Honeywell to leave Cedar Rapids by year’s end

CEDAR RAPIDS - As Honeywell International operations in Cedar Rapids wind down, the more than 80,000-square-foot office space downtown is up for lease.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Honeywell is working toward closing its Safety and Productivity Solutions office at 601 Third St. SE by the end of the year, when its lease for the property expires.

The business is making the move in 'streamlining its operations and adjusting our workforce to better meet business needs,” spokesman Eric Krantz told The Gazette on Monday.

'This is not a decision we made lightly, and we realize this, unfortunately, affects some of our valued employees,” he said in an emailed statement.

'Affected eligible employees will be offered severance and outplacement assistance per Honeywell policy. We are also encouraging affected employees to apply for other roles within Honeywell.”

Skogman Commercial is advertising the space as up to 81,000 square feet for sublease.

The departure is expected to displace fewer than two dozen employees at the Cedar Rapids office, which primarily provides engineering, sales and technical support work that will move to other Honeywell offices, Krantz said. Honeywell did not provide the exact number of employees affected.

In the most recent business survey Honeywell provided the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, in 2016, the company indicated it had 220 employees in its city office.

The Honeywell office, between the Helen G. Nassif YMCA and Veritas Church, once belonged to Intermec, a supply chain company that made equipment including radio-frequency identification and voice recognition systems.

Honeywell acquired Intermec in September 2013, in an all-cash transaction valued around $600 million.

Earlier that year, Intermec opened its $12.5 million office on Third Street SE, an 81,000-square-foot two-story technology center with an open floor plan, collaborative work areas, more than 12,000 square feet of leading-edge electrical, mechanical, software and test labs.

Honeywell reported net sales of $41.8 billion in 2018 and had about 114,000 employees worldwide.

Comments: (319) 398-8366; thomas.friestad@thegazette.com