Danisco US Inc. is planning a $68 million addition at its plant in southwest Cedar Rapids, marking the latest chapter in a series of expansions at the facility in recent years.
At its meeting Tuesday, the Cedar Rapids City Council unanimously approved a resolution of support for city financial incentives for the project, which will include construction of a new 47,000-square-foot food grade manufacturing facility at the existing Danisco plant, 1000 41st Ave. Dr. SW.
According to city council documents, “As a result of this expansion project, the Cedar Rapids plant will be the only company location in the United States to manufacture this type of food product.” The exact product wasn’t specified.
Construction of the new facility could begin as early as March, with completion set for July 2026.
Under the city’s high-quality jobs economic program, the project is eligible for a standard incentive, a 10-year declining-scale exemption of increased value generated by the development. This project is expected to generate $2 million in new tax revenue over a 10-year period, of which $900,000 would be exempted.
The project is expected to create 40 new jobs, all above the state’s high-quality job wage threshold, which was $27.20 per hour in Cedar Rapids as of September 2024.
Councilmember Scott Overland noted that Danisco and its predecessors have expanded the company’s Cedar Rapids facilities several times, most recently with a $22.2 million project announced in March 2024 to build a new 9,000-square-foot metal building for on-site steam generation to supply the company’s operations.
“It wasn’t too far in the past where if we got a $68 million development or a brand-new business coming to town, we’d be jumping up and down and really excited,” Mr. Overland said, noting that the latest project is an example of “an international company that wants to continue to expand in Cedar Rapids and create these extremely high-quality jobs that make things hum here. I think it’s a credit to everybody involved in communicating with the company and encourage them to expand here in Cedar Rapids. They could probably go with other facilities. I think it’s just a huge win for our community.”
Danisco is a subsidiary of International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF). The Cedar Rapids plant was founded by Genencor in 1991 and was renamed to Dupont Industrial Biosciences in 2011 when Danisco, Genencor’s corporate parent, was acquired by DuPont, which then merged with International Flavors & Fragrances in 2020.
