WATERLOO -- The National Cattle Congress is ready to let the sleeping dogs lie.

After spending more than a decade trying to bring back dog racing and expanded gambling to Waterloo Greyhound Park, NCC officials soon will be looking for a buyer to redevelop the site.

It will be something other than a dog track.

The NCC has lost repeated bids to get back a gaming licence surrendered when the track shut down completely in 1996.

The Meskwaki tribe near Tama holds a lien on the property, prohibiting its use for gambling unless the $9.1 million it spent to bail the NCC out of bankruptcy the year the track closed is repaid with interest.

A few potential developers have looked at the vacant building over the years -- especially given its key location at the intersections of U.S. Highways 20 and 63 -- but the NCC has continued to hold out hope for the return of the dogs and expanded gambling.

"Ever since the dog track closed, there's been some interest in this site," NCC President Doug Miller said. "But up until last year, the board was still trying to get a gaming license."

NCC board chairman Wally Mochal said a May 14, 2008, Iowa Court of Appeals ruling upholding the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission's license denial ended those hopes.

"Our attorney basically told us the last ruling closes any opportunity of gaming at Waterloo Greyhound Park," Mochal said. "Our primary purpose now is to do the due diligence, to begin to clear things out, and then let people know: If you want to buy it, it's for sale."

Building rarely used

Little has changed inside the main WGP building since July 13, 1996, when the last wagers were placed on races simulcasted from other tracks. The gamblers left, and the escalator leading to the second floor stopped moving.

The beer and soda machine taps still are there, and a sign in the concessions area still advertises $1.50 draws. A couple of the large glass windows overlooking the former racing oval have been broken and a few ceiling tiles have fallen.

But when Miller showed the building earlier this month, it appeared to have weathered the last dozen years well.

"It's pretty much the way it was," he said. "This really hasn't been used by anybody since it closed."

A church held services in the track building at one point, and Waterloo East High School held a prom party there in 1999. But the NCC's efforts to keep some revenue flowing have focused more on the 64 acres of land at the site, including a large parking lot and lake.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is the most visible tenant today, storing hundreds of trailers in the parking lot on a month-to-month lease.

Hawkeye Community College teaches people to drive trucks there, and A-1 Storage is leasing room on the site. A company will be storing wind farm trailers there soon under a new lease arrangement.

But finding a new use for the building itself could prove difficult.

"This is a pretty good-sized building, and it's two floors," Miller said. "But it was built as a dog track, so its use is limited."

In fact, a big share of the actual floor space is an indoor grandstand.

"The building was built for a single purpose and, somewhere along the way, will have to come down," Mochal conceded. "Everybody we've had look at it has said the primary value is in the substantial piece of ground at the intersection of Highway 63 and 20."

A premier location

Local economic development officials see a huge opportunity at the WGP site.

"It's a hallmark site for the Cedar Valley ? and one of the best two sites in Waterloo," said Steve Dust, president of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance economic development organization. "At the intersection of U.S. 20 and U.S. 63, it's a premier entrance to our community, and we look forward to working with businesses and institutions to find a new high-profile use for that location."

All of the infrastructure, including roads, sewer, water and power, is in place to serve the WGP site. Amenities including the adjacent trails and youth soccer complex to the west only add to its appeal, Dust said.

Other developers already have seen the value in the location, making it one of the hottest spots for new commercial construction in the city.

A new $6 million Mauer Eye Center and d'Vine Medical Spa has opened in the 122-acre Greenbelt Centre business park taking shape directly north of the dog track. A Gold's Gym, Craft-Cochran Screen Printing & Embroidery building and new Social Security branch office are under development.

Construction crews also are busy on several projects on the east side of Highway 63 near the track.

Community Planning and Development Director Noel Anderson said the city included the WGP site when it expanded the tax-increment financing district to include Greenbelt Centre. The TIF district allows the city to provide additional incentives and infrastructure to prospective developers.

"But almost all the infrastructure is already there," Anderson said, noting much was put in to service the track when it was built in 1986.

"It's a great site, and we've had companies look at it over the last couple of years, in terms of whether they could reuse the building or tear it down and use the site," Anderson said. "Most felt it would need to be torn down."

Stock cars stalled

Waterloo businessman Dick Klingaman, a former NCC board member who was a driving force in developing the greyhound park, put forth the most visible -- and some would argue, viable -- plan to reuse the existing building in late 1999.

"I had done all the research and even had the board convinced to look into stock car racing there," Klingaman said. "It was the only thing I could ever think of that I thought would be successful at that location."

The inside seating would provide the possibility for an extended racing season, while soothing fans who weren't fond of the noise. Klingaman also said there was a large local racing fan base and drivers to support the operation.

"I would have taken about $500,000 to build an asphalt track, but once it was paid for, it would have shown a good profit," he said. "I had investors lined up. But about that time, there were some changes in the NCC board and they lost interest."

While the city's Board of Adjustment approved a special permit for the track, residents in Audubon Park and around the Sunnyside Country Club area sued to halt what they felt would be a nuisance. While courts eventually ruled the track could open, Klingaman had already dropped his plans and moved forward with an unrelated condominium project.

"In my opinion, the best thing that could have gone in there was the race track," he said. "Of course, I don't know how that would go over now with all the other development happening out there."

Mochal said it's unfortunate the NCC didn't start trying to sell the track several years ago, before the current economic crisis stunted development nationally.

"It might now be the most opportune time to develop a piece of property like that," he said. "Hopefully it will improve in the next two or three years."

The NCC has been contacting the Meskwaki tribal attorney, letting the tribe know about plans to sell the facility and to work out any details with the lien against gambling. And the site needs to be appraised.

"We probably won't have it listed with any particular Realtor," Mochal said. "But I think everybody realizes it's an available site."

Contact Tim Jamison at (319) 291-1577 or tim.jamison@wcfcourier.com.