The state will help Muscatine pay for a new library, dog park, and bike trail. Last week, the Enhance Iowa Board approved 500,000 dollars for the Pearls of Progress Project.
City spokesman Kevin Jenison says the main component of the Project is moving the Musser Public Library into the former downtown headquarters of HNI - the company donated the property when it re-located its main offices.
"Not only renovating the library and updating the library to what a modern library should be, giving them more space and more meeting space. But more importantly, something that our current library doesn't have and that's parking."
The former HNI building will also be used as a community center.
Jenison says other projects include building the Westside Trail - linking Discovery Park with Kent Stein Park, construction of a Muscatine Dog Park, and building four rental cabins in Deep Lakes Park.
The state grant will move the Pearls of Progress Project closer to its fund-raising goal of 8 million dollars - there's still just 210,000 left to raise and the deadline is November 15th.
