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THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 2019 | IN THIS ISSUE
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Plans for an eight-story mixed-use tower in Hiawatha were revealed Wednesday. RENDERING / SIDE BY SIDE
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Plans for a $72-million project that will form a new city center for Hiawatha reached fruition Wednesday when the Hiawatha City Council approved sale of a 12-acre site east of City Hall. It will be the largest private investment in Hiawatha's history, city officials said.
The Hiawatha Midtown project will begin with construction of a eight-story mixed-use tower at Center Point Road and Emmons Street east of City Hall, according to developer Keith Billick of Side by Side LLC, who is leading the project, with additional components completed in phases over about five years.
Among the new approaches the project will bring to the Corridor include live/work units that save business owners expense and time by allowing them to live above their businesses and pay only one mortgage, and flexible spaces designed so they can easily be modified with the rapid evolution of retailing and retailers' needs.
When the four phases are complete, the project will include 66 senior living units, 10 live/work units, 18 condos, 203 apartments, 58 townhomes and three patio homes, in addition to a mix of office and retail.
Mr. Billick said the project, which has been called Village Center and other names, has been rebranded to Hiawatha Midtown to help Hiawatha stand out in the metro market, and convey the sense of a "connected community." The elements of the project will be linked by sidewalks and a trail system.
Council members see the project as transformative for Hiawatha. City leaders and administrators have spent more than 15 years acquiring a declining trailer park and surrounding businesses for the land, planning and improving street and utility infrastructure on the site.
Construction on the first phase is expected to begin in the fall. More information on the project is available at
www.sidebysidecr.com.
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Tom Pientok was introduced to the world of blue-collar work early on, growing up in the small town of Whitehall, Wisconsin. His dad and uncle were owners of the local underground sewer and water utility business, where he often pitched in as a youngster. Success back then for the Pientok family - as it still is today - was realized at the end of each day's hard work.
Today, Mr. Pientok is the new president and CEO of Timberline Manufacturing in Marion. It's an employee-owned electrical component manufacturer whose products comprise the inner-workings of fighter planes, mining equipment, emergency response vehicles and a whole host of other world-changing and life-saving machines.
It may be a far cry from his earliest days of digging in the dirt, but it's no less challenging for Mr. Pientok, who has come to enjoy and appreciate the pace and team dynamics of modern manufacturing over 30-plus years in the field, including 11 years as president and CEO of Apache Inc., once one of the Corridor's largest privately held companies.
Mr. Pientok sat down with former NFL star and CBJ contributor Nate Kaeding to reflect back on his professional growth, his passion for manufacturing and ESOP companies, and a new strategy for finding balance as part of the CBJ's new monthly podcast, "Real Success," presented by MidWestOne Bank.
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Andrea Olson, CEO and founder of Prag'madik, delivered the keynote address, "Attractions, Talent and The Dating Game."
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More than 500 business professionals attended the Marion Economic Development Corporation's 34
th
Annual Business Luncheon held Wednesday at the Cedar Rapids Marriott. During the luncheon, a major announcement was made regarding new academic grants available to support local career pursuit.
Community Promise is MEDCO's workforce retention program focused on connecting local students with community careers. Through the newly created Marion Community Promise Foundation, eligible students can now access Pursuit Grants for up to $4,000. These grants are available once students identify a local business partner and are ready to begin specific training for a job with that company. The grants are designed to support local business partners seeking to equip their next generation of talent as well as students who the community seeks to retain after high school.
"Our community promise is to be a national leader in creating an insulated talent pipeline that is a competitive advantage for our community," remarked MEDCO President Nick Glew during the luncheon. "This means investing in the youth who are here with us today in order to ensure they connect with local business and pursue careers here at home."
Also at the luncheon, the 2019 Innovator of the Year Award was presented to Hupp Electric Motors and Marion High School. This annual recognition is sponsored by the Corridor Business Journal to recognize a company or organization that demonstrates innovative leadership and partnerships within the business community.
Marion High School now offers students two courses to equip them with skills needed by high-demand jobs, such as health services provider and welding. Marion High School was specifically recognized for its partnership with Hupp Electric Motors. The school partnered with the company by utilizing a Hupp employee as an eight-week class instructor to deliver an Introduction to welding certificate. The program is also supported by Kirkwood Community College.
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As work schedules and expectations increasingly become more flexible, those long or odd hours may have a more negative impact on a woman's health than a man's, according to a new study, the Des Moines Business Record reports.
A study of workers in the United Kingdom, led by academic staff at University College London and published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, found that women working long hours or outside normal office hours - defined as 55 or more hours per week as well as working on weekends - were significantly more likely to display depressive symptoms than those who worked fewer hours, Quartz reported.
Men in the study tended to work longer hours than the women, with almost half working longer than the standard working week of 35 to 40 hours. Fewer than a quarter of women worked over the standard week hours. Among men, working even the longest hours wasn't associated with any significant increase in depressive symptoms.
