DMACC launches $4M fundraising campaign for Legacy Plaza greenspace

Fundraising campaigns for what DMACC calls the “centerpiece” of the Legacy Plaza project have begun, allowing investors opportunities to not only beautify the ever-developing greenspace, located at the site of an old Maytag production facility, but also participate in paving the way for a new future for Newton.

DMACC Foundation announced this week it is launching a public initiative to fundraise $4 million for the greenspace. Tara Connolly, executive director of the DMACC Foundation, said more than half of the fundraising goal has already been contributed by alumni, area residents and businesses.

“This is a special project for potential donors to be recognized for leaving a living legacy to their community and future generations of DMACC students and Newton residents to use, appreciate and reflect on Newton’s heritage,” Connolly said in a press release from DMACC.

When fully constructed, the greenspace will include a walking trail with shade trees, a covered multi-use pavilion for summer concerts and an ice rink in the winter, an open area for recreation and a large art sculpture anchoring the south entrance. The walking path will connect the Legacy Plaza campus to downtown.

Joe Pugel, chair of the DMACC Board and a Newton resident, said the greenspace is another step forward for both the college and the greater Newton area.

“DMACC has always been very supportive of the students and businesses within this region,” Pugel said. “This is another example of how we can work together with business and local government for the continued redevelopment and beautification of our community.”

Established in 1993 through a gift from the Maytag Corporation, the DMACC Newton Campus has been in control of the former headquarters and other adjoining buildings just north of the college campus property for about eight years. The plan to develop the buildings into Legacy Plaza took shape in 2017.

Years later, Christensen Development, Jasper County and the City of Newton formed a partnership for a new project: the Newton Legacy Reinvestment District, which would create a vibrant space for DMACC students, Newton residents and visitors alike.

As part of the reinvestment district, Christensen Development is renovating old Maytag buildings into a 78-unit apartment complex, a boutique hotel with extended-stay hotel rooms and studio apartments and a craft cocktail lobby bar, helping Newton become a destination for tourists, weddings and other events.

Kim Didier, executive director of DMACC Business Resources and manager of the greenspace project, told Newton News the college has enjoyed its role in collaborating with its partners to breathe life back into the campus. She commended the masterplanning feedback from 2017 as a major help.

From those discussions with community members, the idea of connecting the DMACC campus to the amenities of Legacy Plaza and downtown Newton was formed. The greenspace in particular is an area that DMACC envisioned would pull people together and foster community.

“We’ve always wanted the campus to be a multi-use neighborhood with those kinds of amenities that we now have, like the brewery, the taproom, yoga every Tuesday night,” Didier said, noting DMACC wanted to also support entrepreneurs and office tenants at Legacy Plaza to bring vitality to the area.

Currently, there are almost 20 tenants in Legacy Plaza. Over the past five to six years, the courtyard space has generated buzz from the community and beyond. The Cellar Peanut Pub created a unique space that has since been adopted and expanded upon by both Gezellig Brewing Co. and Murph & Mary’s Irish Pub.

Award-winning beers and frequent placements on best breweries lists in Iowa has made Gezellig Brewing a destination for craft beer drinkers, giving Legacy Plaza a strong foundation and an opportunity to expose people to the goings on at the campus. Food trucks, live music and events galore. It’s the place to be.

“It’s been a steady growth and we’ve really appreciated it,” Didier said. “People really want to be here now, which I think just brings energy to not just this campus but the whole downtown area. You have activity and people looking for services, lunch, coffee, those types of things.”

For Didier, the greenspace is not only the centerpiece of Legacy Plaza, it’s the crowning jewel. To make sure people appreciate both the courtyard and the upcoming greenspace and the history that is part of both of those spaces, there will be a breezeway on the far east of Building 16 that is open to the public.

“It lets people move from the courtyard to the greenspace,” she said. “It’s kind of this juxtaposed space in the sense that the courtyard creates this very scalable, cozy kind of feeling and such. And then when you move through the breezeway and go through the greenspace you have this expansive, open space.”

Walking the circumference of greenspace is about a quarter of a mile. The greenspace itself is about the size of a football field, and DMACC hopes it becomes a regular pathway for community members. By spring 2025 is when DMACC is planning to install a main sculpture in the greenspace.

Spanning 23 feet wide and 18 feet tall, the sculpture is made possible by the generosity of the Vernon Company and the Vernon family.

“It’s going to have a 6-foot sphere in the middle made of stainless steel,” Didier said. “Not that it’s as big as ‘The Bean’ at Millennium Park in Chicago, but it will still be pretty big that you’ll get these reflections. And we hope it will be something people will want to take pictures with and be seen with.”

Construction of the greenspace and its amenities has already begun. Didier said DMACC has so far completed the concrete walkways and light poles that will be outfitted with the college’s banners. Bollards have been constructed as well. Forty-five trees and a number of perennials have been planted.

Seeing a courtyard full of people enjoying themselves time and time again has only reaffirmed what DMACC already knows: that Legacy Plaza is a viable project and that there is a market for what the campus as a whole can provide. Didier said DMACC has worked hard and has almost hit that tipping point.

“It took a vision and it took those little pieces to try and have that happen,” she said. “…What brings us to that tipping point is the housing with the apartments and also shortly after that will be the boutique hotel ... There is a certain authenticity to this.”

Other communities are trying to carry out similar projects with the same look and feel as Legacy Plaza. But Didier said what makes Newton’s project stand out is its historical foundations. The Maytag buildings carry with them their own history, and the new architecture will reflect on that past in the greenspace.

“All of this is on the theme of ‘past, present and future.’ So the materials (for shade structures) are materials used in the past manufacturing processes,” she said. “Images in the screens are very similar to how inner tubs in washers were made and the patterns that were a part of that.”

It is these details that give respect to those who had laid the foundation for the community generations ago. But now, Didier said, they have a new purpose.

“The assets of our past generation now become the assets of our future generation.”

DMACC still has a few naming opportunities available. All gifts of $1,000 or more will be recognized on a donor wall to complement the greenspace sculpture. For more information on the Legacy Plaza Greenspace or to make a donation, visit www.dmacc.edu/foundation/projects/greenspace.html.