Lt. Gov. Gregg pictured with Ken Laughery, Melissa Shadlow, Steve Smith.

Gregg pictured with Main Street Guthrie Center Director Dana Buster and Midwest Partnership Economic Development Director Sarah Gomez.

Iowa’s Lt. Governor Adam Gregg (R) talked with Guthrie Center business and community leaders about downtown economic and housing progress Thursday.

On the last stop of his annual 99-county tour Gregg visited the historic Williams Building at 407 State Street, which was purchased by Main Street Guthrie Center in 2017 and has since had the first-floor facade renovated where Central Iowa Family Eyecare, Pearls & Lace Country Boutique, and Imagine the Possibilities are housed. The Main Street Guthrie Center Board is now focused on renovating the second and third floors into apartments, which they showed to Gregg.

He shares why he chose the Williams Building as his county-tour stop, “One of the things I’ve focused my 99-county tour on is rural economic development and revitalization and specifically looking at the efforts that are being done to deal with buildings on our rural Main Streets that may be getting old or falling apart and may be at that turning point of whether or not they’re going to stay up or come down or be renovated and repurposed. Today’s visit allowed me the opportunity to learn what’s going on here in Guthrie Center and the efforts that are going into preserving this building and making it something new for the future.”

Gregg adds he hopes he can return to see the completed renovation. The Main Street Board has been working with RDG Planning & Design on the housing layout, and the City applied this fall for a Community Catalyst Building Remediation grant to help fund progress on the first apartment.