Postal service rent to be reduced at Eastern Iowa Airport

CEDAR RAPIDS - The United States Postal Service has negotiated reduced rent for a package processing facility at The Eastern Iowa Airport.

The Cedar Rapids Airport Commission on Monday approved extending the postal service's existing lease for an additional five years from Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2022. It also approved an amendment to the lease reducing the annual rent from $128,952 to $123,362.

'The postal service had this in their current lease, revising the rent due to market conditions,” said Don Swanson, airport director of administration and finance. 'The packages are not flown out. They are processed through the postal service's regular system.”

Swanson said the Express Mail package processing facility at 2401 Arthur Collins Pkwy. SW is one of the few remaining operations of its kind at airports across the country. The postal service has been reducing leased space and negotiating lower rental rates in the face of a $5 billion annual budget deficit.

Separately, the airport commission on Monday awarded a professional services contract to De Novo Alternative Marketing. The Cedar Rapids agency will provide marketing materials for print, television, and digital/online advertising, as well as billboards, videos or other emerging platforms on a time and material basis.

Swanson said the airport advertised locally and nationally for proposals. He said 11 bids were received from firms in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.

'We were a little surprised that we had such a very good response,” Swanson said.

The one-year contract will begin April 1 and end on March 31, 2017, unless the commission agrees to extend it for two additional one-year terms. The contract provide for an hourly billing rate of $93.75, which includes a 25 percent non-profit and government discount.

De Novo Alternative Marketing held the previous creative services contract with the airport on a retainer basis.