116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Zurcher Tire building new warehouse and office in SW Cedar Rapids
Wholesale distributor provides tires for everything from ‘wheelbarrows to combines’
CEDAR RAPIDS — The southwest quadrant of Cedar Rapids — near the airport and Interstate 380 — continues attracting large warehouse construction projects.
One of the latest is a 50,000-square-foot warehouse and office being built for Zurcher Tire Wholesale, a tire distributor, at 2720 64th Ave. SW.
"We're probably the biggest wholesale tire distributor across the Midwest,'' Carson Cornelius, the company’s chief development officer in Bettendorf, told The Gazette.
Zurcher provides tires — everything from “wheelbarrows to combines — to retailers, he said, adding that the Cedar Rapids distribution area covers the eastern half of Iowa.
When the new building is finished, probably in November, Zurcher will move its operations there from 3721 J St. SW,
The new building is phase 1 in the company's plans, with another 50,000 square feet planned by 2026, Cornelius said.
He declined to be specific about the company's investment at this point, putting it at more than "$2 million but less than $10 million."
Zurcher has 15 employees in Cedar Rapids but may grow to 25 or 30 after the new building opens and perhaps beyond that when the second phase is done, Cornelius said.
Ryan Moylan is the regional manager for Iowa and the Cedar Rapids facility.
The company employs about 400 workers in Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, Cornelius said.
Zurcher, in business since 1948, was founded in Monroe, Ind., where its headquarters still is located.
In January 2020, Zurcher bought the wholesale tire distribution subdivision of Linder Tire Wholesale of Iowa City. Zurcher has been operating out of Linder's location in Cedar Rapids on J Street SW, since then, Cornelius said.
"Iowa has been on our map since 2013,'' when Zurcher opened in Rock Island, Ill., he said
Iowa's large agricultural industry spurred Zurcher to move into the state.
"One-third of our business is in agricultural tires," Cornelius said, noting some of its tires are made in Iowa.
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