KNOXVILLE, Iowa — The Knoxville Chamber of Commerce and local realtors are hosting an open house Thursday night in downtown Knoxville for six buildings.

The Chamber hopes to fill the buildings with businesses to further add to what downtown Knoxville has to offer.

“The city has really done a great job of trying to bring people downtown. Obviously, we had RAGBRAI downtown. We have the kickoff event for Nationals downtown. We do a downtown market during Nationals,” Nathan Sage, the Executive Director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, said. “We do all these different events to bring people downtown and that’s what we want with these businesses. We want them to be able to enjoy the people that we bring downtown and help them out and grow and expand.”

The city of Knoxville has used various grants to improve infrastructure in its downtown. Hannah Vander Veer, a realtor in Knoxville, said the infrastructure improvements could help attract businesses.

“The city has been doing extensive work the last few years to update infrastructure. We have fiber internet down here bringing in new businesses, CBD façade grants, signage grants. The list is endless. They keep coming up with new things. So showcasing what we have available and welcoming anyone to town that has a business that they want to have in Knoxville,” Vander Veer said.

The open house runs from 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday in downtown Knoxville, to learn more visit the event’s webpage.