One year later, Tama fire resonates

Aug. 4--The 300 block of Jefferson Street would have been an ideal location for a business specializing in flavored popcorn.

Between the Art Center and several popular, locally owned shops, and fronting on the farmers market, the foot traffic on the block in downtown Burlington offered the potential for foot traffic owner Greg Flietner said the 800 block of Jefferson couldn't match. Even when the street was busy, he said, people seemed less willing to go west of the heavily traveled North Sixth Street intersection.

So when the chance arose to buy the building where he already was, anticipation of the extra exposure led Flietner to turn it down. In the Tama Complex, sandwiched between what was to have been a restaurant on one side and a grocery store on the other, Flietner saw the future of the company his grandfather, Robert Moehlman, started in 1974, and he brought back into the family in 2016.

"It would have been great for me down there," Flietner said.

But then came Aug. 4, 2018, and the fire that gutted more than a pair of historic downtown buildings. Dozens of firefighters from multiple departments spent more than 24 hours fighting the blaze. And when the fire finally was out -- a cause is still unknown, Burlington Fire Chief Matt Trexel said -- it turned the world upside down for people planning to move in, or doing business nearby.

"We had to go somewhere. The building sold," said Flietner, who had given up the space in the 800 block of Jefferson. With no other storefront options on the lower portions of Jefferson Street, and an eye still on foot traffic, he took the business to Westland Mall, opening on the corner of the food court where a pretzel shop had previously been.

The move has made the last year a hard one, with an increased workload and higher overhead. Right now, the goal is simply to stay afloat, and things could go either way.

Flietner isn't the only one still feeling the impact of the fire that disrupted foot and vehicle traffic for nine months at Third and Jefferson streets. Business owners near Third and Jefferson say the lingering effects of the fire continue to ripple through their bottom lines.

"You don't recoup instantly," said Doreen Roy, owner of Red Screen Door and Gypsy on Jefferson.

City officials and downtown development advocates, meanwhile, continue to look for a firm direction from the developer about his future plans.

Next steps

An appearance by Tama Complex owner Doug Wells before the Burlington City Council that had been planned for later this month has been pushed back to September. Development Director Eric Tysland told The Hawk Eye in an email last week the city had not yet received details of an expected Community Development Block Grant application from Wells. The status of a state of Iowa historic preservation grant, which provided a significant chunk of the resources for the previous, $12.5 million project, also is unknown.

That might sound a familiar note to would-be tenants waiting to move in, and to neighbors waiting for the streets to reopen (they did finally in March), or for the cleanup of the site to commence. The city had, as recently as July 6, a scheduled court date that could have wound up in a municipal takeover of the process.

City Manager Jim Ferneau said Thursday, however, the hiring in May of Myers Construction has moved the cleanup along and made him much more confidence in the pace of progress Wells has made toward fulfilling his pledge to build anew on the site.

"We've seen continual progress being made," he said. "We didn't see that before."

Wells, an architect from Des Moines, has shared plans for two buildings, one fronting on Jefferson Street at the corner of Third Street, and a second on the north side of the property, with green space and a skywalk in between. There would be street-level retail space in the south building, while both would include a mix of apartments, half aimed at low- and moderate-income residents -- a requirement of the CDBG.

In all, the buildings would bring an additional 48 living units to downtown Burlington, Ferneau said.

Part of the council's upcoming discussion with Wells will be the income-based housing requirement of the block grant. After the previous project came with CDBG dollars already attached from another locale, Burlington officials will get a chance to weigh in on the type of housing it wants in that location.

For one, Steve Frevert, the director of Downtown Partners Inc., said he would urge the council to accept the income stipulation of the grant.

"That's a huge chunk of our population," he said, referring to the earnings of people who would be eligible for a Tama apartment.

Start of construction yet this fall appears unlikely, Ferneau said. Next spring appears more likely.

Yet after months of street closure and uncertainty, the damage done by the fire could take longer to undo.

"It's going to take some time to get that back," Ferneau said.

Still rippling

Chris Murphy, owner of Burlington By the Book at 301 Jefferson St., said there was a noticeable jump in business after the street reopened to traffic. But denial of that traffic during the 2018 Christmas shopping season is still a factor in decisions Murphy makes about his business.

"I just tightened my belt," he said. "There were things I wanted to do I couldn't do."

Roy said the period of the street closure was a "really long nine months."

Business has gotten better, but the fire was a major drag -- compounded by heavy winter snows that made getting to her door even harder for customers. The reduced traffic led her to reduce hours during the winter.

"It was a tough year," Roy said. "I'm not going to lie."

A dream denied, the future uncertain

Flietner said it was September 2016 when he first reached out to Wells about acquiring storefront space in the Tama Complex. Through a series of fits, starts and delays, the work dragged on, and four different occupancy dates were given and missed, he said. Until the summer of 2018, when talk turned to finishing touches and leasing upstairs apartments.

The new, 1,300-square-foot space was almost ready.

"I was pretty sure by the end of the month I'd have been open," Flietner said.

Instead, he found himself on the phone a month ago tonight, informing Wells, who did not return a message seeking comment for this story, that his building was a raging inferno.

Fortunately, Flietner said, his only loss was the time and effort taken to get ready for the move. He had not yet moved any equipment to the Tama Complex location. He said he inquired about being compensated for the lost time, but never heard a word back about it. In fact, Flietner said he has not spoken to Wells since the night of the fire.

There have been times over the past year when city officials wished for better communication with Wells, too.

Business is both better and worse for Flietner at the mall, where he signed a five-year lease.

"I'm selling more popcorn," he said. "But at the end of each month, I'm actually bringing in less than I was doing downtown."

Looking ahead, Flietner said he would like to be downtown, perhaps by opening a second location where could do retail business but also for production, leaving the mall site strictly a retail outlet.

While he is able to be closed on Sundays, the popcorn stand is open regular mall hours the rest of the week. That has meant hiring a couple of part-timers, and working longer hours himself. Rent also is costlier for less space. To stay ahead, Flietner has pushed harder to promote school and community group fundraisers, and supplying popcorn for events like weddings. He's also selling donuts from Wake 'n' Bake in Burlington.

Big River Popcorn is sold in the cafeteria at Great River Medical Center, but not yet in other retail locations.

With a low-margin product, growth is the key to success, Flietner said.

Bouncing back

While Big River Popcorn looks to improve its prospects, those who never left downtown are looking forward to getting back what it was like before, when the Tama Complex was about to inject a new shot of people and commerce.

"It was a big blow, but it was not the death knell of downtown," Frevert said.

There's no replacing the Tama Building, its history, architecture or what it meant to people, he said. And both Ferneau and Frevert said they understand why it has taken so long to get to the point where it is even possible to talk about rebuilding, both citing insurance and historic preservation concerns. There is hope in the appearance of progress.

"I think there's a feeling of anticipation," Frevert said of Wells' plans.

Even if Wells chooses not to go forward, or is unable to, the corner of Third and Jefferson isn't the only place in downtown where development is underway. Other developers already have expressed interest in the site, Ferneau said, with one even offering to buy it from Wells.

"This is something that is going to be rebuilt," Ferneau said. "Downtown needs that to occur."

He and Frevert pointed also to the buildings on Valley Street between Third and Fifth streets that are being converted into a mix of retail and residential space.

Roy, meanwhile, is hoping to see a major marketing campaign launched to help get people back downtown.

"There are still so many," she said, "who do not know what's here."

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