Raining Rose purchases Color Web Printers facility

CEDAR RAPIDS — Raining Rose is purchasing the former Color Web Printers facility to boost its warehouse capacity.

The facility is being sold by Folience, Cedar Rapids-based parent holding company of The Gazette

Raining Rose had leased warehouse space on Rockwell Drive NE and will transition to the 198,884-square-foot warehouse at 4700 Bowling St. SW later this spring.

The company, which was founded in 1996 and manufactures lip balm, sunscreen and other natural and organic personal care products as a contract manufacturer, will keep its manufacturing headquarters at the current site, 100 30th Street Dr. SE.

Raining Rose employs more than 300 employees in the Cedar Rapids area and produces more than 237 million units of product each year.

The company consolidated three facilities into a single 127,000-square-foot property in 2012 and completed a $2.5 million expansion to production and blending capabilities in 2019.

Limited expansion space around the headquarters meant the company needed off-site warehouse space.

"We have been leasing external warehouse space to support our growth since 2015," Chuck Hammond, Raining Rose's CEO, said in a news release. "This property came available at the right time, and makes good sense for our future, both financially and strategically."

Details of the sale will be public after closing. The deal was brokered by GLD Commercial Real Estate.

Color Web Printers, which printed The Gazette and other titles, ceased newspaper printing operations in August. The Gazette transitioned nightly printing to Des Moines, and the press was sold to Sound Publishing in Washington state.

The press is in the process of being disassembled and trucked from the facility.

Color Web Printers began operating the 35-acre site in 1999.