Knoxville’s downtown was assessed this week by members of the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Downtown Resource Center. Members of the team gave a presentation of their findings Thursday at the Grand Theater, touching on issues ranging from buildings, housing, and business development. Jim Engel with the group says there are two key areas that need the most attention.

“There are a lot of organizations in town, and they all have different focuses. We think they need to pull together more, they need to define what they do. They need to work together, they need to have meetings together and see how they all fit into the community development jigsaw puzzle. The other thing that we knew would be an issue in Knoxville is that there’s a building stock here. Some great architecture, some of it’s hidden behind aluminum. It’s been like that for 50 or more years, so you can’t see what’s back there. Some of the buildings are in bad shape. We wanted to put an emphasis, on this visit, on doing one building at a time, because businesses don’t usually go in bad buildings.”

The team will compile its findings into a written report, which will be available within four to six weeks. City administrators will consider the findings and develop plans for redevelopment. Hear more about this assessment on today’s Let’s Talk Knoxville.