Top Gazette Business stories of 2014

Smulekoff's closes

Smulekoff's Home Store closed in November after being a part of downtown for more than 125 years. The city of Cedar Rapids purchased the furniture store in August for $4.7 million through its Voluntary Property Acquisition process - federal funds used to buy properties destroyed by the 2008 flood. 'We appreciate our generations of loyal customers, our staff and our suppliers, who have allowed us to offer quality and value to our customers and to the Cedar Rapids community who have helped us thrive,” said Ann Lipsky, the company's president, in a news release. 'We treasure the role we have been able to play in the growth of this community, through challenges and triumphs.”

Specialty food stores multiply

A slew of specialty food stores opened locations or announced plans to expand into the Corridor in 2014. North Carolina-based gourmet grocery store the Fresh Market opened a 24,000-square-foot store in October, 180 Collins Rd. NE, while New Pioneer Food Co-op opened its third location and first one in Linn County, 3338 Center Point Rd. NE, at the end of November. Meanwhile, Boulder, Colo.-based Lucky's Market, which promotes local food items, signed a lease in July to move into the old Von Maur spot in Iowa City's former Sycamore Mall, securing a $1.75 million tax increment finance rebate.

Development in Marion

The city of Marion had a big year, with the construction of several major projects kicking off. The first tenants of the Marion Enterprise Center - 184 acres of shovel-ready land - began construction of their new facilities in October. Legacy Manufacturing broke ground on its $10.4 million, 133,000 square-foot building and Polish company ElPlast started construction of its $6 million, 30,000 North American headquarters. Freund-Vector, which manufactures equipment to process powders and particles, announced a $2.16 million expansion project that will add 12,000 square feet to its facility in April. And Marion Iron Co. broke ground in June for a new 18-acre facility at 4000 Third Ave. in the Marion Industrial Center, replacing the scrap metal recycler and steel supplier's existing 6.5-acre location on either side of the 2600 block of Seventh Avenue.

Downtown housing

Cedar Rapids saw a surge in proposed downtown housing options in 2014, from owner-occupied condos to market-rate apartments. About 304 units are in some phase of planning or development while 41 units came online in 2014. Several projects are popping up in Kingston Village across the Cedar River from downtown - developer Fred Timko finished Kingston Commons, 17-high-end condominiums, and Joe Ahmann has proposed a four-story mixed-use building with 27 units. Over in New Bo, developer Allen Lerch was chosen to build a four-story multiuse building on City property called New Bohemia Station that will include a restaurant, retail shops, offices, and two floors of loft apartments.

A record harvest

In 2014, Iowa corn farmers grew almost 2.4 billion bushels of corn, up from 2.2 billion bushels last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The crop is forecast to yield 185 bushels per acre, up from 165 bushels per acre last year. This huge harvest posed storage problems, with farmers worrying whether they had adequate space to handle the crop. Corn prices also keep tumbling, with some Iowa farmers receiving crop insurance payments despite the record crop.

Campaign spending

Some $41.2 million was spent in TV advertising spending alone in the Braley-Ernst campaigns to be Iowa's next U.S. senator. In the three final weeks, Joni Ernst's camp outspent Bruce Braley's by more than $1.1 million.