Cedar Run expanding, times two

For many businesses, a single expansion project comprises a major undertaking. Cedar Run Pet Boarding and Day Care is in the midst of two such projects, at virtually the same time. The Hiawatha business, which offers boarding, day care and grooming services for both dogs and cats, announced earlier this year they had purchased the […]

For many businesses, a single expansion project comprises a major undertaking. Cedar Run Pet Boarding and Day Care is in the midst of two such projects, at virtually the same time. The Hiawatha business, which offers boarding, day care and grooming services for both dogs and cats, announced earlier this year they had purchased the former site of Camp Bow Wow, 860 N. 20th Ave. in Hiawatha, which closed in January. Building renovations are now under way on the Camp Bow Wow building to expand Cedar Run’s boarding and day care capacity. Cedar Run owner Sonia Brandley said she hopes the new facility will be ready to open by September. Cedar Run is also planning to add a second facility just to the south of their current location at 2705 Stonegate Court, with construction expected to begin in the next few months, Ms. Brandley said.

Explosion in demand

Both expansion projects will be instrumental in helping Cedar Run address an explosion in demand for pet care services. In early June, in fact, Cedar Run announced on their Facebook page that they were already fully booked for dog boarding services through the end of July. “We were so overloaded,” Ms. Brandley said. “We weren’t particularly comfortable with the volume of people we were having to turn away. We know people need to go on vacation, and if they don’t have a clean place for their dog, that can keep them from being able to go away.” The growing demand can be traced in a large part to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a June 2022 report from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), more than one in five U.S. households added a pet during the pandemic, and the American Pet Products Association's 2021-2022 National Pet Owners Survey indicates that 70% of U.S. households now have at least one pet. However, the pandemic also spurred another trend, Ms. Brandley said — demand for day care spiked dramatically, while demand for dog boarding declined precipitously. As a result, Cedar Run began a renovation project at their main facility in early 2020 to convert boarding spaces for day care use. “In 2019, 65% of our business came from boarding only, and the rest came through our day care and grooming,” she said. “I was pretty concerned that if boarding went away, what were we going to do? So we focused more on day care, which was great. Well, day care now is still super busy, but boarding has come back with a vengeance, and we just don’t have the capacity.”

Influx of customers

The closing of Camp Bow Wow also brought another influx of customers, Ms. Brandley noted. “At that point for day care, we were only accepting new clients on Mondays and Tuesdays, because we were completely full the rest of the week, so we weren't really able to accommodate a lot of that new clientele,” she said. “So, I reached out to the owners of the Camp Bow Wow building and asked if they were looking to sell the building, because it's tough to open up a boarding facility. You need to do it in an industrial area, and Camp Bow Wow had already jumped through all the hoops with the city 15 years ago to allow that kind of business on that property, so it was attractive to us in that way. We were able to close the deal at the end of May, and we've been working on it ever since.” Camp Bow Wow essentially comprised one large room for pet services, Ms. Brandley said. The current renovation involves adding walls and soundproofing materials to make the space quieter and more efficient. Several floor drains have also been added to make the facility easier to clean, she noted. “We’re completely remodeling the whole thing,” she said.

Whole new building

While the Camp Bow Wow project is a relatively new development, the addition of a second building at the Stonegate Court site has been in the works for some time, Ms. Brandley said. “Over a year ago, I started having conversations with the property owner behind us,” Ms. Brandley said. “They're bringing (the Tower Terrace Road extension) through that property as well. So, the city of Hiawatha and I coordinated a little bit. The city was able to purchase part of that land and I was able to purchase part as well.” The new building will largely be used for day care services, allowing Cedar Run to repurpose much of its original space for boarding. The addition also includes a large training area, allowing Cedar Run to expand training services, and a drive-thru lane for easy pet pickup and dropoff. “This has been a dream of mine,” Ms. Brandley said. “When we founded Cedar Run around 10 years ago, day care was not what it is today. It was a newer idea for Cedar Rapids, but nationally, it was doing really well. So I toured a bunch of facilities and I thought it was something we should do.” Nowadays, there are often more than 100 dogs at Cedar Run’s day care programs, Ms. Brandley said.

Animal rescue efforts

The new expansion projects are just the latest incarnation of Ms. Brandley’s involvement in pet welfare, as she’s worked with animal rescue efforts since 2002. “Someone asked if I could watch their dog for the weekend, and I told them I didn’t have a boarding license,” she said. “That put the bug in my ear.” After the 2008 flood, Ms. Brandley set up a shelter at her home, where she ran an animal rescue for the next seven years until establishing Last Hope Animal Rescue at the former Frey Pet Hospital building, 1823 16th Ave. SW. The seeds for Cedar Run were planted one morning, she said, when a number of rescue dogs escaped from confinement just as a state inspector was passing by. “She pulled into my driveway and said, ‘I stopped by to help you. It looks like you had a jailbreak,’” Ms. Brandley said. “I said, ‘No, they just follow me,’ and she said, ‘Oh, you should start a dog day care if dogs listen to you like that.’ And I said, ‘Dog day care. What's that?’” Once Cedar Run’s current expansions are complete, Ms. Brandley said she’d like to consider other growth options, mentioning North Liberty as a possible target. However, she said she plans to keep her efforts close to the Corridor area. “I feel like I have lightning in a bottle with my employees,” she said. “With Last Hope Animal Rescue and my core employees, I have people I would trust my own animals with. That, to me, is how we stay successful, and that's how we’re providing a level of service that I pride myself on.”