Cedar Rapids Weather
Flexsteel Joins Other Businesses in Port of DubuqueBy Katie Wiedemann, Reporter
DUBUQUE, Iowa - Flexsteel Industries broke ground on a new 12-million dollar project in the Port of Dubuque.
Flexsteel says the move shows the company beat the recession, and is positioning itself for the future. Development directors say the plan for the port is to be a tourist attraction and a corporate hub. It is one of the hot spots in Dubuque. It’s the place where locals and tourists show up to have a little fun. But it’s also becoming the place more and more people show up to work. Flexsteel’s Ron Klosterman said, “we’ll be attached to the parking ramp here in Dubuque. It’s four story complex, and we’ll have a walkway that meets one of our four floors of our office buildings that will meet up with the floors of the parking ramp ” By this time next year, Flexsteel’s one hundred Dubuque employees will move into a new building in the Port. When it’s finished, they will join employees from McGraw-Hill and Durrant who already work in the area. Greater Dubuque Development’s Rick Dickinson said, “they’ll have combined about 500 employees down there who will eat at the Tony Roma’s. Who’ll eat the Star Restaurant and who will maybe after work stop off at the Diamond Jo Casino. ” Dickinson says having a mix of office and recreation space in the port has always been the development plan. He says, at one point, developers visualized the port as a retail hub with storefronts and apartments. Dickinson said, “we have people who want that product just not quiet enough of them. ” And there’s this huge empty hole in the Port’s northwest corner. Dickinson says there are still a lot of people in Dubuque who’d like to see a minor league baseball stadium there. Dickinson said, “there’s still interest in that but we haven’t been able to get all the pieces together. ” Until then, Flexsteel is the next business to make this port their home. The company says they’re here to stay. Most Popular |
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