In its prime, Iowa Falls’ Camp David was a successful destination restaurant, featuring a smokehouse menu and wilderness lodge ambiance. The location was, and remains, a prime spot for a hospitality venue. The building has a number of unique natural and décor features that could be retooled relatively easily to fully use the spaciousness of the building and its proximity to the river as well as to better leverage the beauty of the view overlooking the Iowa River bluffs.

The current Iowa Falls property is too large to successfully house a single restaurant concept regardless of menu type or price point. However, this nearly 10,000 square foot property does have strong potential to be refurbished as an incredibly interesting multi-concept development, blending retail, restaurant, and recreational opportunities. This one-of-a-kind location could be used as a river recreation hub for Hardin County and draw people from across Central Iowa.

The former Camp David site should be transformed into a multi-use development with two distinct food and beverage concepts, linked to a retail and river recreational rental network. Research from the National Restaurant Association’s Household survey shows that 61 percent of adults would rather spend money on an experience, such as a restaurant or other activity, compared to purchasing an item from a store. This proposed multi-use riverside hospitality venue fully invests in this notion by combining a current food and beverage strategy with a unique regional recreational activity.