WATERLOO - The former Newton's jewelry store will get a shine thanks in part to a state grant. The Iowa Department of Economic Development awarded Main Street Waterloo $50,000 to go toward remodeling the facade of the art deco building on the corner of Sycamore and East Fourth streets in downtown Waterloo. JSA Development, led by Jim Walsh, plans to remodel the retail building, at 128 E. Fourth St., into a cafe.

"The plan is to keep the art deco look that it has," Walsh said.

Sindee Kleckner, executive director of Main Street Waterloo, said the building adds a different historic style to downtown Waterloo.

"We're fortunate that the people in this community have embraced the history of these buildings," she said. "They see what they have been and what they could be."

Newton's Jewelry store closed in late 2007 after being in business through three generations beginning in 1914. The building sports a carrara glass structure, which was popularly incorporated in downtown architecture throughout the U.S. in the 1920s and '30s.

Walsh said he plans to name the cafe Newton's Paradise Cafe in order to keep and restore the recognizable vertical Newton's neon sign.

"It's something that's different and unique that's a recognizable part of downtown," he said.

Kleckner, who moved to Waterloo in January to take the helm at Main Street Waterloo, said the building was hard to miss when she moved to town.

"That's one of the buildings that stopped me in my tracks when I first visited here," Kleckner said.

The grant application to the Iowa Department of Economic Development was one of Kleckner's first tasks when she joined the main street organization.

"I hope it's the first of many (successes)," she said.

Walsh plans to begin work this year and tentatively plans to open the cafe in 2010.

Contact John Molseed at (319) 291-1418 or john.molseed@wcfcourier.com.