What Huge Retailer is Coming to Cedar Rapids?

The Highway 100 extension connecting Highway 30 to Edgewood Road opened earlier this week and now housing and commercial developments are sure to follow. The first mixed-use project along the roadway has already been revealed and with it comes something pretty exciting. A retailer, new to the city, that wants a huge, 200,000 square-foot building in the development that will be called Edgewood Town Center. So what are the possibilities?

I compiled the list with the help of the National Retailer and Expansion Guide which gave me insight into retailers who are expanding and building stores that are in the neighborhood of 200,000 square feet. There aren't many.

Mills Fleet Farm

I don't consider this likely, considering Cedar Rapids already has two Theisen's stores and one Tractor Supply Company. However, never say never.

Bass Pro Shops

Gander Mountain (now Gander Outdoors) built a new store in northeast Cedar Rapids just in time for the company to go bankrupt. The westside Cedar Rapids store has since reopened, while the structure on the northeast side will be home to a Rockwell Collins daycare. Perhaps the timing is right, but I just don't see it.

Dillard's

A store at Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville makes this feel unlikely.

Costco

A store in Coralville located just off I-80 creates easy access for the entire corridor, making this one also seem a longshot.

IKEA

A 200,000 square foot store is likely too small for an IKEA, but we can dream, can't we?!

Nordstrom

Cedar Rapids already has a Nordstrom warehouse, why not the second retail store in Iowa? The only current Nordstrom in Iowa is in West Des Moines.

Meijer

Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, they opened 16 new stores in 2016 and 2017, and promise to continue a steady growth. Now in six states, including both Wisconsin and Illinois, isn't it time to take that next step west, into Iowa? Will the company credited with developing the modern supercenter begin its Iowa footprint in Cedar Rapids?

So which one will it be, or have I missed another possibility? Construction is expected to begin in 2019, so we shouldn't have to wait too long to find out.