometime in the spring.
“Fabrication won’t be ready until we get into a hard freeze, where it’ll be miserable to work outside,” said Lacina. “It’s not a good time to have a crane and a multi-hour transport of a multi-piece steel sculpture.”
Principal Landscape Architect Mark Kuiper at RITLAND+KUIPER, the firm that led the design process, said designing a unique monument to recognize veterans across a variety of historical contexts was a complex and sensitive process.
“We have the people who actually died in battle, the people back home who dealt with a wide range of sacrifices. We wanted the process to be one where we actually heard all of these opinions,” said Kuiper. “We as the lead consultants had to be the quote-unquote difficult party and make those decisions, to say ‘this is what it sounds like the consensus is.’”
“We went through multiple design input sessions, edits, refinements, throwing everything out and starting all over again,” said Lacina. “It was important to all the stakeholders that everyone could find their own meaning and connection to it.”
The Grinnell Veterans Commission, Grinnell Parks Department, the City of Grinnell and the public all gave input towards the final design, said Lacina.
Both Lacina and Kuiper expressed excitement about the interactive structure of the monument, which will allow visitors to walk through the sculpture and the lighting.
“It’s going to have a real presence at night,” said Kuiper. “It will look really cool.”
Sapphire Lake project canceled
The Sapphire Lake, an over $650 million proposed public man-made lake south of the city of Grinnell, has been officially halted after two landowners declined to sign land sale option agreements, according to a press release from the Sapphire Lake developers.
“It’s hard to put into perspective how that project could’ve changed Grinnell,” said Tyler Avis, director of building and planning for the city. “There’s nothing in Grinnell’s history that had the potential to have the impact that it could’ve had.”
In addition to housing development, the project would have included public beaches, boat docks, campsites and trails, according to the press release.
Funding included $10 million each from the State of Iowa and Poweshiek County and $17.5 million from the City of Grinnell. A third-party economic impact study predicted over $600 million in benefits to the region over the next 20 years as a result of the project, according to the press release.
Emera brings new housing and parking into town
Emera is a mixed-use development at 1020 Main St. that broke ground in early summer 2025 and is expected to be completed by November 2026. When complete, it will consist of 60 market-rate studio, one bedroom and two bedroom residential units, as well as ground floor commercial space and 32 underground parking spaces, said Matt McGeough, managing partner at Grinnell Investments LLC.
The development, built on former Grinnell College property, received tax abatements from the city as well as a partial contribution towards the cost of the underground parking garage, said McGeough. He said this was necessary to cover construction costs.
“Often these projects don’t pencil out on paper because you can’t charge the rents you could in Ankeny or Waukee,” said McGeough.
While McGeough said it was too early to give exact rent estimates, he said tenants can expect a pet-friendly policy and indoor bike storage. He also said local restaurants had expressed interest in leasing the ground-floor commercial space.
Avis said that the approval process for the project was relatively simple. Zoning changes in 2021 created a “Zone of Confluence” designed to accommodate dense mixed-use developments in the downtown area, he said. The only major community concern was parking, which necessitated a redesign to include the underground garage, Avis said.
“When you get a new development, it brings in new businesses. Now you have 60 new residents in the downtown who could support another type of business in that location,” said McGeough.
In addition to business benefits, Avis said the development goes a long way toward addressing housing supply issues in Grinnell.
“We’ve completed four housing studies since 2015,” said Avis. “Each one that’s been done screams a little louder to build more housing of any kind.”
Other business and housing projects coming to Grinnell
National chains are planning to expand their presence in Grinnell over the coming years, said Avis.
A QuikStar gas station is expected to open near the intersection of I-80 and Highway 146 by spring 2027.
The existing Casey’s along I-80 plans to add diesel pumps by spring 2026, he added.
While Avis said Grinnell actively tries to attract development near the I-80 interchange, the population distribution of the city can make it difficult.
“Grinnell is shaped like a lollipop,” said Avis. “You have the core where most people live, and a long narrow strip between the core and I-80 that has some population but is also where a lot of businesses are located.”
Since most national chain stores look at population counts within a limited radius when deciding whether to build at a proposed location, they tend to exclude Grinnell’s core and underestimate the number of customers these I-80 adjacent locations would attract, he said.
“Don’t just look two miles around that intersection, look at three or four miles and you’d include a lot of that population,” said Avis. “Expand that circle a little bit, and then check again to see if we meet the criteria.”
In addition to business expansion, Avis said the city of Grinnell is working actively to construct new housing.
The city purchased a former Iowa Telecom property near Grinnell High School, he said. The project consisted of razing the building and constructing a 40-lot subdivision zoned for single-family use. As of now, 20 lots have yet to be developed, seven have sold and five are in the process of being sold.