Restaurant owners honored at Iowa Rural Summit for transitioning vacant downtown Waukon building into AJ Steakhouse/Fiesta Vallarta success

Waukon business owners Arturo Barreda and Jose Velarde of Fiesta Vallarta were recognized with a Rand Fisher Rural Business Leadership Award by the Iowa Rural Development Council (IRDC) at the 10th annual Iowa Rural Summit held April 9-10 in Dubuque. The award recognizes individuals and organizations for their leadership and impact on small towns across the state of Iowa.

At a luncheon attended by more than 400 people, Barreda and Velarde were celebrated for their successful effort to turn a vacant building in the heart of Waukon’s downtown district into a successful restaurant at the stoplight intersection of Main Street and Spring Avenue. Among that large gathering were family members of the two business owners, along with leaders from other Waukon, Allamakee County and northeast Iowa entities who were instrumental in helping Barreda and Velarde achieve their goal.

The Rand Fisher Rural Leadership Award, sponsored by the Iowa Area Development Group (IADG) Community Foundation, recognizes nominees in rural economic and community development, philanthropy, the arts and utilities.

The honorees are nominated by friends, colleagues or anyone who values the contributions the nominees have made to rural places.

“Arturo and Jose have made a huge impact on downtown Waukon,” said IRDC board chair Madison Burke. “Their leadership and vision transformed an eyesore into a community destination!”

The IRDC, a statewide nonprofit focused on small-town and rural vitality, hosts the Summit every April, bringing together leaders from small towns and partners who work in rural Iowa. This year’s gathering included individuals from more than 100 small towns and focused on issues ranging from housing to K-12 education to project financing.

Fiesta Vallarta was initially opened in 2014 a couple blocks to the east on Waukon’s East Main Street. Following a pair of fires that claimed two local restaurant favorites, Mulligan’s in 2018 and Gus & Tony’s in 2020, Barreda and Velarde approached City of Waukon officials about turning the long-vacant former JCPenney’s/Tierney’s building at the town’s stoplight intersection into a restaurant, a venture that would open as AJ Steakhouse in 2022. Since that time, Barreda and Velarde have incorporated their original Fiesta Vallarta Mexican restaurant into that AJ Steakhouse location and also opened AJ’s Sports Bar at the previous Fiesta Vallarta location, continuing to adapt to meet the needs of the community they call home.

The initial AJ Steakhouse location, currently serving as the new Fiesta Vallarta location, was rehabilitated from a building originally built in 1883 and that had sat idle for nearly two dozen years, with a couple other development plans during that timeframe never coming to fruition. As the building began to fall into disrepair, Waukon Economic Development Corporation took ownership of it in 2014, followed by the City of Waukon assuming ownership in 2020.

When Barreda and Velarde came forth with a plan to renovate the building into their restaurant venture, they were able to team up with City of Waukon leadership for a series of funding measures that helped bring the idea to reality.

The nomination information submitted for the Rand Fisher Rural Leadership Award bestowed upon Barreda and Velarde outlines how the City of Waukon provided matching funds of $100,000 toward a Catalyst Building Remediation Grant through Iowa Economic Development Authority and a Derelict Building Grant through the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, in addition to transferring ownership of the building and allowing the new owners to use the connected plaza area for outdoor seating for their restaurant venture.

“The project totaled over $450,000 in rehabilitation, was completed in 18 months, and is still a successful restaurant with an event space that is utilized often,” the nomination information stated. “The nominee already had a successful business in town and took a huge risk by investing into rehabilitating an old building and opening another restaurant. The project saved a historic building, put the building back on the tax roll, and created 8-10 additional jobs. The positive changes to the downtown have made a more favorable climate for private investment and have brought customers from around the region to spend money in Waukon.”

In addition to the impact of saving a building of historical measure in the downtown business district and creating a needed dining and gathering establishment within the community, the ripple effect of the development covered other neighboring businesses and spread throughout the community as a whole. The collaboration between all parties is credited with further fueling rehabilitation and additional improvements to other downtown Waukon buildings, as well as prompting the City of Waukon to establish its own facade improvements grant program. The success of the venture also helped spur pursuit of another Catalyst Building Remediation Grant project at the Town Theater located just a block or so to the west in the downtown business district.

“This nominee turned what was a historic 1883 dilapidated building in a prominent location of Waukon into a vibrant and successful restaurant and event space while also improving the appearance in the downtown district,” the nomination information further outlined. “It became an example for other downtown building owners to follow while enhancing the appearance and competitiveness of downtown Waukon within the region. It has been a benefit not only to Waukon, but to the Allamakee County region to show how investment into a historic downtown property can be successful.”

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