South gate changes in a decade

Jul 25, 2010 — The Hawk Eye

Rex L. Troute

Jul. 25, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- For the longest time, travelers heading north up U.S. 61 to Burlington were greeted the same way. They reached West Avenue and saw banks on the northwest and northeast corners of the intersection, and saw a welcome sign on the right-hand side as they entered the city's western business district.

In the past decade, the southern gate welcoming visitors to Burlington has changed a great deal and has become a relatively hot spot for business expansion.

The Dollar General (NYSE:DG) on West Avenue and the Fareway on Lawrence Drive began the ripple effect in 2000 by placing stores on farm ground. The land bordering U.S. 61 on Burlington's south entrance has seen the addition of Casey's (2001), Sherwin Williams (NYSE:SHW) (2001), Carpetland (2002), Great River Power Sports (2002), McDonald's (2003), Blackhawk Village Apartments (2003), Comfort Suites Motel (2005), Culver's (2005) and Iowa State Bank (2007).

In 2010, two more eateries will dot the landscape just south of Culver's -- in Happy Joe's this fall and Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD) in December.

"I think it will continue to grow. We get a lot of traffic from Fort Madison," said Dennis Hinkle, president and CEO of the Greater Burlington Partnership.

The amount of traffic along the highway was a common theme as to why many of the businesses chose to locate along one of Burlington's two U.S. highways.

"We were looking for traffic count and visibility," said Brad Krogull, who owns the Culver's restaurant with wife, Cheryl. The couple bought the piece of former farm ground from Dial Corp. The fast-food chain originated in Wisconsin.

The Krogulls' store celebrated its fifth anniversary in March. He said the hamburger-based restaurant has seen an increase in sales each year since they opened.

An unusual aspect of Culver's location was customers could not enter directly off of U.S. 61. They had to exit on Mason Street or West Avenue in order to get to Lawrence Drive and the restaurant's parking lot.

"At first I thought it would be a concern," Krogull said of a frontage road entrance.

That's even less of a concern now with Happy Joe's building on Culver's south side. Buffalo Wild Wings will begin construction later this year and go next to Happy Joe's.

"We like the idea of new neighbors and new construction," Krogull said.

Changing locations

For a couple Burlington businesses, it was a matter of moving from successful locations to an area where increased traffic was the motivation.

Jerry and Donna Mann moved their McDonald's on Division Street near downtown to the southwest corner of Burlington's original southern gate of Roosevelt and West Avenues. The other mover was Carpetland, which left its strip mall location in Fairway Shopping Center on the city's north side to its 905 Wellshire Drive spot next to McDonald's.

Steve Freese, president of First Construction Group in Burlington, was the developer of the southwest corner of U.S. 61 and West Avenue, where McDonald's, Carpetland and Sherwin Williams reside.

"It's a facelift from what it was," said Eric Langan, owner of nine Carpetland stores, comparing the new location to the Fairway spot.

Eric's grandfather, Don, brought the first Carpetland stores to eastern Iowa when he opened a store in Davenport in 1971 and later added a Clinton location. His father, Don, took the company from two stores to seven during his reign, which included building a Carpetland in Fairway Center in 1993. Don Langan also made the decision to move the Burlington store to its new location in 2002. Eric Langan became a third-generation owner in 2005 with other stores in Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, and Illinois locations in Moline, Sterling and Galesburg.

"Burlington has always been a solid market for us. They like to buy local," said Langan.

Being located next to McDonald's hasn't hurt his business either.

"The more eyeballs you can have on your signage, the better," Langan said.

He also sees all the growth on Burlington's south side as a positive.

"The more economic development that happens there, the more you are going to help the community and our business as well," he said.

Bank on it

Iowa State Bank, with several locations elsewhere, was looking to establish itself in the Burlington market.

"We did a lot of research. We looked all over the community," said Chris Grimm, president of Iowa State Bank. "We felt like we'd end up by the college and the hospital."

Eventually the decision came down to traffic patterns and the corner of Mason Street and U.S. 61 was too good to pass up. Iowa State Bank bought the land from Don and Mike Pierson who've been a catalyst in the expansion of Burlington's southern edge. The large residential areas on Burlington's southwest corner also encouraged the bank to build its gorgeous facility.

"People tend to bank closer to their homes than at their work," Grimm said. "It's actually exceeded our expectations."

Burlington's decision to close James Madison Middle School and construct a new school on Mason Street has Grimm positive about the bank's future.

"I'm especially excited about the new school," Grimm said.

New schools typically create new homes and thus new customers for the bank, he said.

Iowa State Bank has gotten its share of Fort Madison residents, who work in Burlington and consistently drive by the U.S. 61 location. Grimm said he also has been pleased with the amount of traffic that goes west on Mason Street.

Developing

Mike Pierson grew up the son of a farmer, Don Pierson, who owned ground largely southwest of Burlington. Eventually, Mike had a career with Cargill Corp., but would still come back to Burlington to work on the farm. It was on one of those trips back that he and his father began thinking of land development.

"We laid out the area with a long-term view as far as a land use standpoint ... and what's good for the community," Mike Pierson said.

They had property segmented off for single-family use, multi-family use and commercial use. The stretch along U.S. 61, south of Mason Street, became their first visible commercial development.

Great River Power Sports (now the home of Bobcat of Burlington) became the first building on the property in 2002. Comfort Suites Motel came along in 2005 and Iowa State Bank in 2007. And the land where Happy Joe's and Buffalo Wild Wings will take up residence, was purchased from Pierson.

"The whole community has made big strides in the last decade," said Pierson.

He made the point that growth doesn't happen overnight usually in Burlington, but a consistent effort is often rewarded.

"I try to market our community and work towards further development," he said.

He complimented the efforts of the city in working with him on multiple projects. Eric Larson, Burlington's development director, and Eric Tysland, city planner, were credited by Pierson with being a big help to him concerning the development on Burlington's southern gate.

"We try to work with Mike quite a bit," said Larson. "He does a lot of hard work on his own."

Most of the existing entities in Burlington's southern growth spurt see a bright future for the area.

"I see more retail and service type businesses to complement the large cluster we have," Larson said.

Newstex ID: KRTB-1064-47256341