Newton's Hotel

Maytag

For 40 years after its construction, the building served as Newton, Iowa's main event hub for weddings, dances, graduation ceremonies and musical performances. In the mid-1960s, the hotel's main ballroom closed, and its interior spaces were chopped up to create apartments, offices and commercial spaces. Over the next decades, the structure underwent multiple ownership changes and began to decline. Economic challenges and arduous market conditions (including the closure of the last remaining Maytag factory, one of the city's largest employers), led to the building's continual decline until the city began searching for partners who could help rehabilitate the structure. In 2017, the city began rehabilitation and renovation efforts in earnest, working alongside a team of development, design and construction professionals. 

Completed in the summer of 2019, the renovated Hotel Maytag features 45 new workforce and market-rate apartments, a rehabilitated Capitol Theater and Midtown Cafe and several new retail shops. Today, this historic building has reenergized the community through its affordable housing and entertainment venue offerings. The Capitol II Theater offers modern, technology-rich upgrades and expanded concessions set against a uniquely historic aesthetic, positioning the theater as a competitive economic asset and a unique experience unachievable by today's chain theaters. The restored ballroom, now known as the Maytag Event Complex, has reemerged as a thriving event center, and thanks to a partnership with Des Moines Area Community College, serves as a full-service banquet facility. 

Thanks to the commitment of the Newton community and the knowledge and expertise of the project team, the Hotel Maytag again serves as a driver of economic development and population growth, providing enhanced quality-of-life amenities for visitors and residents alike.