Projects in St. Ansgar, Mason City, Dubuque, Guttenberg, Sioux City and Perry were recognized this year as some of the best examples of sustainable development in Iowa.

The non-profit organization 1000 Friends of Iowa gives out the Best Development Awards to recognize outstanding examples of building or repurposing property, from large cities to small towns. Bleeding Heartland covered previous award-winners here.

Note: while I am an active volunteer for 1000 Friends of Iowa, I have never been involved with selecting the Best Development Award winners. Several independent judges evaluate nominees based on smart growth criteria: “the efficient use of our resources to develop sustainable communities that provide a high quality of life.”

The Seasons Housing Addition in St. Ansgar (Mitchell County) won the Best New Residential category. St. Ansgar is unusual among small Iowa towns in that it has experienced job growth and a housing shortage in recent years. At first local authorities assumed that private developers would build housing to satisfy demand. When that did not occur, the St. Ansgar Economic Development Commission stepped in with an innovative approach to financing a new subdivision. Sustainable design principles were used when planning the neighborhood, and the housing reduces the community’s carbon footprint by allowing more people to live closer to their jobs in St. Ansgar.

I hope to visit Mason City in the coming year to see the Park Inn Hotel, the world’s only remaining hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The non-profit organization Wright on the Park owns the hotel and won the 2011 Best Development Award for a renovated commercial or civic project. Original art glass was put back in many of the hotel’s windows; here’s one view. Tours of the hotel are available on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, and several other historic Mason City sites are nearby.

Iowa’s unofficial sustainability champion, the city of Dubuque, is home to more Best Development Award winners than any other Iowa city. This year, Dubuque Initiatives also won an award in the best renovated commercial or civic category “for the adaptive re-use of the Roshek Building.” Click the link to see before and after photos of the lobby. By the way, IBM renovated the Roshek building in partnership with the city of Dubuque, and the corporation has implemented some sustainability pilot programs in the city.

The city of Guttenberg, a town on the Mississippi River in Clayton County, won the best new commercial or civic development award for the Guttenberg Municipal Marina and Visitor Center (photos here). Guttenberg also has outstanding limestone architecture dating from before the Civil War, which is rarely found in Iowa.

During the Best Development Award presentation at the 1000 Friends of Iowa annual meeting, I was stunned by before and after photos of the best mixed-use project, the CMBA Studio/United Center in Sioux City. Cannon Moss Brygger Architects received the award for the way they redeveloped a derelict former grocery store warehouse. The building had been vacant for many years, with holes in the roof and rotting out floors. Now it includes office and residential space; all of the condos have been sold. The developer used green building techniques during the reconstruction project and salvaged original material when possible.

The city of Perry (Dallas County) won the leadership award for 2011 because of “many interconnected efforts to stabilize and strengthen the economy of Perry through use of smart growth principles.” Keith Schneider profiled some of Perry’s revitalization projects for the New York Times last year. Landscapeonline.com posted more photos of downtown Perry’s public spaces here. There is even a bocce court.

It’s inspiring to see what some local governments and private developers were able to accomplish, even in the aftermath of the “Great Recession.” Share any relevant thoughts in this thread.