Cedar Rapids company buys St. Andrews driving range land

CEDAR RAPIDS - A local manufacturer has purchased land now used for the driving range for St. Andrews Golf Club in northeast Cedar Rapids.

Iowa Fluid Power plans to about double the size of its warehouse and manufacturing space along Blairs Ferry Road NE, President Jim Kaas told The Gazette Friday. To prepare, Kaas said Iowa Fluid Power has bought about 2.4 acres of land directly north of its current office, which includes part of the St. Andrews driving range.

'We have been working for quite some years on trying to find some new land to expand this building one direction or the other. The driving range turned out to work out for us,” Kaas said.

Iowa Fluid makes and distributes hydraulic and pneumatic machinery used in various pieces of equipment and the electronics that control that machinery.

Kaas said the company still has to design the 50,000-square-foot expansion and does not yet have a cost estimate of the project. Officials expect to break ground next year.

Iowa Fluid chose to buy the driving range and expand at its current location to better accommodate employees, he said.

'We love the facility and our location. We've put dots on the map of where our employees live and anywhere we move will make it worse for a bunch of people,” Kaas said.

Iowa Fluid - with about 135 employees, 100 of whom work in Cedar Rapids - has offices in Kansas, Minnesota and Texas.

Kaas said the company's expansion is driven by its growth into more markets outside Iowa.

'It's because we've expanded geographically. Just the state of Iowa wouldn't support the size that we are today,” he said.

St. Andrews Golf Club Superintendent Mike Hall was not immediately available to discuss the course's plans for its driving range. The range has 12 AstroTurf tees and about 30 grass tees, according to its website.

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