WATERLOO -- The talk and planning are over.

Now, construction of the Cedar Valley TechWorks plant is getting under way.

About 30 state and local officials and business leaders, including Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, marked the occasion with ceremonies on the sixth floor of the first TechWorks building -- Tech 1 -- Tuesday afternoon.

The two existing six-floor, 150,000-square-foot buildings that will serve as primary anchors to TechWorks were donated by Deere & Co.

"This project, we're excited about it, because we believe in the vision and the future of the state, and that is a bio-based economy," Judge said. "Certainly Waterloo has a long history of agriculture, and all of these things are coming together. We have a real opportunity here because we've got a unique structure that appears to be solid and usable space, and I think this is going to be a great incubator and center, so to speak, of the bio industry."

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver had been scheduled to attend, but a late-scheduled conflict prompted him to send Judge in his stead, said Cary Darrah, TechWorks general manager.

TechWorks is attracting considerable attention from state government, as a kind of prototype of the kind of role Iowa will play in the global economy, Judge said.

"We want this to succeed and want to help make that possible," she said. "You've got great legislative leadership here. You've certainly got some people who are pushing for it for Waterloo and Cedar Falls every day. I think you're onto something very big and something that's going to be very important for the future here. This is going to be a real flagship, a real focal point for the bio industry in the entire state."

The group examined artist's renderings of the finished TechWorks project which will include a technology center for research and development, a manufacturing cluster to facilitate commercialization of new products and an agriculture museum/exhibit center.

"It is the culmination of a lot of hard work," Waterloo Mayor Tim Hurley said.

Work has gotten under way on an extension of Commercial Street, which will provide a direct link from the highway system to TechWorks and serve as a gateway to Waterloo's downtown district, Hurley said.

"What has impressed me just in the (post-flood period) is all of a sudden there's visible, physical, tangible evidence of resurgence and investment and revitalization and renaissance all around the city," Hurley said.

The Commercial Street extension project may be finished next year, Hurley said, but he said that was just an estimate.

Work on Tech 1 will start in earnest next week, thanks to $2.5 million from the state's Physical Infrastructure Assistance Program, Darrah said.

"The expectations are that this facility will be the green-collar jobs factory for the Cedar Valley," said State Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, whom Darrah credited with pushing for the $2.5 million grant for the project.

"It takes a lot of work to retool a building to make it usable. This is truly a Cedar Valley project, which kind of makes my heart proud, because the Senate district I represent -- that includes Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Hudson -- is truly a Cedar Valley-elected position, and we tried really hard over the past few years to get people to work together for a common vision of the future," said Danielson, up for re-election this year.

The University of Northern Iowa's National Ag-Based Lubricants program, currently located in Waverly, is scheduled to move into Tech 1 as the first tenant in February.

"Green-collar jobs are going to be the new wave of jobs in the future. And if we do this right, we'll not only grow the Cedar Valley's economy, but we'll also be a major player in Iowa's economy in that area," Danielson said. "Value-added ag is where you need to be playing in today's world. You can't ship corn and soybeans out of our state without doing something to it. So this gives us a chance to be a part of that."

Contact Jim Offner

at (319) 291-1598 or

jim.offner@wcfcourier.com.