Targeted Industries

Manufacturing – Durable Goods

“Our new manufacturing facility in Butler County, Iowa, will help us keep pace with the production demands of our growing global business. The area is really an ideal location for us to expand the manufacturing part of our business; it has much to offer.”- Michael D. Anderson, CEO, Zinpro

• The Cedar Valley has a strong manufacturing heritage. Manufacturing constitutes the largest segment of Iowa’s workforce with most of it located in Northeast Iowa and the Cedar Valley.
• Cedar Valley Region employment in the manufacturing sector is 13% or 52,659 of total Labor Market employment, which is nearly double the 6.9% for the entire nation.
• Developed industrial sites for new construction in public and private industrial parks including shovel ready sites from 1 acre to 181 acre contiguous parcels. Two industrial parks have transloading capacity on site. This coupled with aggressive local incentives reduce a company’s start-up expenses.
• Available industrial building space up to 50,000/sf. Two speculative industrial buildings under construction 40,000/sf and 50,000/sf; one expandable to 100,000/sf. Developers/Builders available to provide either turn-key lease or purchase construction.
• Fast Track Phased in Permitting.
• Iowa is a Right-To-Work State. The Cedar Valley has a 9.15% of unionization in the private sector. 
• University of Northern Iowa has degrees in advanced manufacturing including conducting research and development for manufacturers on the country’s largest 3-D sand printer and recently took deliver on a 3D metal printer with a complementary Design Center. UNI bachelor degree completions for industrial technology and related degrees totaled 134 degrees in 2017-18.
• Hawkeye Community College and Kirkwood Community College serve the Cedar Valley Region Labor Market and offer programs in advanced manufacturing with 135 complete degrees or certificate programs in 2013.

"Our quality reputation is a direct result of our people and their commitment to the customer. We also benefit from low turnover rates-the average tenure of our 378 employees is 10 years and 2 months. It's our people that make the difference at TriMark."
- Lynn Hopp, Director of Human Resources, TriMark Corporation

Logistics

“Iowa and the Cedar Valley are very central within the USA, and have an excellent reputation for global manufacturing including a hardworking and reliable workforce. This fits with the Dutch and the Zuidberg mentality in particular.”
- Rudolf de Jong, President, Zuidberg North America, Inc.

• The Cedar Valley is within a day’s drive of all major Midwest markets only 180 miles south of the Twin Cities, 265 miles west of Chicago and 315 miles southwest of Kansas City.
• Located along I-218/380 north/south; U.S. Hwy 20 east/west.
• Located within 500 miles of 23% of the nation's population and 1-2 day delivery time of major business centers.

“Site Selection is a process we take pretty seriously. Economic development officials made a favorable sales pitch to the company. At the end of the day, the Cedar Valley simply won out” Don Swain, Ferguson Enterprises, commenting on locating 608,000/sf distribution center.

Food Processing

• Water Capacity - up to 50 million gallons per day in at least one community. Historically analysis of the static, non-pumping water levels in the aquifer show a very consistent water level, regardless of drought, or demand pumpage. The Cedar Valley Aquifer has a significant capacity to produce water far in excess of current withdrawal rates.
• Quality Water; no pretreatment due to natural aquifer providing plentiful water supply.
• Leading food processors in the Cedar Valley Region:
  • Nestle (dry powder; cocoa)
  • ConAgra Groceries (aseptic “shelf stable” pudding)
  • Richelieu Foods (contract food manufacturing)
  • Deb El Foods (egg products)
  • Tyson (1 plant - meat processing; 1 plant - dog chicken treat)
  • Bay Valley Foods (contract food manufacturing)

Agri-Based Biotechnology

• Water Capacity - up to 50 million gallons per day in at least one community. Historically analysis of the static, non-pumping water levels in the aquifer show a very consistent water level, regardless of drought, or demand pumpage. The Cedar Valley Aquifer has a significant capacity to produce water far in excess of current withdrawal rates.
• Leading agribased biotechnology companies in the Cedar Valley Region:
  • Best Cob – (industry leader in producing renewable corn cob products)
  • Environmental Lubricants Manufacturing – (manufacturer of biobased lubricants and greases)
  • Flint Hills Resources – (leading refining, chemicals and biofuels company)
  • Green Products – (processing corn cobs)
  • Monsanto – (research and development)

Information Technology & Data Centers

• Cedar Falls and Waverly, Iowa municipal utilities have the capacity to serve businesses or residents with 10 gigabit service in the community. They are the only two communities in the state of Iowa that offer this. The cities of Reinbeck, Independence and Jesup can offer 1 gigabit service within 90 days upon customer request.
• Sites locally that can accommodate users from up to 30 MW.
• Team Technologies/TDS/Vital – Tier III (data center collocate - SSAE 16 Type II)
• Other Data Centers in Iowa include Microsoft, Google & Facebook (announced).
• Data center project will exceed $200 million of investment. It will qualify for Iowa's statutory sales and property tax exemptions on equipment (building shell is only subject to property tax) in perpetuity under the “Iowa‟s Data Center Bill”.
• Water: Capacity up to 50 million gallons per day in at least one community. Historically analysis of the static, non-pumping water levels in the aquifer show a very consistent water level, regardless of drought, or demand pumpage. The Cedar Valley Aquifer has a significant capacity to produce water far in excess of current withdrawal rates. As relevant to Data Centers using water for cooling.
• Leading IT companies in the Cedar Valley Region:
  • SciPlay - (#1 developer and publisher of interactive card and casino entertainment titles for the PC genre).
  • Jack Henry & Associates – (Banno platform allows any financial institution to meet consumer expectations for account access, functionality, customer service, and user experience).
  • Team Technologies/OneNeck IT Solutions – (regional data center Tier III)

Financial/Professional Services

• Cedar Falls and Waverly, Iowa municipal utilities have the capacity to serve businesses or residents with 10 gigabit service in the community. They are the only two communities in the state of Iowa that offer this. The cities of Reinbeck, Independence and Jesup can offer 1 gigabit service within 90 days upon customer request.
• Immediately available office space in excess of 10,000/sf including plug and play space.
• Certain business products and services are exempt from sales and use tax including computers to process data by insurance companies.
• Interstate telecommunications is exempt from sales tax.
• CUNA Mutual Group is one of the leading financial services employers in the region.