As serious golfers, fans and event staff descend on Polk City this week for the Allianz Championship, business owners in the quiet community are eager to see if the additional exposure helps spur new business development.

When the Arnold Palmer-designed Tournament Club of Iowa course opened almost two years ago, housing development followed, but new businesses have been slower to materialize.

“With the Tournament Club coming in, we had high expectations with other new things coming in, a grocery store being one, but none of it has really happened,” said Ryan Hemmer, the store manager of Papa’s Pizzeria, located on Polk City’s town square.

Dave Curtis, president of the Polk City Chamber of Commerce, said the town is closing in on reaching a “critical mass” of residents to attract the attention of new businesses. The official 2000 census head count put Polk City’s population at 2,344. Now it’s estimated to be around 3,000. The City Council has approved a special census to determine the actual figure.

“I did expect that the housing component might lead to further business development at the time when the club was built,” said Curtis, who owns and publishes the Bull’s Eye newspaper in Polk City. “Residential housing is leading the way right now, and as we see more rooftops, every month we have new interest from business prospects.”

Scott Tauber and Jenice Whisenand opened Lakeside Performance Marine in March at 400 W. Bridge Road and held its grand opening two weekends ago.

“For us, being between Big Creek Lake and Saylorville Lake made a lot of sense, and the building is located on a high-traffic corner and was being offered at the right price,” Whisenand said. “We’ve been very pleased with the amount of traffic we’ve seen so far.”

The Lakeside Performance Marine building had housed a grocery store until that business closed about five years ago.

First State Bank of Iowa broke ground on a new branch office at 705 W. Bridge Road on May 20. The bank opened a temporary location in Polk City last year, and will remain there until its new building is complete this fall.

“This is our bank’s first branch office outside of its headquarters in New Hampton, and we chose Polk City,” said Tom Friedman, the bank’s president. “We feel that Polk City is just on the verge of really growing well, and we wanted to be a part of it.”

John Lindahl said his public accounting and financial planning business has grown by about 20 percent each year since he opened an office in Polk City in 1998. He was so pleased with his business’s growth in Polk City that he decided to close his Des Moines office altogether and build a larger office in Polk City on the town’s square last year.

“I was outgrowing both locations, and making the investment here was an easy decision for me to make because business was growing here and not in Des Moines,” he said. “I always pick up some new customers each year from the developments.”

Lindahl said he thinks the sluggish economy has played a role in keeping other businesses from rushing to build in Polk City.

“(Business development) really hasn’t taken off yet, but I think it will,” he said. “I think last year was just a slow, uncertain year for a lot of things as a result of the economy.”

Pat Franklin, general manager of the Tournament Club of Iowa, said starting now, with the Allianz tournament’s three-year contract with the course, will be the real test for how much attention from developers the golf course will draw to the community.

“More services and businesses are needed here, but it has to be done in the right way,” Franklin said. “We’re hoping the exposure will help, and I can’t think of a better marketing tool than what’s about to happen.”