Wisconsin company eyes Cedar Rapids land for potential expansion

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Wisconsin company that built its first refrigerated warehouse in Cedar Rapids this year already has its eyes on an expansion.

Midwest Refrigerated Services has acquired 40 acres in southwest Cedar Rapids that the company's president said it would use to construct a new warehouse. Plans to build one are not final, though, as the company talks with potential customers, President Mike Pokel said.

'We're looking for potential customers for a new building that we'd like to build. We're buying that land speculatively in advance of our next project in the market,” Pokel told The Gazette.

The land sits along 76th Avenue SW, immediately north of Nordstrom Direct's fulfillment warehouse. The Cedar Rapids City Council approved rezoning the land from agricultural to industrial use in September.

Based in Elkader, Wis., Midwest Refrigerated operates refrigerated warehouses, primarily for the food industry, across the upper Midwest.

Midwest Refrigerated first came to Cedar Rapids with a new 204,000-square-foot warehouse. It was built partially for Michigan-based Walsma and Lyons, a distributor of fruits and vegetables. That warehouse, located along Prairie Valley Court SW, is now full, Pokel said.

'We had built it up almost twice the size we needed, but we're full, so this other site is, again, in preparation for future business opportunities,” he said.

Typically, Midwest Refrigerated builds warehouses between 200,000 and 250,000 square feet, Pokel said. The newly acquired 40 acres, he said, would have room for multiple warehouses if needed.

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