Marion Uptown
Master Plan
Update
Marion is one of Iowa’s fastest-growing cities – and one of the youngest per capita. A vibrant community of 41,000, Marion prides itself on being the best place in Iowa to raise a family and grow a business.
The Uptown Marion District is the city’s historic center and spans over 20 blocks of Marion’s historic commercial district is comprised of 165 buildings, 135 businesses, 937 employees, and more than 250 residents. In 2013, Marion was selected as a Main Street Iowa Community that helps promote more than sixty boutiques, restaurants, galleries, personalized services, goods and experiences. From your morning latte to evening lager, Uptown Marion offers a full itinerary of strolling, savoring, and spending hours with friends.
A grassroots initiative emerged in 2017 that led to the preparation of the Uptown Master Plan which includes strategies for supporting existing businesses, steering new reinvestment, managing parking, and repositioning the area for supporting memory-making gathering places. Initiatives emerging from the gates for implementation include a trio of plazas that connect to a planned regional trail system that links downtown Marion to downtown Cedar Rapids and the greater region. These projects will soon become a reality through the commitment of the City’s commitment and the recent award of the Destination Iowa Grant of $3 million.
Years of planning and follow-through have helped shape the community’s vision TODAY and into the FUTURE.