City Meat Market closed, Top Drawer moving

CEDAR RAPIDS -- After surviving the devastating flood of June 2008 unscathed, a southwest Cedar Rapids meat market has closed and a neighboring consignment furniture store is preparing to relocate.

Roger Vogel, owner of CityMeat Market, 615 Second St. SW, decided to close the business when the building where it is housed was sold. An auction at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 7, will dispose of all equipment and furnishings.

"We were originally told that we would have six months to move," Vogel said. "Then it was changed to two months. I'm selling everything and going to work for someone else."

Randi Hoefing, owner of the Top Drawer, plans to relocate the business later this month to the Kuba Building, 1012 Third St. SE, in the New Bohemia Main Street District.

"We're very excited about the New Bohemia area," Hoefing said. "They have gutted and completely remodeled the building. It looks really beautiful."

Hoefing said her new location will be slightly smaller than where Top Drawer has been operating, but the business will be the same.

"We're going to do consignment furniture, tag sales, estate sales and all that kind of stuff," she said. "We've enjoyed our current location, but we are really looking forward to being part of the energy that we've seen in New Bohemia."

Scott Olson of Skogman Commercial said the 6,000-square-foot building at 615 Second St. SW, constructed in 2000, will be converted into law offices for a firm located at First Avenue and First Street SW.

Olson, who handled the sale of the building, said it originally was part of a larger potential four-parcel deal with a convenience store. When one of the property owners changed his mind and refused to sell, the transaction fell through.

"The new owner is a Cedar Rapids law firm that must vacate its current location by the end of August. The building has been sold to the city under the commercial property buyout program," Olson said. "The law firm needs time to have the building remodeled into offices."

Olson said City Meat Market and Top Drawer had been leasing on a month-to-month basis since the death of Arthur Swarzentruber, whose estate owned the building until its recent sale. Olson said Hoefing and Vogel were offered the opportunity to buy the building, but they declined.