WATERLOO -- George Warren decided the best way to fight for downtown's survival is to do so as an outsider.

Warren, who along with wife Mary Ellen owned the Quality Inn & Suites at West Fifth and Jefferson streets since 1992, sold the motel in late January to a Minnesota company.

The Warrens have long been vocal in what they perceive as the city's lack of effort in revitalizing the city center. George Warren is president-elect of Main Street Waterloo and an outspoken supporter of efforts to locate a gambling facility downtown in lieu of a proposed casino/hotel development near Lost Island Adventurepark. Mary Ellen Warren also is a past Main Street board president. Their hotel has been the regular site of Main Street board meetings.

"Every time we do something for the interest of downtown, my wife and I are tagged as doing it for our own self interests," said Warren. "We felt the best way to get rid of that moniker was to sell off the property I own downtown. I no longer own any property downtown."

According to the latest Commercial and Industrial Sales Report released last week by the County Assessor's Office, Warren sold the 68-room hotel for $750,000 to Birchwood Hospitality of Savage, Minn., which also owns Quality Inn franchises in Savage and Cedar Rapids.

County records show the hotel has an assessed value of $868,630 for 2003 following an 18 percent equalization order from the state of Iowa that boosted the value of all property in the state. The property was assessed at $736,130 before the equalization order.

Warren was first approached about the property by another interested buyer in December 2002. He wasn't interested at the time, but the dissolution of a downtown tax levy that funds Main Street Waterloo provided the incentive to entertain offers.

"We felt the (self-supported municipal improvement district) was important for downtown," he said. "After losing the SSMID, we thought, 'oh hell, we may as well get out,'"

Warren entered into an agreement with Birchwood in August 2003. The deal closed Jan. 28.

In addition to the appearance of a conflict of interest, Warren was motivated to sell by what he calls the "death knell" sounding for downtown.

If Isle of Capri obtains a gaming license from the state racing and gaming commission, Warren said the accompanying 200-room hotel would "virtually kill hotels downtown." Likewise, the PIPAC Centre on the Lake, scheduled to open in June, will divert convention activity from downtown, he said. As a member of the Waterloo Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission, Warren voted against the original construction of Lost Island in 1999, calling the water park's location south of Crossroads Center "more sprawl."

The Warrens invested $2 million renovating the hotel they purchased in 1992. They received a $150,000 economic development loan and a five-year partial break on property taxes, which recently expired.

Warren said the expiration of those incentives, coupled with the property tax hike caused by the equalization order, would be stiff. Yet, he said they did not play a role in his decision.

"The property tax breaks amounted to about $10,000 a year, which is nice, but not a business maker or breaker," said Warren. "It was our downtown civic project."

Warren said he'll concentrate on land and other commercial property he owns in the city. He owned the land on which the Family Video store is being built at Ansborough and Ridgeway avenues, and undertook a $300,000 remodeling of Villa Shopping Center on La Porte Road in 1995. He'll also continue to serve on the Main Street Waterloo board and with the Cedar Valley Improvement Association, which is lobbying for a downtown gaming complex.