116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Hodge Construction has low profile, high impact as a developer in the Corridor
Company has grown from a small subcontractor to developer at both ends of the Corridor
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Hodge Construction needs only about 20 employees to leave its mark on its hometown.
“We say we’re right-sized,” company president Andy Hodge said one recent afternoon. “We’re small enough to be nimble and lean, but sizable enough to have to have the history and the infrastructure in place.”
From a small framing subcontractor building single-family homes, Hodge Construction evolved to specialize in property development and project management.
“We want to be the full suite of services in real estate,” Hodge said. “Development, concept, raw land development. We can start at that point, help get a building built and manage it after. We have some folks in-house who can hand the real estate transactions.”
The company’s growth into major roles in some high-profile Corridor projects happened fairly quietly.
“It was just do our own thing and fly under the radar,” said Kevin Digmann, the chief financial officer who joined Hodge in 2000. “You don’t have to be front and center so that everybody knows your name.”
Andy Hodge’s father Mike Hodge worked a few years in the Quad Cities after earning his engineering degree at the University of Iowa, then returned to Iowa City to start his namesake firm in 1981.
“He wanted to use his degree and went to work at Shive Hattery for a couple years, and decided he wanted to get back into construction,” Hodge said. “He started out as single-family, eventually went from being just a builder to being a developer. From there they got into multi-family development, duplexes and townhouses and that kind of thing.”
Acting on his father’s advice, Andy Hodge got his construction management degree at Iowa State University.
“As a 17-year-old preparing for college talking to my dad, I said ‘I want to do what you do,’ not really knowing what that meant,” he said.
After a few years in the Kansas City area, Andy Hodge returned to the family business in 2015. Mike Hodge has since stepped away from day-to-day operations, “but we know where to find him when we need him,” Hodge said.
The company evolved with the market, buying, renovating, and redeveloping Sycamore Mall and Old Capitol Mall as those properties’ retail trade shifted in the early 2000s. Those properties were then sold to other owners, with the University of Iowa’s regents voting last year to take full ownership of Old Capitol.
“It just kind of organically worked up to some bigger commercial projects,” Hodge said.
Hodge developed The Edge Condominiums at the southeast corner of the intersection of Burlington and Clinton streets in downtown Iowa City. The project includes 43 luxury condos, 20,000 square-feet of commercial space and a 92-room eco-minded extended stay hotel.
There’s Field Day Brewing and Tin Roost in North Liberty. Hodge has also been a major developer in the development in the Iowa River Landing, having constructed residential and commercial buildings in the massive redevelopment in Coralville.
“I don’t know if anybody plans what happens,” said Digmann. “You get started on a project and something else happens.”
Through its Apartments in Iowa City (AIC) subsidiary, the company manages about 450 student apartments in and around downtown Iowa City.
“We’re now expanding our portfolio, managing properties at Iowa River Landing, and we’re looking to build some more (multi-family projects) in North Liberty and Coralville,” Hodge said.
Current projects include:
- Construction of a 42-unit in Iowa River Landing at 1051 Quarry Lane, the third phase of a condo buildout in the Iowa River Landing in Coralville.
- An addition to North Liberty’s Creekside neighborhood of duplex homes.
“I was probably in high school when they did that, but to the south we’ve put in about 85 units over the last couple years, apartments and luxury townhomes,” Hodge said. “We’ve got the land to the east rezoned and we’re working with the city on that concept. We’ll put in more apartments and townhouses there.”
- West Village at Oakdale and Jones boulevards in Coralville. The plan approved by the city council last July include 450 units of apartments, town houses, and mixed-use buildings designed around a pedestrian-friendly layout.
“We’ll be putting roads in this month and we’re putting foundations in this fall,” Hodge said.
- Ground was broken in April for the new AC by Marriott hotel in Cedar Rapids’ Kingston Yard neighborhood. To be operated by Coralville-based Kinseth Hospitality, it’s the first downtown hotel built since 1979 and part of city planners’ effort to establish the area as a “destination entertainment district.”
“It’s the fourth hotel we’ve built or developed with Kinseth,” Hodge said. “They’ve been a great partner to work with. It’s a really cool area of Cedar Rapids that’s been redeveloped.”
The company still pursues smaller neighborhood projects such as a new home for Dream City, the Iowa City-based nonprofit for at-risk youth. Hodge renovated a former auto-parts store into conference and meeting rooms, classrooms, a podcast studio, and even a barbershop. Funded through a $3 million American Rescue Plan Act grant, the facility opened in March, months ahead of schedule.
“They were just amazing to work with,” said Fred Newell, Dream City’s executive director. “Credit to them for knowing our project. I have nothing but high praise for those guys.”
Hodge’s only single-family development currently is Saddleback Estates in Solon.
“Our niche is multi-family housing and light commercial,” Hodge said. “Not a lot of single-family anymore.”
As with many projects, Hodge will retain an operating interest in the new Cedar Rapids hotel.
“Kinseth is the hotel experts for us,” Hodge said. “We rely on them to know whether it’s a good location or not, and they’re really excited about it, especially with that casino going in.”
Taking a stake in projects was a natural step in the company’s growth, according to Hodge.
“When you’re putting your own money in, you want to dot your i’s and cross your t’s, even more so when it’s your family and friends putting their money into it,” Hodge said.
Prospects for continued growth in the company’s backyard remain strong.
“We’re fortunate to be in the right county in Iowa,” Hodge said. “Lots of counties’ populations are coming down, but we’re in an area where people want to come and live and work. The university’s a big part of that. As long as people want to continue to move here that’ll work out.”
For all the changes, Hodge attributes the company’s growing role in its hometown to its founder’s original values.
“Being here 40 years, it’s building relationships with people,” he said. “Treating people with respect. We’ve just learned to work with subcontractors who are fair and do the work they say they’re going to do. They know working on a Hodge project, we’re going to do the same with them.”
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