SIOUX CITY | A lifelong renter wasn’t in the market for a new home when she looked at a downtown loft in the United Center. Gayle Gregg didn’t know what she was missing.
She became the second person to purchase a unit in the converted warehouse at 302 Jones St. The mixed-use, redevelopment project was the first of its kind in Sioux City, offering commercial space and luxury living in a central location. It was completed in 2010.
After moving in, Gregg, 59, discovered a healthy, active lifestyle that lifted her spirits and carried her through a battle with breast cancer. Today, she enjoys the comforts of her two-bed, two-bath condo just fine, but living in a place like this, she’s more excited by what’s outside.
Some of Sioux City’s best restaurants and coffee shops are within walking distance. “Jitters is just next door,” she said. The six-story building is close to boutiques, parks, recreational trails along the river, entertainment venues and museums.
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“My dad comes down and wants to grab a hamburger. We go to Soho. Everything is within walking distance. We like to go to the movies, too,” she said. “My life has really gotten better in the past five years. Even though there was cancer in there, it still has improved tremendously. I’ve got great kids. They make me travel, and I’ve got great friends. There’s a lot of blessings since I moved here.”
1. Location, location, location
“I was renting a tiny, little duplex on Jackson. This is quite a step up from where I was living,” she said. “My life was totally different. Now, I’m in all this hustle and bustle. Friends stop by and grab me to go to a movie or let’s go get a pizza or whatever. And that didn’t happen when I was living in the duplex. The location is so great.”
2. Enticing Entertainment
Moving into an energized environment buzzing with enticing entertainment pulled Gregg out of rut. Before, she’d go home from work and that was it. “I really didn’t go anywhere,” she said. “Here, you can’t get away from the activities. I can usually find something to do every single night.”
3. Friendly Gatherings
Gregg’s friends, fellow baby boomers adjusting to life after children, start their night out at her condo. It’s the perfect meeting place. From there, they can go to different festivals, Fridays on the Promenade, restaurants and bars or the Orpheum Theatre. The free trolley takes them down to Pearl Street. They hop off at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, saying goodbye to the driver, “Cowboy Bob,” who plays country music on the downtown shuttle. “We make a fun night of it,” she said.
4. Skyline Views
From the fifth floor, Gregg can catch a glimpse of Historic Fourth Street down below and a full view of the Sioux City Convention Center. A short elevator ride takes her down to the ground floor and she’s out the door. “One thing that really surprises me – on a nice, beautiful evening, there’s tons of people down here, walking around. I love that atmosphere. Everybody’s headed somewhere. It’s really cool,” she said. “There’s a lot of entertainment down here that I didn’t realize was happening.”
5. ‘Relative’ Design
“I like to tell people that my style of decorating is relative, meaning I display a lot of family photos and my children’s art even though my children’s art is like 30 years old,” she said. Gregg also has family heirlooms like an oil painting, needlepoint art and her dad’s teddy bear. “Everything has meaning to me in here. It’s a small enough space that I can say that.”
6. Industrial Sense
The downtown loft practically decorates itself with beautiful old brick walls and wooden beams running across the ceiling. “I love how it’s been reused,” Gregg said about the building. Taken together, the mix of finishes and furnishings create a distinct look, she fondly refers to as “urban hodgepodge.”
7. Room for Guests
It was time for a change after her two children went off to college. “I was looking for something more social,” she said. “I had been raising kids my whole life. It felt really good to be doing something fun for me. Now that my kids are old enough, they enjoy it too when they come back. It was just such a perfect fit in my life, really, surprisingly, perfect.” When her son visits from Dallas or her daughter from New York, they have a place to stay.
8. Personal Touch
The guest room doubles as a home office. Above the desk, trinkets decorate a slotted shelf. There’s a jar of dirt from the family farm in Hawarden, Iowa; her 33-year-old daughter’s baby shoes; and knick knacks from Portugal, where her daughter lived for a couple years.
9. Outdoor Escape
Climbing a couple flights of stairs, residents of the United Center have access to a rooftop terrace with seating and expansive views of the city. From there, Gregg can hear the soothing sounds of live bands and other festivities on Fourth Street lifting on the breeze.
10. Indoor Convenience
There is no lawn to mow or snow to shovel, and a secure underground parking garage adds to the ease of loft living. Other amenities in the building include a fitness center on the fourth floor and Illuminate Salon on the third, where Gregg can go and get a massage. Maybe now you can see why she loves it here.
