2001

Beloit Inn

• The Beloit Inn opens on Beloit’s riverfront, on the opposite shore from Beloit Ironworks, which itself was repurposed into small business and gallery space in former Beloit Corporation buildings.

• Turtle Creek: The Beloit College Bookstore opens downtown in the renovated Hilton Hotel. The historic preservation and adaptive reuse project includes spacious apartments on the upper floors.

2004

Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education

• The Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education at Beloit opens downtown, across from the bookstore. The business incubator, known as CELEB, is home to a student-run art gallery, multimedia recording and editing studios, and offices for students launching entrepreneurial enterprises.

2005

• Beloit International Film Festival has its inaugural run, bringing films, filmmakers, and audiences to movies screened in a variety of venues, many of which are downtown.

2006

• Heritage View Condominiums are completed along the banks of the Rock River, next to the Beloit Inn. Retail space below the condos includes Nikki’s Café, a popular coffeehouse and meeting place.

2007

Bushel & Peck's

• Bushel & Peck’s Local Market opens. The restaurant/grocery store offers locally grown and organic  foods and becomes a downtown anchor at the intersection of State and Grand.

2009

• The Little Bistro restaurant opens for business at 315 State Street.

2010

Hendricks Center for the Arts

• The Hendricks Center for the Arts, a gift to the college from Diane and the late Ken Hendricks, opens for Beloit College classes in the fall at Pleasant Street and Grand Avenue. The completely renovated space offers college instruction in music, dance, lighting design, and film.

• Riverside Park, Beloit 2020’s first major project, was extended to the Portland Avenue Bridge.

• The John Rose Canoe & Kayak Launch opens on the Rock River in downtown Beloit.