More than two-thirds of men and half the women worked weekends. Working weekends did have an effect on men's well-being, but only when considering other factors such as being unhappy with their pay or job.
Data for the study were taken from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, focusing on a subset of data from 2010 to 2012 that included 11,215 men and 12,188 women.
Read the full study online.
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One Iowa, a statewide LGBTQ organization, is now accepting applications for its LGBTQ Leadership Institute program.
The leadership development program aims to equip future LGBTQ leaders with the tools and skills to succeed not only in the LGBTQ community, but in the broader community as well.
One Iowa will choose 20-25 LGBTQ individuals to participate in its 2019 class. The program is open to people of all ages with a strong emphasis on transgender individuals, people of color and women. Through ongoing classes in the Des Moines area beginning in June, individuals will learn about Iowa's LGBTQ history, how to be an authentic leader, resilient leadership strategies and receive individualized planning guidance.
"We launched the program in 2018, and our inaugural graduates are using their Institute experience to join boards and commissions, start their own nonprofits, become certified advocates, pursue their passions through academic research and so much more," One Iowa Executive Director Daniel Hoffman-Zinnel said. "They are blazing their own trails and using their platforms to be faces and voices for the LGBTQ community, and I look forward to working with the 2019 LGBTQ Leadership Institute class to do the same and realize their full potential."
More information about the program, including the application, can be found
here. Applications close on April 15, and participants will be announced June 1.
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March 7
Commercial Real Estate Luncheon, by the Corridor Business Journal, 11:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m., Coralville Marriott, 300 E. Ninth St., Coralville. This is the CBJ's annual look into the commercial real estate market. Learn from national experts on the effects that changing demographics and market conditions have had on the local and national commercial real estate economies, including retail, multifamily housing and senior living.
Re-Connect: Careers & Conversation, by IowaWORKS, 1-3 p.m., North Liberty Public Library, 520 W. Cherry St. A panel of employers from six major industry sectors in the region will share information about their industries and opportunities at their company. Free.
5 Ways to More Profit, by SCORE of East Central Iowa, 6:30-8 p.m., Linn Area Credit Union, 3375 Seventh Ave., Marion. This workshop will help you identify real business strategies based on five metrics. Free. To register or for more information, visit
scorecr.org.
March 9
Tippie Women Summit: Going Global, by UI Tippie College of Business, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Graduate Hotel, 210 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. This one-day forum for students and working professionals will feature keynote speakers with extensive global experience and a workshop on best practices in virtual teams. Free, includes lunch. To register, visit
tippie.uiowa.edu/tippie-women-summit.
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Headlines from CBS2/FOX 28
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
Alliant Energy's notice announcing a plan to raise rates for electricity and natural gas is causing concerns for some customers. The company's customers tell CBS2/Fox28 News one of their concerns about the recent notice stems from a chart on one of the pages. "Getting a notice that your bill can go up anywhere from $20 to $60 a month is quite a harsh thing to say to people," said customer Timothy Godsil. The chart shows the monthly base rate bill information and how it would impact different customers. Alliant Energy says that chart only shows the impact on the base rate cost. "The base rate will go up, but the transmission costs, the fuel costs and the energy efficiency charges will help bring it down," said Justin Foss, a spokesperson for Alliant Energy. Mr. Foss says the base rate primarily includes the kilowatt hour charge and the basic service charge. It's that rate that will see the 25 percent rate change, but the company says it's taking steps to offset the impact to customers. "When you net all of those out, what we expect for our average, typical residential customer in Iowa is about an $8 a month increase starting in April," Mr. Foss explained. If the proposal is approved by the Iowa Utilities Board, there will be a $12 increase starting in 2020. The IUB has 10 months to hand down a decision. Alliant Energy says this change is part of a $1.8 billion expansion in wind power to produce clean energy. The Iowa Utilities Board will host a series of public comment meetings within the next two months. You can find a link to those dates and locations here.
Following an active January and February, the United States set a precipitation record for this meteorological winter which spans from Dec. 1-Feb. 28. In February alone, the average precipitation across the U.S. was 3.22 inches, 1.09 inches above average, or 150 percent of normal. This was the second wettest February on record. Average rain and melted snow was 9.01 inches for the U.S. during meteorological winter which stood 2.22 inches above normal, or 130 percent of normal. As a whole, Iowa saw its third-wettest winter in 124 years of record. This follows an already incredibly wet autumn, which was also the third-wettest on record, in the state of Iowa. This precipitation, combined with the already high soil moisture, deep frost depth and thick snow pack, is the reasoning for the
well-above-normal flood risk in the spring.
T
hese news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
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CBS2 Chief Meteorologist Terry Swails' Weather First Forecast
A very weak disturbance will move through the area today. It will be cloudy and cool with temperatures in the 20s. Light snow will be possible, mainly near and south of Highway 30 this afternoon. Near Highway 30 there will be a dusting, with around an inch of accumulation near and south of I-80. Some freezing drizzle may mix in at times south of I-80 this evening.
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