Ingredion is planning a $48.5 million expansion of their plant in southwest Cedar Rapids, a project that will include the addition of four new jobs.
The Cedar Rapids City Council voted Feb. 25 to authorize city financial incentives and a resolution of support of Ingredion’s application for High-Quality Jobs Program funding through the Iowa Economic Development Authority for the project.
The council also authorized the negotiation of a formal development agreement for the project.
According to council documents, Ingredion is “updating their starch flash dryer technology, which will significantly increase their efficiency and capacity to deliver starch products to their customers.”
The project will include construction of three new industrial buildings at the Ingredion site, 1001 First St. SW, and a new starch flash dryer. One building at the site, just north of Riverside Park, will also be demolished as part of the project.
“They’re going to update the 1970s era dryers with new starch flash drying technology, which will also allow them to load multiple trailers at once and increase their output,” said Bill Micheel, the city’s economic and development services director.
Work on the project is expected to begin in April and be completed by October 2026.
In addition to the four new jobs, eight existing jobs will be retained as part of the project, all at or above the high-quality jobs wage threshold.
The city incentives for the project will provide a 10-year, 50% rebate of increased taxes generated. Based on the investment and estimated post-development value, the project is expected to generate $5.1 million in total taxes over a 10-year period, of which $750,000 would be rebated back to the company, according to council documents.
Council member Ashley Vanorny expressed her appreciation to Ingredion for their long tenure in Cedar Rapids, noting that “this is a pretty generational facility. There’s a lot of families that have worked here, and they have some pretty tenured workers.”
“Lest we forget that they were a huge and critical part of the great toilet paper debate in 2020,” she added. “They were creating the starch that actually helps the paper not stick together, which is something you don’t think about. But they were a key piece in that economic need in 2020. They also are part of our circular economy, which is really important, taking the waste from other manufacturing industries that we have here in town and repurposing it into other things.”
Ingredion makes sweeteners, starches, nutrition ingredients and biomaterials used in everyday products, from foods and beverages to paper and pharmaceuticals. The company traces its Cedar Rapids origins to the founding of Douglas and Co. in 1894. It employs about 100 workers in Cedar Rapids, according to union representatives.
