Oelwein planning to tear down Community Plaza

OELWEIN, Iowa (KCRG) -The City of Oelwein is getting ready to close and demolish the Oelwein Community Plaza located at 25 West Charles Street.

Leaders with the Oelwein Plaza Foundation say the 60-plus-year-old building is deteriorating and becoming too expensive to repair.

There are cracks in the wall, and the building has water issues. The bridge structure underneath is also not sound.

They plan to renovate a building downtown to replace it. It will be downtown at the old Dollar General at 137 South Frederick Avenue. It will have a meeting area, and a spot that can hold more than 450 people for events.

The project cost 3.2 million dollars. Community Bank of Oelwein is giving 250-thousand, and leaders hope to get the rest of the money from grants, individual donors, and local charitable foundations. Organizers hope the new venue will bring more people to Oelwein.

The Community Plaza will close on the 30th, and will be torn down in the fall They hope to have the new event center open by May 2023

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