SWISHER — Drivers traveling on Interstate 380 likely have noticed the grading equipment moving dirt at a site east of the interstate and north of 120th St. NE near Swisher.
Grading also has commenced to the west of the Swisher/Shueyville exit off I-380, between the interstate and Highway 965, and north of 120th Street NW.
Developers are in the throes of prepping the land around the undeveloped interchange to make way for a new RV center and repair shop, a commercial self-storage business, and commercial buildings offering office, warehouse and shop space for contractors.
Curt Eilers, a commercial property owner and real estate developer with Venture Real Estate in Cedar Rapids, secured a conditional use permit from Johnson County to build a drive-up, commercial self-storage facility just east of I-380, north of the Swisher/Shueyville exit.
It will be climate controlled, with RV and boat storage canopies on a 6-acre lot.
Eilers also has applied to subdivide roughly 14 acres of the 20-acre farm property to the south of the storage facility to create four buildable lots for eventual sale or development. The application also calls for the creation of stormwater detention facilities and a new frontage road with access to 120th Street.
“It was poor farm ground,” with a corn suitability rating, or CSR, of 47, Eilers said.
A CSR rating of 65 or above typically indicates productive farmland with soil considered fertile ground for row crops.
“So I didn’t feel too bad about taking it out of production,” Eilers said. “It’s right off the interstate. It’s never going to be peaceful and quiet, and it’s poor soil. So it seemed like a pretty prime candidate for commercial (development).”
Light-industrial zoning
Johnson County officials agreed, granting a zoning amendment to reclassify the property south of the planned self-storage facility from agricultural to light-industrial use.
“There’s not a huge number of places in the county where light-industrial zoning is allowable,” Johnson County Planner Joe Wilensky told The Gazette.
“The location here is pretty good for that kind of use, with I-380 and a lot of paved roads in the area. It’s a good spot for more commercial and more industrial uses than other, more rural parts of the county — which is reflected in the land use plan for that area.”
Wilensky noted property just to the west, on the other side of the interstate, is similarly zoned for commercial and light-industrial use.
“It’s a good spot for more intense use,” he said.
Need for storage
Eilers plans to put three 10,000- to 12,000-square-foot commercial buildings immediately to the south of the self-storage facility that offer office, warehouse and shop space available for contractors, electricians, plumbers, roofers and other skilled tradesmen to lease or rent.
He said many contractors are searching for secure off-site storage for construction materials amid supply chain challenges. Many are buying their materials up front and/or in bulk to alleviate problems of not having them when they need them.
Eilers said the property provides a convenient, centralized and easily accessible location for contractors and tradesmen to bring equipment and material to the job site from storage, be they working in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo or elsewhere in the region.
He said the self-storage building will be fenced and gated and have controlled access, video surveillance and “high security.”
He said he intends to market the rest of the lots for build-to-suit commercial buildings.
He said the plans for the southern portion of the property, closer to 120th Street NE, are tentative, but early conceptual designs show the possibility of an indoor trampoline park.
“It’s still pretty fluid,” he said.
Prime location
Eilers said the land around the I-380 interchange is primed for the development of gas stations, restaurants, motels, event centers, dealerships, light manufacturing and warehouse, distribution and trucking services because of its visibility and accessibility to I-380, which is slated to be widened from 120th Street north through Wright Brothers Boulevard in Cedar Rapids.
More than 90,000 people drive that section of Interstate 380 every day, according to Iowa Department of Transportation data.
“And with more traffic coming on I-380 and all the development around The (Eastern Iowa) Airport and Wright Brothers Boulevard to the north and on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids,” the corridor affords businesses added visibility and accessibility to existing and future customers, Eilers said.
West of I-380
On the other (west) side of the interstate, work is underway to prepare for the construction of an RV center and truck repair shop.
Todd Phillip, president of Auto Truck Center in Cedar Rapids, plans to relocate to and combine the company’s RV sales, service and repair business in a larger, more visible location at 2612 120th St. NW near Swisher.
The company, which sells fifth wheels, toy haulers and travel trailers from a number of manufacturers, operates a main sales lot and repair shop at 941 66th Ave SW in addition to a repair shop in Walford.
“We’ve been in business for 45 years … and had problems with people knowing where we’re at and who we are,” Phillip said. “It will be so more advantageous to the business” to be in a highly visible, highly traveled spot where it can consolidate operations to one location.
He said the company plans to build a 42,000-square-foot building, roughly twice the size of the company’s current building.
RV sales surged in 2020 amid pandemic travel limitations — providing the comfort of home with the benefits of the outdoors, with less of the stress, worry and cost of booking a flight and hotel room during COVID — and hit a record high in 2021.
While the industry’s unprecedented pandemic boom has cooled, Phillip said retail demand remains steady.
“Sales have slowed. Interest rates caused some heartache, but not a lot,” he said. “I forecast a lot worse that what we have seen.”
He said he anticipates a 30 percent increase in business due to the new location.
“I think the growth there will be tremendous just by the fact that you’re able to be seen my so many more people,” Phillip said. “We had been a word-of-mouth operation for 45 years, with some advertising. It will be so more advantageous to the business.”
He anticipates 10 to 15 jobs — ranging from RV technicians, to truck/trailer technicians, salesperson and clerical staff — being added once the new location is up and running.
Phillip said he’s hoping the new RV center and repair shop would open in late 2024 or early 2025.
The development is the first planned on 60 acres located next to the I-380 interchange that was rezoned earlier this year from ag dwelling to highway commercial and light-industrial use.
Phillip said plans also call for construction of a gas station and convenience store at 120th Street and Highway 965 sometime in 2025.
‘Economic engine’
Eilers, the Cedar Rapids real estate broker, said his plan is to begin constructing the frontage road east of the interstate and solicit bids to build the commercial self-storage facility this spring, and work his way to the south developing the rest of the property.
“Over the next five, 10, 20 years, this whole corridor is going to be an economic engine for the area,” Eilers said. “
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