Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
A Kansas City real-estate developer is in “heavy discussions” with a major national home-improvement store eyeing a location east of the Carroll Wal-Mart Supercenter.
The same developer is also planning a 29,000-square-foot strip mall to the west of the Supercenter complex.
An earlier piece in Iowa Independent examined how other retailers are adapting in Carroll, a community of 10,000 people that serves as the retail hub for a huge swath of west central Iowa.
Jeff Dozier, vice president of retail development for Kansas City, Mo.-based Kessinger/Hunter & Company, said he’s working with the popular home-improvement chain on the potential size for the Carroll store. Company officials have been to Carroll.
“They’ve been to the market twice, and they like it,” Dozier said.
Dozier is part of Carroll 30 Investors, a collection of people from Kansas City that owns the nearly 13 acres east of the Supercenter — an area known as Westfield Plaza. Carroll 30 Investors is simultaneously involved in discussions to locate the strip mall, which would have two large users and several smaller businesses, Dozier said.
“The only thing I can say is we are talking clothing, office supplies, shoes and restaurants,” Dozier said.
Dozier said he didn’t want to jeopardize any deals by prematurely releasing names of potential tenants, but he said all of the discussions have involved well-known national chains — and he emphasized that his development group plans to have more than one restaurant in the complex.
He said the strip mall could be open next spring. Carroll 30 Investors owns 2 acres to the west of Wal-Mart and is ironing out arrangements for the purchase of another 5 acres on that side of the retail giant.
In March, Wal-Mart held a grand opening for its 143,000-square-foot Supercenter at 2014 Kittyhawk Ave. The former store in the central business district is being redeveloped by Badding Construction of Carroll.
Dozier said the Carroll area holds great possibility. Market research and other factors have prompted Dozier and his associates to laser in on home improvement.
Dozier did not offer the name of the company with which he is negotiating.
But he did say it is not Menards. What’s more, Dozier was involved with developing a 94,000-square-foot Lowe’s in Chillicothe, Mo., a city of 9,000 people with similar regional retail pull to Carroll. The Chillicothe Lowe’s opened in 2006 about a block away from a Wal-Mart Supercenter.
Through the Kessinger/Hunter database of companies, Dozier and his associates have made some form of contact with more than 200 businesses about coming to Carroll.
He said those contacts involved mass e-mails, cold calls, marketing and the tapping of personal business connections developed over the years.
“Carroll’s a wonderful city, and I think any retail will do well,” Dozier said.
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