Raining Rose, Inc., the Cedar Rapids-based producer of natural and organic lip balm and body care products is hosting a community open house Friday September 2nd at the former Alice Chalmers plant, the site where its new office-manufacturing facility will be built later this year.
The open house is an opportunity for area residents to tour the existing facility prior to the start of demolition later in the month.
The site was first developed in 1921 as La Plant Choate Manufacturing which manufactured tractors, snowplows, earth graders, and other heavy construction equipment. In 1952 Alice Chalmers, famous for their bright Persian orange farm tractors, purchased La Plant Choate and continued operations on-site until 1968. In 1971 the Henderson family purchased the property and has operated the facility until its recent sale to Raining Rose.
The current 120,000 square foot building will be torn down and replaced with new 127,000 square foot facility optimized for Raining Rose’s production and manufacturing operations. Primus Construction is the design-builder for the project.
“The new building will greatly improve our efficiencies and have a positive impact on the look and feel of the area,” said Chuck Hammond, owner and president of Raining Rose. “We’ve developed a great-looking building and designed it to be very energy efficient and to achieve LEED certification. We’re excited to have it built.”
Community residents are invited to tour the existing building from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday, September 2nd. A brief ground-breaking ceremony will be held at 4:30 p.m.