116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Auto salvage company moves cars to make room for Copart purchase of old Sunline property
Hundreds of cars have been moved to Hawkeye Downs
CEDAR RAPIDS — Local auto salvage company Sunline has cleaned out its property on Sixth Street SW and moved hundreds of cars onto the Hawkeye Downs parking lot, making way for the old property’s sale to Copart, an insurance auto auction.
Roger Cassill, owner of both Hawkeye Downs and Sunline, said Monday he sold the old 40-acre Sunline property at 4400 Sixth St. SW to Copart to be one of its major locations in the Midwest. Copart currently has Iowa locations in Des Moines and Davenport. The sale closed Oct. 31, Cassill said, after the process started about a year ago.
“In doing that, we wanted to have a proximity that’s close to Copart because they are a salvage yard’s main supplier,” Cassill said.
The Cedar Rapids City Council earlier this year voted to advance rezoning Hawkeye Downs from light industrial to general industrial district to allow for the salvage yard.
The rezoning took place as Hawkeye Downs looked to refresh its property and explore new ways to draw residents and visitors to the racetrack. It has received thousands of dollars from the city over the years through hotel-motel tax funds the city reaps from overnight guests — for instance, $35,000 last November.
The city also in 2022 awarded the organization $50,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds as part of money given to nonprofits to support recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sunline has moved its office to Hawkeye Downs at what was previously the Bingo Hall at Hawkeye Downs. Cassill said there temporarily are cars situated on the frontside of Hawkeye Downs, but those are being moved to the backside of the property, out of site for motorists going down Sixth Street SW.
The city Board of Adjustment on Monday approved a conditional use for a modified proposal to locate the salvage yard and related operations on the western portion of the site, behind existing structures, instead of where it was initially proposed on the east end of the property along Sixth Street SW. The temporary salvage use must be vacated and restored to turf by June 1, 2024. The case first came to the board in May, but because of the location change it returned to the panel.
“The salvage business has changed dramatically over the last 60 years,” Cassill said. “We don’t need nearly as much land.”
The number of cars kept on-site has gone down dramatically, Cassill said. Sunline started this relocation with around 3,000 cars and now has about 600 physical cars. He said Sunline has stored dismantled parts on-site inside of the old Bingo Hall. That allowed Sunline to consolidate what once occupied 40 acres to less than 10 acres.
“The flow is a lot more efficient, the parts are nicer that way,” Cassill said. “It’s a lot nicer way to service our customers.”
Cassill said there are plans going through the architectural stages for the front side of Hawkeye Downs, on the northeast side of the property. There are plans to develop the land with multiple buildings and a new expo center “to dress that up,” he said.
For the center part of the Hawkeye Downs property, Cassill said he has been contacted by multiple gas stations and two different hotels but has not decided what to use that property for yet where the cars are temporarily located.
When Copart purchased the property, Cassill said the company brought in an extensive environmental crew to review its condition and “the property passed with flying colors.”
“Everybody just assumes that old cars drain everything out when you park them,” Cassill said. “That’s not the case at all.”
For example, Cassill said Sunline never burned tires. Its largest expense was getting rid of old tires, but he paid to go through the proper process. That involves sending tires to several different places in Iowa where they are ground and sold, some to schools for use on playgrounds.
Sunline also reclaims oil before crushing cars so the oil is sold to companies for use in oil burners in furnaces and similar purposes, he said.
Cassill plans to add a nine-foot-tall steel corrugated fence and exterior landscaping on all four sides. There’ll be a 100-foot buffer between rights of way and the site.
“The public won’t see any wrecked cars at all” once the fencing is complete, hopefully before snow falls, Cassill said.
Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com
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