UPDATED JULY 7 TO ADD COMMENTS FROM OWNERS

The First Avenue block across from the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons hotel is about to have its second Mexican restaurant.

La Cantina has leased almost 4,000 square feet of space in the former Berthel Fisher & Co. building at the southeast corner of First Avenue and Second Street SE, confirmed Tiffany Earl of Skogman Realty Commercial, who handled the transaction.

 Temporary signs indicating the restaurant is on its way were posted on Monday, July 5,  and there were signs the renovation was already under way.

La Cantina Bar & Grill is owned by Christian Barrios of Cedar Rapids. He hopes to open in mid August.

The restaurant will feature a contemporary atmosphere, with pendant lights over booth seating. the granite-topped bar will be a central visual focus of the interior.

An outside seating area will face Second Street.

Hours of operation will be 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays. From Wednesdays through Saturdays, La Cantina will be open until 2 a.m. to attract the late evening bar crowd.

The menu will include wraps, salads and Mexican dishes, according to Barrios and his wife, Jessica.

The future location is only two doors down from the long-established Gringos restaurant at 207 First Ave. SE., and about eight blocks from Hacienda Las Glorias, 715 First Ave. SW, and El Mercadito, 700 First Ave. SW.

Earl said the building was purchased about one month ago from Steve Emerson of Cedar Rapids by Jeffrey Peterson, a Malibu, Calif., restauranteur and real estate investor.

Earl said the new restaurant will help extend the activity in the city’s downtown entertainment district.

The three story building that will house La Cantina opened in 1883 as the Golden Eagle store. A distinctive cupola on the corner of the building was later removed, and the exterior covered with metal siding.

Frank Pfaff and his family bought the building in 1985, restoring much of the original exterior appearance and renaming it Pfaff Place.

Berthel Fisher & Co. bought the building in 1990, but has since move to a new headquarters on the Highway 100 Marion bypass.

Air cargo traffic, considered by some to forecast changes in the economy, continues to rise at The Eastern Iowa Airport.

Shipments totaling 2.13 million pounds were loaded on DHL, Federal Express and UPS cargo planes in May, up 6.5 percent from 2 million pounds in May 2009. For the year, 10.5 million pounds of air cargo have been flown out of Cedar Rapids, up 5.6 percent from 9.9 million pounds in the same period of 2009.

Cargo shipments have been trending upward since February.

There likely will be a drop in cargo shipments by United Parcel Service this month as the carrier uses a smaller feeder jet while air traffic is restricted to a narrower temporary runway.

Reconstruction of the main and secondary runway intersection  through July 30 will require aircraft to use a taxiway that was converted to a 7,600-foot runway on June 3.

While cargo traffic continues to rise, passenger traffic has been slow to rebound due to the economy and reduced seating capacity.

The number of passengers boarding aircraft in Cedar Rapids was down 4.2 percent to May compared to May 2009. The airlines have reduced seating capacity by 16 percent as Delta discontinued service to Atlanta, Cincinnati and St. Louis and reduced flights to Dallas-Fort Worth.