WATERLOO -- A search throughout the Midwest for developers willing to build downtown housing along both sides of the Cedar River front yielded just two offers.

But both investors, which Waterloo City Council members are expected to approve Monday for further negotiations, are approaching their respective projects with enthusiasm and confidence in the city's River Renaissance downtown revitalization plans.

In one proposal, Metro Engineers Inc., an Omaha, Neb.-based company with extensive experience in housing and commercial projects, had joined with Lockard Development of Waterloo to submit the only proposal for private construction of a multi-story building on a proposed pedestrian plaza near the Center for the Arts. The building would include main floor retail areas with housing in the upper floors.

In a second proposal, Cedar Valley Restoration and Development, headed by David Deeds of Waterloo, was the lone developer interested in constructing riverfront condominiums on the east banks of the river between East Seventh and East Eighth streets.

City Council members are scheduled to vote Monday on approving exclusive negotiating agreements with the developers. That would start a 60-day period where the city and private developers would put together final development agreements spelling out details of the projects and what incentives the city would provide for their construction.

"Now we go to see if we can come up with an actual development plan that everybody agrees with," said Community Planning and Development Director Don Temeyer.

As part of a downtown master plan developed by Vandewalle & Associates of Madison, Wis. and the nonprofit Waterloo Development Corp., the city is using a $7.3 million state Vision Iowa grant to improve a downtown Cedar River dam, install a riverwalk loop along both sides of the river from the Mullan Avenue bridge to the 18th Street bridge, and construct a "Cedar Valley Arts Mall" plaza and amphitheater along the riverfront near the Center for the Arts and Wonder Bread bakery.

That master plan called for the mixed-used building on the plaza, which would provide market-rate housing and retail support services for the plaza. The city also has received numerous state and federal brownfields dollars to acquire and demolish property on the east side of the river downstream from the current University of Northern Iowa Center for Urban Education, clearing the way for private housing development.

Council members voted Feb. 14 to seek proposals from developers interested in those two projects, seeking only a list of qualifications and not a full project summary. The final project would be developed through the negotiations including the city and WDC, ensuring the buildings were compatible with the River Renaissance vision.

Metro Engineers, a 27-year-old company, has been involved in housing and commercial projects throughout the Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas area and several projects in Austin, Texas. The company is currently working on a restoration of the historic Kirkwood Hotel in Des Moines, which will be turned into 54 condominium units with main floor retail stores.

Metro Engineering's Phil Morin said the company learned of the project through Lockard Development.

"We flew up there and looked at the site and it was very impressive," Morin said. "It certainly looks right now that we're shooting to build a mixed-use project up there on the riverfront.

"Whatever gets built, it's definitely going to be mixed-use and it will be high-end," he added. "That's the only thing we think that will fit into the project down there."

Deeds is a Cedar Falls native and UNI graduate who moved back to Waterloo recently after a business career in larger cities. His Cedar Valley Restoration and Development has invested in construction of architecturally appropriate new homes in the older neighborhood on the east side of the river just downstream from the downtown area. A home recently constructed using a subsidy from the Waterloo Community Development Board was the first new house built in the neighborhood in more than 80 years.

Deeds would be taking on a much larger project with the riverfront condominiums.

A tentative plan presented with his proposal calls for an existing building between East Seventh, East Eighth and Sycamore streets and the river to be redeveloped into a five-unit condominium; 18 units of row housing facing Sycamore; three 15-unit condominium buildings facing the river and two multi-story, mixed-use buildings on the site. All would be developed in phases.

"What we're proposing is a multi-phased project, breaking it down into fairly manageable chunks for the marketplace," Deeds said. "I think it's a natural extension of what we've already started in the neighborhood."

The city has already acquired all but one building, Meyers Sheet Metal, in the project area. But no demolition contracts for the other buildings have been prepared.

"There's a lot of pieces moving, and this is just the next step in the process," Deeds said. "You're not going see buildings coming out of the ground in six weeks or even six months. This is an evolutionary process."

Brian Vandewalle, of Vandewalle & Associates, has said the housing options are a vital component of the downtown redevelopment plan, noting many younger workers the area will need to compete in the new economy are looking to locate in exciting urban areas with downtown housing, entertainment and recreational opportunities.

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