BLOOMFIELD, IOWA -- The historic Bloomfield Square is slowly disintegrating as many of the buildings date back more than 100 years.

“With that comes a lot of maintenance issues a lot of repair, structural issues that have come up throughout the years,” said Bloomfield Main Street Program Coordinator Diana Upton-Hill.

Main Street received the news they would receive an $808,000 grant from the I-Jobs program. They have already secured $500,000 in the form of a Community Development Block Grant.

However, the repairs can be costly and require a lot of upfront payments.

Each building owner must cover 10% of the costs on their building. The grants do not come in full at once. This left Main Street Bloomfield to ask the city for help. The city proposed providing a General Obligation Bond worth $1.6 million, but that has some citizens concerned.

Upton-Hill said the projects must be completed within 18 months and all the funding will be in by then and people should not worry.

“We have several points during the project at which we can take drawdown from the grant funding and immediately get those reimbursed.”

The Historic England Building collapsed on the northeast corner of the Bloomfield Square in 2005. A hotel collapsed on the southeast corner in the decade before that.

Upton-Hill said corner buildings take a bigger toll because of their additional exposure to weather.

That does not bode too well for Shannon Showman, owner of the 150-year old Diamondz Pizza building.

“We’ve already lost two corner buildings, and ours being a corner building we’re real anxious to get the east side straightened up,” Showman said.

“We are frightened that we will meet the same fate, but with this funding, it will save them,” Upton-Hill added.

Showman has a response to people who question the city getting involved in the funding.

“People just need to realize if we lose the square, you know, lose all the buildings on the square, what are we going to have?”

“It’s not just losing the buildings that is scary,” a concerned Upton-Hill said. “If somebody is in it, if somebody’s near it. That would just be terrible.”

A letter written by Bloomfield Main Street president Douglas Dixon reads, "With the collapse of two vacant buildings on the Memphis square last week, and recent occurrences in Lancaster and Pulaski, it should be apparent we need to be proactive in taking steps to insure the stability of our downtown infastructure."

A hearing on the potential $1.6 million General Obligation Bond is scheduled for October 7, at the City Council Chamber.